Review: Birthday Candles

Review: Birthday Candles | Curious Theatre Company | Denver, CO | Curtain Up!  Eric Fitzgerald

Birthday Candles opens at Curious Theatre Company under Christy Montour-Larson’s sensitive direction, guided by a script from playwright Noah Haidle that quietly reconsiders the old saying that “home is where the heart is.” Ernestine Ashworth’s kitchen—unchanged across nearly a century of birthdays—becomes the steady backdrop to a life marked by small rituals, unexpected loves, and the kinds of losses that linger long after they pass. Haidle shapes it all into a meditation on belonging and the fragile, luminous threads that hold us to one another across time.

In Birthday Candles, we follow Ernestine Ashworth (Gabriella Cavallero) from age 17 to 107, all within the steady confines of her kitchen. As she bakes the same birthday cake each year, the people who define her life drift in and out: the devoted Kenneth (Brian Landis Folkins); the sincere, hopeful Matt (Michael McNeill); and her children, Billy (Rodney Lizcano) and Joan (Devon James), whose joys and struggles leave their mark. Early on, her mother, Madeline (Karen Slack), shapes the foundation Ernestine will carry forward; much later, her granddaughter, Alice (also Karen Slack), embodies the next generation’s hopes and complications. Through these shifting constellations, the play reveals how everyday rituals—shared meals, small gestures, remembered recipes—become the threads that bind Ernestine to those she loves across a century.

Set in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Birthday Candles embodies a distinctly Midwestern sensibility—plainspoken, warm, and quietly resilient. Haidle’s script is thoughtful and absorbing, welcoming us into the rhythms of Ernestine’s life with a mix of philosophical reflection and everyday routines that feel both intimate and expansive. And while the play ultimately brings Ernestine back to the home that has held her joys, losses, and memories for many years, the return feels more like a natural settling of the story’s arc than a surprise. The journey remains compelling throughout, guided by the script’s gentle wisdom and its deep affection for the simple moments that define a life.

As Ernestine Ashworth, Gabriella Cavallero delivers a sublime performance of such emotional depth and authentic truth that it becomes the focal point of Birthday Candles. She traces Ernestine’s evolving inner life with clarity and delicacy that feel almost magical—each shift in memory, spirit, and circumstance is expressed with an ease that is anything but simple. Cavallero’s mastery of the role is comparable to a masterclass in stage presence, not because it is flashy, but because it is so deeply and quietly lived. What she creates is less a portrayal than a complete human life unfolding before us, moment by moment, breath by breath.

L to R: Gabriella Cavallero as Ernestine & Brian Landis Folkins as Kenneth | Amanda Tipton Photography

The actors in Birthday Candles meet Haidle’s sweeping, time‑bending script with performances rooted in specificity and emotional truth, each carving out a distinct presence in Ernestine Ashworth’s orbit and shaping the decades with gestures that feel both intimate and quietly monumental. Among her constellation of relationships, Brian Landis Folkins offers a warmly grounded Kenneth, his steady presence serving as a touchstone across the shifting years. The rest of the cast demonstrates remarkable versatility as they move through multiple roles in Ernestine’s life: Michael McNeill brings a tender earnestness to Matt, capturing both his youthful hope and the later‑life failings that complicate Ernestine’s journey; Rodney Lizcano gives Billy an energetic restlessness early on, then traces Billy’s physical decline with restraint and dignity; Devon James infuses Joan with a bright, searching spirit; and Karen Slack first appears as Madeline, Ernestine’s mother, grounding the play’s opening with a steady, clarifying presence before returning later as Alice, the granddaughter who carries the family’s next chapter. Together, they create a fluid, richly textured ensemble that keeps Ernestine’s world in constant, compelling motion.

L to R: Rodney Lizcano as Billy & Gabriella Cavallero as Ernestine | Amanda Tipton Photography

Montour‑Larson’s direction shapes Birthday Candles with a quiet assurance that lets the play’s emotional arc unfold with clarity and purpose. Montour-Larson threads Ernestine’s years together with a sense of continuity that never feels forced, guiding the audience through the shifts in time with a light but unmistakably confident hand. Moments of humor, grief, and reflection are balanced with an instinctive understanding of rhythm, allowing the production to breathe while maintaining a strong, cohesive throughline. The result is a staging that honors the script’s intimacy while giving Ernestine’s journey a resonant, steadily building momentum. It’s the kind of direction that elevates the play’s gentlest moments, revealing their full emotional weight without ever calling attention to itself.

The physical production gives Ernestine’s century of living a tangible, steady pulse. Scenic designer Caitlin Ayer builds a kitchen that feels genuinely accumulated over time, its small, well‑chosen details hinting at the slightly eclectic sensibility Ernestine grows into as the years pass. Costume designer Janice Benning Lacek traces those same decades through clothing that shifts quietly and convincingly, marking time without ever pulling focus from the actors. Lighting designer Shannon McKinney adds gentle emotional contour, guiding us through changes in mood and memory with a touch that feels instinctive. And sound designer Jason Ducat threads in cues that help the years slip by almost before we notice. The design elements work in concert to create a space that holds Ernestine’s life with the same quiet constancy she brings to it.

Under Christy Montour‑Larson’s assured direction, Birthday Candles at Curious Theatre Company becomes a quietly powerful reflection on a life fully lived, anchored by Gabriella Cavallero’s deeply felt performance as Ernestine and supported by an ensemble that brings Noah Haidle’s script into clear, compassionate focus. It’s the kind of production that lingers—thoughtful, tender, and beautifully shaped—and one of the standout offerings of this theater season, well worth making time for.