Mariska Hargitay to Perform EVERY BRILLIANT THING at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Hargitay will appear onstage in three performances over Friday, August 7, 2026 and Saturday, August 8, 2026 at the Lucie Stern Theatre.
Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor Mariska Hargitay (NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) will kick off TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's 23rd Annual New Works Festival, performing in a benefit presentation of Every Brilliant Thing. Direct from her Broadway engagement in the hit show written by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe and as co-directed on Broadway by Macmillan and Jeremy Herrin, Hargitay will offer Bay Area audiences the opportunity to experience her acclaimed portrayal. Proceeds will benefit TheatreWorks and Joyful Heart Foundation, which has a local San Francisco Bay Area Committee. Joyful Heart Foundation is an organization founded by Hargitay that supports survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.
Hargitay will appear onstage in three performances 7pm Friday, August 7, 2026 and 2pm & 7pm Saturday, August 8, 2026 at the Lucie Stern Theatre. For tickets ($270-$400, pricing subject to change) and information, the public may visit theatreworks.org or call 877-662-8978. Her appearances will launch the company’s acclaimed annual New Works Festival, which assembles playwrights and composers of national stature, to present local audiences with glimpses of newly developed musicals and plays.
The special performances of Every Brilliant Thing will feature added opportunities including a post-show reception with Hargitay and an afternoon panel in which Hargitay will be joined by her half-sisters TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and Las Vegas producer and event specialist Pietra Sardelli for a post-show panel discussion about Every Brilliant Thing and Hargitay’s documentary My Mom Jayne, which explores the life of Hargitay’s late mother Jayne Mansfield and the family’s relationship.
Every Brilliant Thing is a remarkable, resplendent play in which its central character looks back at their life and the glimmers of hope that carried them through—all told through a list of every wonderful, beautiful, and delightful thing that makes life worth living. Following performances across the world, Every Brilliant Thing opened on Broadway in February 2026. It received Tony Award nominations for Best Revival of a Play and for its lead actor, Tony Award winner Daniel Radcliffe, who was succeeded by Hargitay in a celebrated run. Emmy Award-nominated actor Tracee Ellis Ross will make her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing July 7, 2026 at New York’s Hudson Theatre. Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway features costume design by Vicki Mortimer and sound design by Tom Gibbons.
With special events and readings August 7 - 16, 2026, TheatreWorks’ 2026 New Works Festival’s star-studded lineup will also feature Come From Away composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Sankoff and Hein’s new musical Vienna will be seen in the festival, and the duo will also perform a one-night-only fundraising engagement of Cut From Away on August 14, 2026. With an option to join the creators for a Gander-themed pre-show dinner, this special event showcases the “stranded” songs, stories, and characters that were cut from Come From Away before it made its Broadway debut. Also featuring cast members from TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s recent production of Come From Away, this special New Works Festival event celebrates the process of creating theatre, providing a behind the scenes look at developing new works, uplifting fantastic songs that ultimately didn’t make the cut, and sharing tales behind the journey to Broadway.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s New Works Festival gathers nationally and internationally renowned artists in Palo Alto to unveil new plays and musicals in progress. At this wildly popular event, hundreds of lovers of new theatre assemble for an advance look at tomorrow’s hits. Continuing the company’s legacy of fostering new plays and musicals, this unique festival offers audiences an extraordinary opportunity to experience brand new theatre pieces in their early stages of development. Other highlights include: Roja, a new twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story fusing traditional Mexican folk music and Mestizo folklore, written by Jaime Lozano (“Songs by an Immigrant,” orchestrations for In the Heights film) and Tommy Newman (Tinyard Hill); Floor 37 by Susan Fairbrook Core Writers Group alumna Margot Melcon (Christmas at Pemberley series); RE– by Kimber Lee, playwright of tokyo fish story (TheatreWorks 2016) and brownsville song (b-side for tray); and a double bill of Hip Hop solo plays: The Tell Tale Heart by Susan Fairbrook Core Writers Group alumnus Carlos Aguirre (Freestyle Love Supreme guest artist) and Rap Monologues by Latin Grammy-nominated composer Austin Dean Ashford (Beauty & the Beat). Festival Passes ($90) for readings are currently available at theatreworks.org or by calling TheatreWorks’ box office at 877-662-8978. Festival passes do not include tickets to the benefit performances of Every Brilliant Thing and Cut From Away.
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The Sound of Music San Jose Center for the Performing Arts (7/21-7/26) |