Today Is My Birthday
- Full Length Play, Dramatic Comedy, Present Day, Contemporary
- 3M, 3F
- ISBN: 9780573709722
Susan Soon He Stanton’s hilarious play, told through a lively mixture of phone calls, voicemails, and live radio spots, is a comedy about loneliness in the age of connection. After struggling in Manhattan, aspiring writer Emily goes home to O’ahu seeking success in work, love, friendship and family relationships.
Description
- Full Length Play
- Dramatic Comedy
- 90 minutes
- Time Period: Present Day, Contemporary
- Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
- Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
- Cautions: Strong Language
- Performance Group:
- College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre
- Accolades:
- Winner! Venturous Theater Award for Best New Play (2017)
Nominee! Kilroys List (2014)
Nominee! Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Told through a playful mixture of phone calls, voicemails, and live radio spots, Today Is My Birthday is a comedy about loneliness in the age of connection.
REVIEWS:
"[A] hilarious, intricate new comedy... It’s a rollicking show—you’ll laugh and laugh—but it’s bitter underneath."
Time Out NY
"[A] charming dramedy... great humor and poetry... Abetted by depersonalizing technology, [Emily] can maintain a semblance of normal intimacy while actually shutting down. Ms. Stanton dramatizes this cleverly. Thanks to all those voice messages and quick cellphone check-ins, we never see Emily fully interact with anyone."
The New York Times
"Unconventional... Emily's clamorous world is an apt metaphor for an age in which we're constantly hammered by the deafening racket of technology, information, and countless ringtones... the play's continuous stream of voices adds to the alienating hurly-burly of sound that gives Today Is My Birthday its resonance."
Theatermania
"Susan Soon He Stanton’s hilarious, intricate new comedy... Today Is My Birthday is a gift. Most playwrights today get our phone-obsessed, zero-contact reality wrong, but Stanton nails it with a modernization of the epistolary play... It’s a rollicking show—you’ll laugh and laugh—but it’s bitter underneath. In call after call, Emily reaches out and fails to touch anyone at all."
Time Out NY
Characters
- Casting: 3M, 3F
- Casting Notes: This is a play that entirely takes place on the telephone, live radio, voice message and intercom. No characters are in the same physical location as Emily. Doubling is highly encouraged as much as possible.
MRS. KOBAYASHI – Receptionist
ALYSSA – Bill Tapia’s manager
JOYCE – Public radio hostess
MRS. ASUNCION – Landon’s mother and editor for newspaper
BILL TAPIA – 103-year-old ukulele player, world’s oldest performing musician
RICHARD – Emily’s Boss
SEBASTIAN – Emily’s ex-boyfriend
KEONI/JONATHAN/FRANKLIN – Emily’s on-air love interest
GRANDPA Z – Caricature grandpa performed by DJ Loki
DR. JOHANNNES CONNECTION – German Radio Shrink performed by DJ Loki
LANDON – Emily’s high school friend
AMAZINGPRESENCE83 – A phone helpline volunteer
MARCUS – Emily’s ex-boyfriend
DJ SOLANGE – FM DJ
GODDESS SWEET LEILANI – Advice Guru performed by DJ Solange
HOSTESS – Works at Doraku Restaurant
GENERIC FEMALE VOICE
Available Material
| Name | Price |
|---|---|
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Today Is My Birthday Script
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Emily, a would-be writer, retreats home to O’ahu after Manhattan finally gets the best of her. Trading one island for another doesn’t help, though, and when she stumbles into a gig as an actor on a shock-jock radio dating show, she finds herself strangely determined to turn fantasy into reality. |
$24.95 |
