Live Arts Announces 2021/22 Season Opener EVERY BRILLIANT THING

The Live Arts reIGNITE Season launches with EVERY BRILLIANT THING, a gently humorous and uplifting solo show about depression and resilience where the audience becomes a part of the story. EVERY BRILLIANT THING by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe will have 17 performances, October 15 through November 7, 2021, at Live Arts Theater, 123 E. Water Street in Charlottesville. Tickets are available for $25 (or $20 for students and seniors) through the Box Office at 434-977-4177 or online at livearts.org/tix.

Live Arts will host two special events for EVERY BRILLIANT THING: An Opening Night reception following the performance on October 15, 2021, and our post-show audience talk-back on Thursday, October 21, 2021 (7:30pm curtain). EVERY BRILLIANT THING will be performed without an intermission. Audiences are welcome to enjoy drinks and concessions on the fourth floor balcony one hour prior to and following performances.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Live Arts is directed by longtime Charlottesville theater-maker Clinton Johnston, and showcases a trio of performers who will rotate in the role of the narrator: Chris Estey, Liz Howard, and Ray Nedzel. The production also features a top-notch creative team: Kerry Moran (scenic design); Mark Schuyler (lighting design); Becky Brown (sound design); Miriam Halpern (costume design); and Daryl O'Connor (properties design and scenic dressing).

What does a six-year-old do to cheer up their mom after she's tried to kill herself? Starts making a list of everything that's brilliant about the world, everything worth living for, and leaves it on her pillow. 1. Ice cream. 2. Kung Fu movies. 3. Burning things. 4. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out your nose.

As our narrator grows up and experiences new joys and curves, the list grows too, and takes on a life of its own. The narrator invites the audience to become part of the story by reading aloud one of the brilliant things on the list, or perhaps by playing a parent, a school guidance counselor, or the vet.

Macmillan and Donohoe's play sensitively blends sadness and humor, sweetness and honesty, silliness and poignancy, and takes on big subjects without sentimentality or judgment. In a unique Live Arts twist, three different performers will appear in rotating repertory during the run-bringing their own perspectives to the story just as new audiences will shape each evening's performance with their contributions.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING was first produced in June 2013, by Paines, Plough and Pentabus Theatre at the Ludlow Fringe Festival, performed by Jonny Donahoe. Its North American premiere, also performed by Donahoe, was at the Barrow Street Theatre, NYC, in December 2014. EVERY BRILLIANT THING was a Lucille Lortel Award Nominee for Outstanding Solo Show.

Live Arts prioritizes the health and safety of our volunteers, patrons, and staff by requiring indoor masks and full vaccinations for all. Please visit livearts.org/covid for our current COVID policies.