Ada Grey Joins Cast Of Lucid Theater's BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY
Performances will run from August 1-17 At The Edge Theatre.
Ada Grey has joined the four-actor cast of BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY. Grey will play Jennifer, the niece of the anxiety-ridden college professor Pamela who faces crises in her career, her marriage and her family relationships while planning an 80th birthday party for her overbearing mother. Jennifer disappoints her grandmother Roberta by defying family expectations in her choice of careers but provides some valuable life lessons for Pamela.
Grey, whose Chicago stage credits include Scout in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with Oak Park Festival Theatre, Girl in BLACKBIRD with Blank Theatre Company, and Rebbeca Gibbs in OUR TOWN with Redtwist, will join a cast of Chicago veterans in this world premiere comedy by Chicago playwright Amy Crider, whose WELLS AND WELLES was a breakout hit of summer 2024. Actors Equity member Kristie Berger will play the insecure professor Pamela. Berger's career includes roles at the Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Victory Gardens; as well as productions at storefronts including City Lit, Lifeline, Strawdog, and many others. Pamela's difficult mother Roberta will be played by Kathleen Ruhl, an ensemble member at Redtwist Theatre, where she has performed in nine plays. Ruhl's decades-long career includes two Jeff Awards (for supporting actress in DOLLY WEST'S KITCHEN and ensemble for THIS HAPPY BREED, both with TimeLine), and roles with Piven Theatre, Writers, and Shattered Globe. For Shattered Globe, she played the title role in FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY, written for her by her daughter Sarah Ruhl. Pamela's husband Lawrence, a self-assured philosophy professor, will be played by Christopher Hainsworth, a Lifeline Theatre ensemble member who has also performed with The Gift Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Factory, Strawdog Theatre Company, and The House Theatre of Chicago, among others. A pesky raccoon that is an habitual irritant to Pamela's routine will be created and performed by Emilie Wingate of Flying Leap Productions.
Iris Sowlat, a Chicago-based director who holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she directed Sarah Ruhl's ORLANDO and Lauren Gunderson's EMILIE: LA MARQUISE DU CHATELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT, will direct BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY. Sowlat's previous Chicago directing credits include productions with Accidental Theatre Company, PrideArts, Piven, and others. The creative team will also include Kevin Hagan (scenic design) and Alvaro Ledesma (sound and lighting design).
BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY has been in development for over a decade, starting as a ten-minute play written for a Scene Shop Showcase at Chicago Dramatists in 2014. Crider expanded it into a full-length play for a Chicago Dramatists' Master Class in 2020, and it has received several readings since then.
|
Fleetwood Max Raue Center For The Arts (10/03-10/03) |
|
Love Story: A Tribute to Taylor Swift Raue Center For The Arts (11/07-11/07) |
|
Rotary Rocks The Raue: James Garner's Tribute to Johnny Cash Raue Center For The Arts (10/24-10/24) |
|
The Dave Matthews Tribute Band Raue Center For The Arts (9/25-9/25) |
|
Memphis The Musical Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building (10/24-10/25) |
|
The Beautiful Game In Concert Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture (8/31-8/31) |
|
for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf eta Creative Arts Foundation (8/01-8/30) |
|
Mozart's Summit Harris Theater for Music and Dance (9/28-9/28) |
|
Anatomy of a Suicide The Metal Shop Performance Lab & JunkHeart (8/12-8/30) |
|
Maybe Happy Ending CIBC Theatre (1/05-1/17) |