![]() įor instance, early in the play we learn something terrible happened to Ernestine when she was only seventeen years old and growing up in Michig an. Her inner life seemingly starts fresh at each birthday. ![]() Specifically, the space in-between Ernestine’s yearly birthday is the fr ame in which conflict must appear then resolve itself. As in some episodic television shows or sitcoms, everything in this script is introduced, experienced, then wrapped up within a limited time frame with little to no resonances contin uing into the following episodes (scenes). Major life events and trauma are easily introdu ced then just as easily resolved. ![]() In the attempt to compress an entire life span, Haidle uses a cursory, episodic approach in dramatizing Ernestine’s existence. Haidle’s familiar writing is depth itself. Surpri sing, then, to realize what is most ly m issing from Mr. Is there deep meaning contained within living an ordinary life? This playwright presumably believes there is. He makes a valiant attempt to excavate and reveal the submerged worthiness of simply existing, wherever that leads a person. In examining the life of the fictional Ernestine, writer Haidle attempts to take a deep, T horton Wilder- esque dive into the extraordinary within the ordinary. Debra Messing, Christopher Livingston, Susannah Flood That woman being the play’s main character, Ernestine Ashworth. Buoyed by childhood dreams, family rituals, a stated rebellious nature and extraordinary resilience, she ultimately fi nds satisfaction in living the everyday life of an unassuming American woman from the Mid w est. Along the way, she experiences trials and tribulations that would make the biblical Job submit a resignation letter, but still she persists. She continues forward on this journey to her best life, including short trips to her forties, sixties, seventies and even her hundreds. We know that because it is in the dialogue. In playwright Noah Haidle’s new play Birthday Candles, currently running at the American A irlines Theatre, television star Debr a Messing ages before our very eye s.
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