‘The Bad Birthday’

A birthday really can be bad when everyone wants a piece of it — specifically, a piece of the cake that the young twins in this story can’t afford to bake for themselves. Presented by the World Voices Program of the New Perspectives Theater Company, “The Bad Birthday” chronicles the children’s efforts to obtain ingredients with the help of their neighbors, who demand cake in return, leaving the twins with the prospect of none. Actors and puppets both have roles in Rick Balian’s script, which is based on a Mexican folk tale and shows how the birthday kids manage to have their cake and eat it, too.