by Genea L. Webb
For New Pittsburgh Courier
Melda Potts Beaty never thought that a simple question about her grandfather’s retirement would spawn the creation of her award-winning play, “Coconut Cake.”
“My grandfather retired from the steel mill in Gary, Indiana, in the ‘90’s and we would go visit him—I’m in Chicago so depending on where you are in Chicago, Gary is like 30 minutes. It’s not far at all,” said Beaty. “We went to visit him one time and I asked him, ‘what are you doing with your days now that you’re retired?’ “And he said, ‘me and the fellas meet at the local McDonald’s’ and his wife screamed out from the other room, ‘they don’t do nothing but sit around and tell lies.’ It just stuck with me. I don’t know why it stuck with me. I had no connection to retirement or sitting around McDonald’s but that was the impetus of the play.”
Its relatable themes won the 2022 Sylvia Sprinkle Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award. The caveat was the opportunity to take the play to five different Black theater companies. Each company that produced the play enjoyed sold-out shows.
“I’d go to every opening and I’d watch and I’d talk to the cast and some places I’d even be invited to the rehearsal and I’d revise the script,” Beaty said.
“Coconut Cake” delves into the lives of five retired/semi-retired men whose weekly Monday meetings at the chess board at the local McDonald’s give them the freedom to discuss many aspects of their lives—from politics to women.
New Horizon Theater Inc., is ending its 33rd season with the poignant piece. It runs through June 14. The show, which is playing at The O’Reilly Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, 621 Penn Avenue, Downtown, is being directed by Eileen J. Morris.
“I love supporting Black artists and creating a cannon of work that we can be a part of. The story was so interesting because it was dealing with retired, mature men and you don’t always get to see that in a play,” explained Morris, the artistic director at Houston’s Ensemble Theatre. “There’s going to be some handsome men up there on the stage for women to see. These men talk about everything from women to their childhoods, to children to politics. All the aspects of good storytelling is in this play. It’s a high note to end the season on.”
This is the second Beaty play that New Horizon Theater Inc., has offered. “Front Porch Society” was shown in 2019.
New Horizon Theater Chairperson Joyce Meggerson-Moore is pleased as punch to give her audience the opportunity to experience “Coconut Cake.”
“We started this season with ‘Sistas,’ which featured women, and then we did ‘Get Ready,’ which featured five men, and then we did ‘Meet Me at the Oak,’ and now we have five men in ‘Coconut Cake.’ We’ve had two musicals and two female directors. We’ve had a great season,” Meggerson-Moore said.
Beaty is happy to work with New Horizon once again and have Pittsburgh audiences experience her craft.
“I’m excited that New Horizon Theater is having me back. I have other plays and I would love to have an ongoing working relationship with them,” she told the New Pittsburgh Courier.
“Coconut Cake” stars Kevin Brown, Sheldon Ingram, Art Terry, John Reilly and Alex Morrison.
Tickets can be purchased at Dorsey’s Digital Imaging on Frankstown Avenue, through New Horizon Theater Inc. at 412-431-0773, or at
newhorizontheater.org.