Every Brilliant Thing
by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
February 7-23, 2025
Rediscover all that life has to give.
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Fri, February 7, 2025, 7:30 pm
Fri, February 21, 2025, 7:30 pm |
You’re seven years old and your mom’s in the hospital because, as your dad says, she “finds it hard to be happy”. So you start to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. Everything that’s worth living for.
- Ice cream
- Water fights
- Staying up past your bedtime and being able to watch TV.
- The color yellow
- Things with stripes
You leave it on her pillow. You know she’s read it because she’s corrected your spelling. Soon, the list will take on a life of its own.
- Laughing so hard you shoot milk out of your nose
- Knowing someone well enough to get them to check your teeth for broccoli
This surprising and immersive theatrical experience speaks openly about depression, mental illness and suicide. With poignant humor and joy, Every Brilliant Thing takes us on a journey through grief, healing, falling in love, and rediscovering all that life has to give.
Meet the Company
Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe
Storyteller…Carey Cahoon (2/8, 2/21 and 2/23)
Storyteller…Peter Josephson (2/7, 2/9 and 2/22)
Directed by Emma Cahoon
Costume Design by Barbara Holbrook
Read the Program
Why This Show?
Why this play, why now?
“This is a play that we have loved for many years,” says Artistic Director, Matt Cahoon, “it is a play that gnaws at you emotionally.” In a polarized and often isolating world, the play’s format, which involves direct audience participation, emphasizes shared vulnerability and collective healing. This dovetails perfectly with tKAPOW’s season theme—conversation. “Duncan Macmillan brilliantly breaks down barriers between performer and audience member,” Cahoon says, “reminding both of the power of community.” The play’s central theme—the creation of a list of “brilliant things” that make life worth living—resonates strongly in a time when many people feel overwhelmed by global crises (climate change, political divisions, economic uncertainty, etc.). By focusing on small, everyday joys, the play offers a reminder that, even in difficult times, there are reasons to hope and appreciate life.
Breathing in the work of Duncan Macmillan again
Every Brilliant Thing is the second play by Duncan Macmillan that tKAPOW has produced. tKAPOW’s 2015 production of Lungs was a heartbreaking and hilarious examination of the perils of parenthood in an uncertain age. tKAPOW company member said of Lungs, “I can see light and often hear music when reading a play and the only sound I heard when reading this play was a heartbeat.” Macmillan’s beautiful and evocative writing will once again take center stage in Every Brilliant Thing.
Duncan Macmillian is an award-winning writer and theatre director whose plays include Lungs, Every Brilliant Thing and 2071 (all published by Oberon Books). His play People, Places and Things transferred from the National Theatre to the West End in 2016. Duncan Macmillan’s other plays include: 1984, co-adapted/co-directed with Robert Icke (Headlong/Nottingham Playhouse, UK tour, Almeida Theatre and West End), The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival/Schaubühne Berlin), Wunschloses Unglück, adaptation with Peter Handke (Burgtheater Vienna), Reise durch die Nacht, adaptation Friederike Mayröcker created with Katie Mitchell and Lyndsey Turner (Schauspielhaus Köln, Theatertreffen, Festival d’Avignon), Atmen (Schaubühne Berlin), Monster (Royal Exchange/Manchester International Festival).
Post-Show Discussion
Following the performance on Sunday February 9th, multiple community partners provided resources to audience and company members. Partner organizations included the Jason R. Flood Memorial Foundation, NAMI-NH, and Capitol Art Therapy.
Audience Reaction
“Some thought provoking themes so[we] had some engaging discussion afterward on the ride home. You all looked absolutely fabulous up there. Thank you for sharing it with us.”
