Lucid Theater To Stage Comedy BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY In August

Lucid Theater will present the world premiere of BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY by Chicago playwright Amy Crider, whose WELLS AND WELLES was a breakout hit of summer 2024.

In BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY, an anxiety-ridden college professor faces crises in her career, her marriage and her family relationships while planning an 80th birthday party for her overbearing mother. Neither medication, meditation, nor the tenets of Buddhism are enough to soothe her anxiety over the upcoming party or the ongoing challenges in her life. BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY will be performed at the Edge Theatre, 5451 N. Broadway, Chicago from August 1 – 17.

BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY will be performed by a cast of Chicago stage veterans, led by Actors Equity member Kristie Berger as 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. Harriet Fardon, a 2023 graduate of Northwestern University who has performed with Otherworld Theatre and other Chicago companies, has been cast as Pamela's young niece Jennifer, who defies family expectations but provides some lessons for Pamela. 

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.