Consistent,
High Quality
Cultural Events
Location:
The Public’s
Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall
621 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Melda Beaty's play, Coconut Cake, is a “story about friendship, aging, and the unspoken weight men often carry — especially when it comes to the women in their lives and the secrets they keep. These retired men retreat to the sanctuary of their weekly morning gatherings at McDonald's, where a game of chess teaches life lessons. They talk, laugh, argue, and reminisce as they share pieces of their lives over hash browns and hot coffee when the arrival of a mysterious woman comes to town with her melt-in-your-mouth coconut cake that tests their relationships and changes their lives forever.
May 28, 2026 - June 14, 2026
Click HERE for tickets.
Tickets:
$40 General Admission
$35 Seniors 65 and over and Students
$25 Students Age (K-12)
(Group rates available for 10 or more)
For group rate info email newhorizontheater@yahoo.com.
*If you need assistance with handicap accessibility, please contact us with specific requests.
Written by Melda Beaty
Melda Beaty is an enthusiastic playwright and recent winner of the 2022 National Black Theatre Festival’s Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award for her play, Coconut Cake. Her first play, Front Porch Society, enjoyed a world premiere at The Ensemble Theatre in Houston, TX (2017), and a mainstage production at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC (2019). Her second play, Coconut Cake, was also a semi-finalist for American Blues Theatre Blue Ink Playwrighting Award with readings at the National Black Theatre Festival (2017), St. Louis Black Rep (2020) and The Ensemble Theatre (2020). In addition, her one-act stage play, Thirty, was a 2022 winner of Definition Theatre’s Amplify II Series, and a finalist in the Blackboard Play Festival (2021) and WayWard Sisters Third Annual Workshopping Women's Voices (2021). Beaty's first play with music, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, was commissioned by The Ensemble Theatre (2021-2022). In 2021, she was a Confluence Fellow with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival where she developed her most recent play, Feebleminded. Lastly, her upcoming short film, Cupcake, chronicles the divide mental illness creates between a mother and daughter. When Beaty is not writing plays, she serves on the Board of the August Wilson Society and as a contributor to Black Masks magazine. She resides in Chicago, Illinois with her three talented daughters and is an assistant professor of English at Olive-Harvey Community College. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Master of Arts degree at Illinois State University. Her other professional affiliations are Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange, Black Theatre Network, and the African American Playwrights Group.
Directed by Eileen J. Morris
Eileen J. Morris is Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre-Houston, where she has produced over 200 productions, which include 14 world premieres and over 100 regional premieres. A native of Chicago, Illinois, her professional career in the arts was just beginning when she relocated to Houston and met The Ensemble Theatre founder, George W. Hawkins. They bonded through their passion to develop a space in Houston where African American artists could come together and hone their skills. Her work with Hawkins spanned from 1982 until his death in 1990.
She has enjoyed a multi-faceted theatre career, including roles as an artistic leader, producer, director, actress, and consultant specializing in community engagement and plays that speak to the African American experience that also center women, equity and anti-racism as its core values.
Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by the Houston Press Awards, for which The Ensemble Theatre was awarded eight awards in numerous categories. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 US/TT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. She is part of the first cohort of the BOLD Women's Theater Leadership Circle, which has benefited The Ensemble Theatre in receiving 1.50 million in the past six years. Under her artistic leadership, The Ensemble Theatre has received numerous awards and recognitions that have helped to strengthen the institution while positioning the theater on a national scale. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include Akeelah and the Bee, the rolling world premiere of Coconut Cake and The Piano Lesson. She will direct August Wilson's Fences at the Alley Theatre in April 2026. Eileen directs annually at Pittsburgh's New Horizon Theatre (co-founded by August Wilson). She currently serves as Consultant for the Black Theatre Network and Advisory Board Member for Houston Cinema for the Arts. A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the ten August Wilson Century Cycle.
