Today Is My Birthday

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

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Cast Size

3w, 3m
Duration

90 minutes
Target Audience

Adult, Teen (Age 14-18)

Accolades

Winner! 2017 Venturous Theater Award for Best New Play
Nominee: 2014 Kilroys List
Nominee: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize

Details

Summary

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. 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.

History

Today Is My Birthday was developed at Sundance Theater Lab, New York Theater Workshop, American Conservatory Theater, and New York Stage & Film with the Lark. The play premiered off-Broadway at Page 73 on November 28, 2017. Directed by Kip Fagan, the production featured Jennifer Ikeda, Jonathan Brooks, Ugo Chukwu, Ron Domingo, Emily Kuroda and Nadine Malouf.

Cast Attributes

Role(s) for Asian Actor(s)

Keywords

Performing Groups

EMILY – a temp

[All other roles should be doubled as much as possible. Roles below are grouped into possible doublings.]

MOM – Emily’s Mother
MRS. KOBAYASHI – Receptionist
ALYSSA – Bill Tapia’s manager
JOYCE – Public radio hostess
MRS. ASUNCION – Landon’s mother and editor for newspaper

DAD – Emily’s Father
BILL TAPIA – 103-year-old ukulele player, world’s oldest performing musician

KURT – Artistic Director of Hawai'i Repertory Theatre
RICHARD – Emily’s Boss
SEBASTIAN – Emily’s ex-boyfriend
KEONI/JONATHAN/FRANKLIN – Emily’s on-air love interest

DJ LOKI – FM DJ
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

HALIMA – Emily’s best friend
DJ SOLANGE – FM DJ
GODDESS SWEET LEILANI – Advice Guru performed by DJ Solange
HOSTESS – Works at Doraku Restaurant
GENERIC FEMALE VOICE

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.

Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
Setting On the telephone, live radio, voice message and intercom. The present.
Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
Additional Features No Intermission
Duration 90 minutes
Cautions
- Strong Language

Media

“[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

Videos

Sundance Theatre Lab: The Sound Design of Today Is My Birthday
Actor Greg Watanabe on Today Is My Birthday

Photos

Image: 2017 Page 73 Production (Jeremy Daniel)

Image: 2022 Yale Repertory Theatre Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Ticketing

Authors

Susan Soon He Stanton

Susan Soon He Stanton is a playwright, television writer and screenwriter originally from 'Aiea, Hawai'i, and now living in New York and London. Susan is a producer/writer for HBO’s Succession, for which she has received Writers Guild of America and Peabody Awards. Upcoming t ...

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Today Is My Birthday