One-Man Play Takes Center Stage at the Bootleg Theater

For the next two weeks, until March 4, Buddha – A Fantastic Journey will be performed at the Bootleg Theater. Buddha is a one-man play that features the life of the Buddha from original texts. Written and performed by Evan Brenner, it is an enlightening and engaging story from start to finish.

Brenner has been interested in Buddhism since 2003, when he first started taking classes on the sutra studies in the Therevada tradition. He was intrigued by the Buddha’s life as a spiritual journey and an ongoing challenge.

“I found myself discouraged by the confusing and contradictory array of Buddhist teachings, so I set out to discover what I perceived to be the source of the Buddha’s teaching,” said Brenner in a statement. “I became deeply engaged in the sutras which are really quite dramatic and work really well just as a story. And so I had an eureka moment: what if I did the Buddha as a one-man play — in his own words, taken directly from the sutras?”

With inspiration for the story, Brenner went about writing about the life of the Buddha for the theater. The drama was workshopped for two years before premiering at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2009. Since then, it has been performed in various venues in Denver, New  York, and Pittsburgh. For the west coast premiere of Buddha, it is directed by Oscar and Tony-nominated actor John C. Reilly, who is known for a number of film and stage roles.

To find out more about the performance, visit www.thebuddhaplay.com.

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