Sheryl Lee Ralph, The DIVA Foundation, & Richard E. Waits to Present Reading of COCONUT CAKE

Sheryl Lee Ralph, The DIVA Foundation, and Richard E. Waits will present a New York City industry reading of Melda Beaty’s acclaimed new play, Coconut Cake on Tuesday, April 8.

Coconut Cake is a warm, wickedly funny, and deeply resonant new play that invites you to eavesdrop on the unfiltered conversations of five senior men – four Black, one white – who gather daily over coffee and chess. Full of hard truths and tender moments, the play honestly explores legacy, masculinity, and mortality with grace.

The cast includes Duane Foster, Richard E. Harris, Lawrence Evans, David Sitler, and Richard E. Waits.

After five criticality acclaimed productions in regional theaters, Coconut Cake now arrives in New York readying for its next chapter – Broadway. 

Inspired by truth, playwright Melda Beaty drew inspiration from her own grandfather, who met his friends at McDonald’s each morning to “drink coffee and tell lies.” The play captures the quiet revelations and raw humanity of male friendship through the lens of age, race, and love. 

The DIVA Foundation is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) founded by Emmy Award-winning actress and humanitarian Sheryl Lee Ralph, in memory of the friends she lost to AIDS while originating her iconic role in Dreamgirls. The foundation harnesses the power of the arts to fight stigma, promote health awareness, and uplift marginalized communities. 

Melda Beaty is an acclaimed playwright whose works include Front Porch Society, Thirty, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, and Feebleminded. She is a recipient of the Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award for Coconut Cake and serves on the board of the August Wilson Society. She is also an assistant professor of English at Olive-Harvey Community College in Chicago and a proud mother of three daughters.