Program

A note from the playwright: Welcome to Buddha's Birthday.  I had the inkling of an idea for this play long ago, maybe as long ago as 2011. I wrote it as a ten-minute play in 2014, and that year it was featured in a Chicago Dramatists Scene Shop Showcase, starring Kristie Berger. In 2020, I developed it into a full-length play in Chicago Dramatists' Master Class. I continued to work on it, and in January of 2024, this finished version got a reading with Chicago's Ubiquitous Players. Kristie was in every reading as it grew, and I'm thrilled after all these years to have her star in the full production, courtesy of Actors' Equity. 

I've been a fan of Christopher Hainsworth since seeing him in productions at the House Theatre and Lifeline. And how is it possible we were lucky enough to get two Chicago legends, Kathleen Ruhl and Ada Grey as Roberta and Jennifer? Rounding out the ensemble is the ever creative puppeteer, Emilie-Helene Wingate.

 I hope you'll sit back, enjoy the show, and watch out for those rascally raccoons!

Written by Amy Crider

Directed by Iris Sowlat

Assistant Director Nora Cashman

Stage Manager Anna Zaczek

Light and Sound Designer Alvaro Ledesma

Technical Assistant Angel Lopez

Carpenter Reese Sheldahl

Assistant Carpenter and Painter Elaina D. Miller

Costumes by Amy Crider and cast

PR by John Olson

Printing by Weber Press

Bios: 

As Pamela: Kristie Berger last appeared in The Mousetrap at Citadel Theatre. Regional theater credits include Barbara Fordham in August: Osage County and Frankie in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune at The Human Race Theatre in Dayton; the long-running national tour of The Odd Couple: Female Version starring Barbara Eden; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Circle Mirror Transformation, Bus Stop, and Resident Alien at Nebraska Repertory Theatre.  Chicago area credits include Diane in The Birds, Citadel Theatre; Jeanette in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Illinois Theatre Center; The Vagina Monologues, Always…Patsy Cline, and The Odd Couple: Female Version, Apollo Theater. Other theaters she has worked with include The Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Equity Library Theater, City Lit, Lifeline, Strawdog, Mary-Arrchie, Touchstone, Center Theater, and Absolute.  She also works in TV, voice-overs, commercials, films, and industrial films. Kristie is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Profound gratitude to Amy Crider for this perfectified experience.

As Lawrence: Christopher Hainsworth is a Lifeline Theatre ensemble member, roles performed include Treasure Island, Neverwhere, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Killer Angels, A Tale of Two Cities, Miss Holmes, Frankenstein, and Miss Holmes Returns and penned the adaptations of Hunger, Monstrous Regiment, Midnight Cowboy and Fable-ous! He has also worked for The Gift Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Factory, Strawdog Theatre Company, and The House Theatre of Chicago, among others.

As Roberta: Over many years in Chicago, Kathy Ruhl has been lucky enough to have performed on a lot of stages with many wonderful actors and directors.  She started on the Chicago City Players stage (4 shows) which later became the Timeline stage  (3 shows )where she won Jeffs for best supporting actor (Dolly West’s Kitchen) and member of a Best Ensemble (This Happy Breed). Kathy did Shakespeare at the outdoor Court Theatre at the University of Chicago (Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It ) and Noel Coward at the “new” Court Theatre (Hay Fever).  She studied with Joyce Piven and has done 7 shows with Joyce directing at the Piven Theatre.  Some of the other stages she has trod in Chicago and the northern suburbs include those at Writer’s Theatre (Hedda Gabler), the Attic playhouse in Highwood (3 shows), Shattered Globe ( Peter Pan in For Peter Pan on Her Seventieth Birthday), and  Music Theatre of Hyde Park (Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls).  Kathy is currently a company member at Redtwist where she has done 9 shows and received two Jeff nominations over the last decade or so.  Thank you Chicago Theatre Community!!!!

As Jennifer: Ada Grey is so excited to be working on this project back in her home town! On-camera credits include: The Red Line (CBS), Shrink (NBC), Sirens (USA), and Chicago Fire (NBC). Most recent credits include: Dance Nation (LAMDA), Chaos (LAMDA), Saint George and the Dragon (LAMDA), Our House (LAMDA) Chicago credits include: No Home for Bees (20% Theatre), Our Town (Redtwist Theatre), The Haven Place and I and my iPhone (A Red Orchid Youth), Scarcity (Redtwist Theatre, Broadway World Chicago Nomination Best Actress), The Awake (First Floor Theatre), The Hammer Trinity (The House Theatre), To Kill a Mockingbird (Oak Park Festival Theatre), Jane Eyre (Lifeline Theatre), Men Should Weep (Griffin Theatre, Jeff Award Best Production), and 6 Characters in Search of an Author (The Hypocrites).  She recently graduated from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with a BA in acting. 

As the Raccoon: Emilie-Helene Wingate is a Chicago-based puppet fabricator and performer. She was born in  Georgia as the youngest of 10 siblings, and ever since she can remember, she had a deep  fascination with animal anatomy, movement, and behavior. This fascination first appeared in the form of how she viewed her stuffed animals. Their anatomy often bothered her so much that she recalls being kept up one night in elementary school trying to think of ways to create limb joints for her stuffed animals. Though she didn’t know exactly why this occupied so much of her brain, she believes this was the first indication of what she wanted to do in life. This fascination quickly became a passion after she made the decision between being a veterinarian and an artist in the third grade. 

Though she chose to be an artist, the scientific interest became thoroughly integrated in her work through how she studied the creatures around her. 

In her freshman year of college at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, she had the freedom within every assignment to make exactly what she wanted to make. It quickly became apparent to Emilie that her art was leading somewhere, but it wasn’t until her friends suggested that she take a puppetry class led by Blair Thomas that she had found her community and place in puppetry. Emilie now creates works for various theaters and puppet oriented projects around Chicago, constantly seeking out ways she can further explore her love for animal anatomy, movement, and behavior through her puppetry, with hopes of creating her very own puppet zoo one day. 

Playwright Amy Crider: Amy got her BA in theater at Goddard College in 1982, but didn't have the chance to return to theater until moving to Chicago in the 2000s. After completing the comedy writing program at Second City, she spent ten years taking workshops at Chicago Dramatists. Her plays Fourteen and Wells and Welles are published by TRW. She is also the author of two novels, and her memoir Catching an Orange will come out next spring from the Garrett County Press. An in depth interview is on Newcity Stage.

Director Iris Sowlat: a Chicago-based Director, is proud to direct Buddha’s Birthday! Iris 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. This year, she recently directed Gunderson’s The Book of Will for Triton College (as Adjunct Faculty) and will direct Come Along for the Ride by Rozina Kanchwala for Eco Logic (June 2025). Favorite Chicago directing credits include Romeo and Juliet (Accidental Shakespeare Company), Joan of Arc and Underworld Anthem (RhinoFest), The Days Are Shorter (Pride Arts), ABCD (Piven Theatre) and Narratives of Achromatopsia and Turn That Thing Around, (Chicago Fringe Festival), and three different sold-out fundraiser readings of Paula Kamen’s Jane: Abortion and the Underground. She has also worked with Northlight Theatre, About Face Theatre, American Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Collaboraction, Broken Nose, Stage Left Theatre (former Artistic Associate), Possibilities Theatre Company, NoPassport Theatre Alliance, and many others. Iris is one half of the leadership (with Allison Fradkin) of the DIY queer feminist theatre Violet Surprise. In 2018, she was named one of Windy City Times  “30 Under 30.” Find her on the web at www.IrisSowlat.com.

Stage Manager Anna Zaczek: is thrilled to stage manage Buddha's Birthday. She has previously had the opportunity to work on A Mirror is Not a Window at Northwestern University as stage manager. She has also been an assistant stage manager for The Clean Up with Prop Thtr, and Midsummer Night’s Dream with Midsomer Flight.

About the art work:

When knew we wanted original art for set, we asked a prominent local artist, Mary Qian, who mentioned that her father in Shanghai, Pingji Qian, is an artist too. When we told her we needed a large size, Mary had a great idea: we could send the image to a printer. The prints were made by Weber Press. Mary and her father also wanted for him to write a poem reflecting his feelings about the work, which we added to the print. This is part of a future art project where Pingji and an American poet will each reflect on his work, not knowing each other's language. 

The lovely paintings which show up later in the play were done by the late  Barbara Berger, mother of our lead actress Kristie. Barbara was an art teacher in Indianapolis public schools for many years. 

The master's degree on the far wall was earned by the playwright's grandmother Virginia Duston after she retired. The other two documents are her original teaching certificates from 1932.

Set Design:

Ultimately, the set design can only be described as emergent. Several people contributed wonderful ideas. It was so collaborative, that no one person can be said to be responsible for the final design. For this reason we've opted not to try to credit it. 

A Note:

I can't take credit for the joke about the philosophers at the nudist colony. My twin brother told it to me years ago. I've tracked down that it is by Australian comedian Shane Bourne. I am seeking permission to keep it in the play. 

Thanks to:

Henry Stewart and NEIU

Nick Bowling and Timeline Theatre

John Boss

Dana Lynn Formby

Billy