←Recommendations of THE BIRTHDAY GAME

I was lucky enough to see a reading of The Birthday Game at the Valdez Theatre Conference. I felt like I was invited to a summer getaway with charming philosophers. The Birthday Game challenges audiences to think about big questions surrounding religion and politics through the lens of two young people who are drifting aimlessly through life trying to find their footing. The characters are deeply detailed and their intimate conversations are breathtaking. The themes and questions raised will stay with me for a long time. Crossing fingers to see a full production someday soon.

Ostensibly a love story between two Millennial Jews, Chelsea and Henry, “The Birthday Game” establishes suffering and struggles for power as central to human experience. Heartsore by her father’s infidelity, Chelsea embraces the philosophy of a conservative Catholic professor, “the salvation of violent death,” while aspiring novelist Henry defends the redemptive possibility of progress. Set before 9/11, when peace between Israel and Palestine seemed possible and a Jew had been nominated for Vice President, Judah Skoff’s multi-layered drama lays bare that era's naivety with vivid imagery, piercing monologues, and the surprising game of the play's title. Strongly recommended.

The Birthday Game is a marvelous piece of theatre. Skoff has developed a set of characters that are believable and ever evolving. I love the moments between Henry and Chelsea because they bring out a sense of carelessness in a pre-9/11 world. Overall, beautiful language and characters.

This is a delicate but powerful play combining elements of "Dangerous Liaisons" and Edward Albee that keeps you reading all the way through. The characters are strongly drawn, fully dimensional, and even if you find yourself recoiling at times from them, you can't help but be drawn to them. The game in the title is really the whole story: what games we play with each other to gain advantage, to find love or meaning, or even just to amuse ourselves. The foreknowledge we have knowing what awaits them is even more compelling to the telling of the story.

A strong play, set mostly in the months leading to the Bush v. Gore election, ending shortly before 9/11/01, and focused on the conflicted relationship between Jewish 20-somethings Chelsea and Henry. Self-described as having a "Freudian death drive incarnate," the intensely neurotic Chelsea plays a bizarrely funereal "birthday game" with her bemused but passionate housemate Henry, who ultimately abandons her to marry another woman. Central to the play are issues of American-Jewish identity in the early 20th century, but it is most memorable for the character of Chelsea herself, a great role for a young actress.