PlayMakers Repertory Company Artistic Director, Vivienne Benesch, recently made her Broadway directorial debut.

Benesch directed the play “Birthday Candles” with Roundabout Theatre Company. The play was originally begin performances in April 2020, but was pushed to an April 10, 2022 opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emmy Award winning actress Debra Messing stars as Ernestine Ashworth as she recreates the same birthday cake each year from age 17 to 101. Messing is on stage for the entire play. Benesch and Messing were classmates together at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Enrico Colantoni, Susannah Flood, Crystal Finn, Christopher Livingston, Debra Messing, John Earl Jelks, Noah Haidle (playwright), Vivienne Benesch (Photo via Jennifer Broski / BroadwayWorld)

Benesch is not the only UNC tie to the production. Also part of the cast is Arielle Yoder who received a Master of Fine Arts from UNC through the PlayMakers Professional Actor Training Program in 2016.

“Birthday Candles” is one of the 35 shows which will be eligible for the 2022 Tony Awards. Benesch is one of eleven female directors for productions which opened during the 2021-2022 season.

Woman directors have been underrepresented in Broadway. Since 1947, the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has only been won by a woman seven times. Only four women have ever won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.

At PlayMakers, Benesch has directed several productions most recently “The Skin of Our Teeth” which opened in November 2021, marking PlayMakers’ return to the stage following the COVID-19 pandemic. Other recent PlayMakers productions she directed include “Dairyland,” “Life of Galileo,” and “Leaving Eden.”

“Birthday Candles” runs through May 27 at the American Airlines Theatre. To learn more about the show, click here.

 

Featured Photo via Jeremy Daniel / Roundabout Theatre Company

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