An Occasion For Cake (2019)
Written by Devon O’Brien
Directed by John Henry Davis
Join us for a celebrity reading of a new play. One night only, artists you know and love will come together to perform a reading as a fundraiser for Skylight Theatre Company. Your ticket purchase supports the development of diverse artists
and stories that are all too often overlooked.
A special GET INKed event.
THE STORY: Margaret Featherstone has too many demands upon her. She’s caretaker for her father, Hennessy, a best-selling author who now suffers from some dementia, and she’s the sole parent of Heather, a precocious teenager, stoned on hormones and up in arms about everything. When Margaret decides to move Hennessy into an assisted living facility, Heather reprimands her for selfishness and threatens to run away. Their conflicts, witnessed by a bookseller, who Margaret hired to dismantle Hennessy’s impressive library, reveal the untrue stories on which the Featherstone family and fame is founded.
SCHEDULE
Skylight Theatre:
Nov 19th
A GET INKed event
Performs: One Night only; 8:00pm
GET INKed Fundraiser
2018-19 Season
2019
THE ARTISTS OF AN OCCASION FOR CAKE
Devon O'Brien
writer
Devon O'Brien’s full-length play, Flight Plan, received its World Premier at The Court Theater in Los Angeles (1997), directed by Tony Abatemarco. American Portraits, based on the images of painter John Singer Sargent and the words of playwright Clyde Fitch has been presented in workshop form at The InterAct Theater, at Shakespeare & Co in MA, at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The National Portrait Gallery both in London, at The Antaeus Theater Company and recently at the Pacific Resident Theater Co. Readings of Anna by Savannah have been presented at The Blank Theater, The Rogue Machine Theater and at Skylight as part of the Play Reading Series. An independent producer commissioned her screenplay, Three Girls Hunting. Devon has a B. A. in Semiotics from Brown and an MPW (Masters in Professional Writing) from USC. She is a member of the Playwrights’ Lab at Antaeus and of the Playwrights’ Unit at The Actors Studio West. O'Brien has published features in The Los Angeles Times, essays in Vogue and a novella on The Huffington Post. She is the founder of featherinc.com, specializing in essay assistance for the HS senior. Moderator of the long-running writers’ workshop, Five Nights, Five Tarts, O’Brien has baked over 400 tarts for writers. Currently, she is at work on a memoir.
John Henry Davis
director
John Henry Davis is a director of theatre, opera, film and television. John Henry is known for directing premieres and revivals of plays and musicals in theatres all across the country, including Playwrights Horizons, The Mark Taper Forum, The Odyssey Theatre, and the Kennedy Center. In New York, Mr. Davis has directed off-Broadway shows starring Len Cariou and Marisa Tomei, and has directed in television and film, notably Oz for HBO. In recent years in LA he directed the award-winning When Jazz Had the Blues at the Matrix Theatre, as well as Bagels The Musical at NMI. At International City Theatre in Long Beach his shows include last season’s The Price, as well as The Glass Managerie, Walk in the Woods, and Trying. His history of developing new work includes the musical Startup, recently showcased in New York. He is also a novelist, playwright, and professor, now teaching courses in screenwriting and directing at UCLA extension.
Kate Burton
actor
Kate Burton is a Professor of the Practice at USC. A graduate of Brown and Yale School of Drama she is the recipient of three Tony nominations. She is best know for her Emmy nominated performances as Ellis Grey and Sally Langston on Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. She most recently appeared in Where'd You Go, Bernadette with Cate Blanchett and Coriolanus at the NYSF with Jonathan Cake and Louis Cancelmi.
Olivia Gill
actor
Olivia Gill is a senior in the BFA Acting Program at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts. Her credits include playing Abby Dobbs in two seasons of OUTSIDERS (WGN America) and the titular character in AVA (2016 Cannes Film Festival). At USC, Olivia has had the pleasure of exploring many different characters including Rose in Street Scene, Virgil in Holy Ghosts, and, currently, Florina in Mad Forest. Olivia is the recipient of the David Dukes Memorial Award Scholarship for the 2019/2020 academic year.
Stephen Mendillo
actor
Mr. Mendillo has spent years in show business. After winning the Oliver Thorndike awarded for excellence at the Yale School of Drama, he joined The Yale Rep for a number of seasons. Stephen is proud of his countless productions in Regional Theater, from Long Wharf to the Poinciana Playhouse to the Alley Theatre in Houston. Among his many appearances in TV and film, his most memorable are with Arthur Miller, A View from The Bridge, and The Last Yankee, Miller’s last show on Broadway. Stephen appeared for a two and a half year run in the original New York production of Fool for Love, directed by the playwright, Sam Shepard.
Jake Robards
actor
Jake is a recent transplant from New York where he appeared in many plays regionally and Off Broadway. On Broadway he appeared in ‘Our Town’ with Paul Newman and Steve Mendillo - with whom he is thrilled to be reuniting onstage with for this special reading of 'An Occasion for Cake’. His recent TV and film credits include ‘Billions’ on Showtime, ‘Every Day’ for MGM, and ABC’s ‘Quantico’.
Michael Kaczkowski
actor
Michael Kaczkowski is excited to return to the Skylight Theatre where he recently appeared in the production Never Is Now.. Originally from Seattle, Michael is a recent graduate of the USC School of Dramatic Arts where he acted in many stage productions and short films.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Artists are subject to availability.
James Tupper will no longer appear in the reading on Nov 19.