It was originally scheduled to open on April 2, 2020, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
[1] It subsequently ran at the American Airlines Theatre from March 18 to May 29, 2022 (with opening night on April 10), starring Debra Messing as Ernestine Ashworth and directed by Messing's Tisch School of the Arts classmate Vivienne Benesch.
[4][5] Birthday Candles was commissioned by Detroit Public Theatre in fall 2016, and Benesch oversaw a workshop during her tenure as artistic director of the Chautauqua Theater Company.
Benesch directed a Chautauqua production in 2017 before it made its debut in Detroit in 2018.
[2] In November 2022, The play was translated into Hebrew and performed at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, Israel.