Written & Performed by Evan Brenner
Directed by John C. Reilly

PROGRAM: The life of the Buddha in his own words – the evolution of his thought, his triumphs, and the rarely portrayed tragedy at the end of his life – all told from the original texts.

The man we know as the Buddha lived in Northern India around 500BC and introduced the teaching known as Buddhism. Approximately 300 years after his death, an extensive oral history of the movement was written down, carried and copied throughout Asia, and this canon is became the taproot of the entire Buddhist tradition. Framed in a most unusual and personal context, Buddha – Triumph & Tragedy brings to the stage these authentic texts to enact the extraordinary life of the man, start to finish.

The Buddha considered his own life a model for all our struggles saying, “He who knows me, knows the Dharma.” It’s no dry tale — The Buddha’s life stands among the great archetypal adventure stories.

70 minutes with no intermission.

THE LOS ANGELES REVIEWS ARE IN

“Superb…Enlightening…GO!.” The LA Weekly

“Full of boisterous inner fury…He delivers the material as if floating on an invisible cloud.” The LA Times

“Wonderfully entertaining, and a subject for introspection and conversation… if you haven’t achieved ‘nirvana,’ you can — at the Bootleg Theater.” Buzzine

“Brenner, with his wonderful performance, seems to capture infinity in a single moment.” Neon Tommy