Anne King leads a moving production of ‘Birthday Candles’ at Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center.

What’s my wish for an evening of perfect theater? Well, I can’t tell you. Otherwise, it might not come true. What I can say is that it would look a whole heck of a lot like VIVA Theater’s production of Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles, playing at Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center through Nov. 26.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, VIVA Theater has long centered older performers who still have plenty to express artistically. Birthday Candles is an inspired choice for the company, allowing its cast to draw on decades of lived experience to embody characters navigating the fleeting moments that ultimately give life meaning.

The play follows Ernestine Ashworth from her 17th birthday to her 107th, returning to the same kitchen as she bakes the same birthday cake year after year. Marriages form and dissolve. Children grow up. Loved ones die. Nonetheless, Ernestine’s simple ritual of combining flour, butter and sugar serves as a steadfast anchor amidst life’s constant changes.

Director and designer Abigail Wright doesn’t overcomplicate the show’s straightforward, repetitive recipe. Her homey kitchen set, furnished with a table, stools, refrigerator and baking counter, provides a familiar backdrop for the passing decades. Musical interludes featuring Paula Westerfield, beginning with “Bye Bye Blackbird” and progressing through a variety of pop hits from the past, serve to gently underscore the passage of time.

Paula Westerfield provided live musical accompaniment. | Photo: Patrick Tracy

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Anne King is extraordinary as Ernestine, evolving from a sprightly, naive teenager into a woman who has experienced more joy and heartbreak than her younger self could imagine. King makes those transitions feel remarkably natural, finding the emotional continuity between Ernestine’s many selves.

The opening scene with her mother, Alice (Elaine Niesen), establishes the production’s emotional foundation. Their ordinary conversation over cake ingredients takes on heartbreaking significance when Alice dies. Wright stages death with elegant restraint: Rather than disappearing backstage, the departed characters exit through the audience, physically leaving Ernestine’s theatrical world. It’s simple but an incredibly effective choice.

Sam Sandoe is equally winning as Kenneth, Ernestine’s awkward, affable neighbor who has loved her since childhood. His habit of barging in and startling Ernestine is a delightful recurring joke, while their eventual romance is so beautifully realized that the limited time they share becomes especially poignant.

Mike Lewis brings charm to Matt, Ernestine’s first husband, whose youthful romance with her gradually unravels. JR Shepard charts a convincing transformation as their son, Billy, who slowly becomes the sort of authority figure he once resented. Mary Jenifer Mitchell gives their free-spirited daughter, Madeline, an infectious vitality that makes her tragic story particularly affecting.

There are a few minor quibbles. Wright occasionally has performers circle the stage unnecessarily, and some exaggerated crying feels out of place in a production whose quieter emotions are already so raw. An added intermission also interrupts the momentum of a play traditionally performed without one.

Still, Birthday Candles moved me to tears several times, often during moments of unexpected joy. Haidle understands how the seemingly insignificant rituals we repeat with the people we love become the memories that define us. Wright and her cast give those moments the space to resonate, allowing us to recognize pieces of our own lives in Ernestine’s.

By the time the final candle is lit, it’s hard not to think about all the birthdays we’ve celebrated, the people who were there and those who no longer are. And perhaps, more importantly, the people we’ll be lucky enough to share the next one with.