Courtesy of Soleil Singh and Lauren Marut
When Soleil Singh ’24 and Lauren Marut ’25, originally of the undergraduate class of 2024, first arrived at Yale, neither wanted anything to do with theater — despite doing it all throughout high school. Singh joined the Yale Entrepreneurial Society and wrote for the Yale Daily News, while Marut signed up for Directed Studies and planned to major in Ethics, Politics and Economics.
However, as Singh grappled with reduced artistic opportunities during the pandemic and Marut with a gap semester during her first year, both performers realized just how much they “wanted theater in their lives,” according to Marut. At the beginning of the following year, the duo decided to co-found the Yale Artists Cabaret with the mission of creating a low-stakes and accessible musical theater experience.
“We designed this organization with the hopes of making theater a place of joy, instead of stress, anxiety and insecurity,” said Marut. “Because as performers, we have a lifetime of that ahead. So why not take these opportunities that we have now and make them work for us, and make people relish in the fact that they get to perform? That’s what we really hope to spotlight.”
Singh, who is Indian American, said that her initial reluctance to do musical theater in college stemmed from her experience at her arts high school. Because none of her high schools’ productions “fit an Indian demographic,” Singh said that she felt limited by the types of performances in which she could participate.
Singh was only able to rediscover her love of theater after realizing how many opportunities were available to her at Yale. Marut, who is also Asian American, said that it was “really nice” having a collaborator who shared a vision to…
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