Makin' Cake

Dasha Kelly Hamilton doesn’t bake. Not because she’s defying the expectations of the patriarchy, although she’s not opposed to that. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t like following precise directions. Maybe it’s because she has plenty of skilled bakers in her family who can create special sweet treats for her. But her aversion to working with sugar and flour in the kitchen did not hinder her thoughts on the subject of baking, as she developed her one-woman show, Makin’ Cake, which was presented by Four Seasons Theatre at Overture Center’s Playhouse on March 10 & 11. Clad in a flowing red dress and matching red spike heels, Hamilton mused on the topic of baking for 75 minutes, aided by music and slides projected on a large screen behind her – but this was no cooking show. She framed the evolution of cake with the history of American industry, advertising, gender politics, race relations, and the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” in this country. Through photos, maps, recipes, statistics, advertisements, legal precedents, and recent news coverage, Hamilton traced the cultural and economic chasms between modern day Americans back through the centuries, and examined who could have historically afforded sugar, who was doing the actual baking, and who benefitted by keeping women contained in the domestic sphere.