Birthday Candles
by Noah Haidle

Name: Birthday Candles
Brand: Noah Haidle
SKU: 9780573710070
Rating: 4.25 (11 reviews)

Broadway

Birthday Candles Book Cover — Birthday Candles Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

90 mins Present Day Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle) Interior Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

Ernestine Ashworth spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe.

Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday.

Even sooner, her 41st.

Her 70th.

Her 101st.

Five generations, an infinity of dreams, and one cake baked over a century.

This poignant and funny play takes its audience through the highlights, heartbreaks and extraordinary moments that make up one woman’s ordinary life.

Press Reviews

"For my money, Birthday Candles is precisely why people go to the theater, which is to think about their families, ponder their past romantic mistakes, stare down the demons of their futures and commune with those they have loved and lost."
— Chicago Tribune

"There were plenty of empathetic sniffles and sighs in the audience during the performance. The most moving moments to me were those quiet exchanges that functioned as silhouettes for unspoken griefs."
— The New York Times

"Affecting... it confronts the big and small questions of existence and time itself."
— The Daily Beast

"Warm... bubbles up our own cherished and difficult memories of the people in our lives who’ve come and gone."
— The New York Post

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
ERNESTINE ASHWORTH Travels from age seven to 107. In that time she will be a daughter, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, a friend, an aunt, a mother-in-law, a widow, a second wife, a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a great great grandmother.	female	10	Travels from age seven to 107. In that time she will be a daughter, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, a friend, an aunt, a mother-in-law, a widow, a second wife, a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a great great grandmother.
ALICE Selfless. Strong. Ernestine’s mother.	female	—	Selfless. Strong. Ernestine’s mother.
KENNETH Ernestine’s awkward and annoying next door neighbor.	—	—	Ernestine’s awkward and annoying next door neighbor.
MATT Chiseled jawline. A middle linebacker on the high school football team. Ernestine’s boyfriend then husband.	male	—	Chiseled jawline. A middle linebacker on the high school football team. Ernestine’s boyfriend then husband.
BILLY Sensitive. An ear for music. Ernestine and Matt’s son.	male	—	Sensitive. An ear for music. Ernestine and Matt’s son.
MADELINE Troubled. Bemused. Beautiful. Erudite. Ernestine and Matt’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice.	female	—	Troubled. Bemused. Beautiful. Erudite. Ernestine and Matt’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice.
JOAN Anxious. Very anxious. Billy’s wife.	female	—	Anxious. Very anxious. Billy’s wife.
ALEX Takes no bullshit. Billy and Joan’s daughter. Played by actor playing Joan.	female	—	Takes no bullshit. Billy and Joan’s daughter. Played by actor playing Joan.
ERNIE Ethereal. Vivacious. She doesn’t walk, she glides. Alex’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice and Madeline.	female	—	Ethereal. Vivacious. She doesn’t walk, she glides. Alex’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice and Madeline.
WILLIAM Thirteen. Grand. Played by actor playing Matt.	male	—	Thirteen. Grand. Played by actor playing Matt.
JOHN A man woken up in the middle of the night. Played by actor playing Billy.	male	—	A man woken up in the middle of the night. Played by actor playing Billy.
BETH John’s domestic partner, she quit smoking ten years ago and hasn’t been in a good mood since. Played by actor playing Joan and Alex.	female	—	John’s domestic partner, she quit smoking ten years ago and hasn’t been in a good mood since. Played by actor playing Joan and Alex.