Noah Haidle's Birthday Candles isn't your typical birthday celebration. It's a poignant, often hilarious, and ultimately profound exploration of life, death and the fleeting nature of time — all wrapped up in the ritual of baking a birthday cake. Commissioned by the Detroit Public Theatre, this play premiered in 2018 and subsequently enjoyed a successful Broadway run at the Roundabout Theatre Company, captivating audiences with its intimate exploration of aging, family and the search for meaning. 

The play's structure forms the bedrock of its impact. Haidle presents a series of vignettes, each focusing on a significant birthday in the life of the main character Ernestine Ashworth. From her teenage years to her 107th year, her birthday is marked by the ritual of baking a cake. These snapshots offer glimpses into the joys and sorrows of marriage, the complexities of parenthood, and the bittersweet nature of aging. We see Ernestine navigate the challenges of raising children, the grief of losing loved ones, and the enduring power of friendship. As Ernestine ages, she grapples with the inevitability of mortality and the question of whether her life has amounted to anything. Through her journey, Haidle reminds us that life is filled with both joy and sorrow, and that even in the face of loss and disappointment, moments of beauty and grace can be found.

Photo featuring (front row, L to R): Mierka Girten (Joan/Alex/Beth), Amira Danan (Alice/Madeline/Ernie),(back row, L to R) Will Allan (Billy/John), Bill Timoney (Kenneth), Barbara Chisholm (Ernestine), Adam Poss (Matt/William) and Joanie Schultz (Director).

This upcoming production in the Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre is directed by Joanie Schultz. Schultz will be familiar to audiences not only as the Associate Artistic Director of the Playhouse, but as the director of last season’s Vietgone and Dracula, and the previous season’s Origin Story and Frida…A Self Portrait. Schultz has been excited to direct this play since she first encountered it:

"I read this play in early 2020, right before the pandemic. I was reading plays at the time for the Cleveland Play House, helping them read and assess the multitude of plays that come across a regional theatre’s artistic office. This play stopped me in my tracks. I haven’t read anything like it before or since. It made me feel the awe of what it is to be alive. I laughed, I cried. I have been a fan of Noah Haidle’s work since my twenties, but this piece in particular has encapsulated what it means to live a life and how simultaneously large and small each of our lives is. I’ve wanted to direct this play ever since and am so excited for the opportunity to bring it to life on stage."

Schultz is particularly interested in the play's inherent theatricality. In essence, Birthday Candles isn't just a story told on stage; it's a story that is of the stage. Its structure, its language, and its focus on ritual and transformation make it inherently theatrical, demanding and rewarding a dynamic and imaginative production. Schultz explained:

"Noah Haidle has been adopted by the Thornton Wilder family as carrying the torch of Wilder’s work. As far as the great classic American playwrights, I think Wilder is the most 'theatrical,' by which I mean he utilizes the theatre as its medium — using metaphor and imagination to create the world of his plays. Haidle does just this: he’s made something that is truly theatre — the simple language of the stage and suspension of disbelief asked of us is juxtaposed with the actual activity of making a birthday cake live on stage."