Every Brilliant Thing 

by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe

BNH Stage

February 7, 8, and 9, 2025

Winnipesaukee Playhouse

February 21, 22, and 23, 2025

Director’s Note

Every Brilliant Thing is a play unlike any other theatre KAPOW has produced in its 17 year history, and I think you’ll probably find it’s unlike any theatrical experience you’ve had either. As you sit here reading this, you’ve likely already been greeted by the actor performing today, the house lights are illuminating the entire room and the space is almost entirely stripped bare. Fellow audience members sit across from you, and you’ll see and hear them, be in community with them, throughout the entirety of the play. Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s text bends the boundaries between audience and actor that we typically expect we will meet in the theatre; it requires an absolute presence from everyone in the room. Just like in real life, that presence can be full of discomfort. It can be full of uncertainty, or surprises, or even mistakes; always, it is full of vulnerability and magic. 

It’s my feeling that no play should ever feel like a thing to be merely witnessed; rather, coming to the theatre should feel like a communal event and exchange, a symbiosis of energies. With this play, evoking that feeling is necessary. Every Brilliant Thing tells the story of a person grappling with their mother’s depression, and about the endless search for what makes this life worth living. So often, the answer to that question comes down to the people around us. That’s what Macmillan is reminding us by inviting you, the audience, to be a part of the story; the only way through is together.

Every Brilliant Thing reminds us how important it is to hold each other. How important it is to really look at, really listen to, really be with someone. It is so easy to feel isolated, overwhelmed, alone. It is easier than it has ever been to tune out. First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for spending your afternoon or evening here with us at the theatre. Your presence is not only necessary for this particular play, but your commitment to local arts is essential to our culture. One of the most important things we can do during challenging moments is to show up, so thank you for doing so. Secondly, I’d like to urge you to be brave; to arrive in this space, look at each other, see each other, hold each other and live in the ridiculous, uncertain, vulnerable, surprising, and magic present – together. Brilliant things are everywhere. Reasons to stay are everywhere. If you’re having trouble seeing them, maybe start by looking to the people sitting right next to you – we will help you find them.

 – Emma Cahoon, Director

theatre KAPOW presents

Every Brilliant Thing 

by Duncan Macmillan
With Jonny Donahoe

Featuring Peter Josephson (February 7, 9, and 22)

Carey Cahoon (February 8, 21, and 23)

Director …… Emma Cahoon

Stage Manager ….. Kate Dugas

Consent Consultant …… Kyrie Ellison

Costume Design …… Barbara Holbrook

Scenic Design …… Matt Cahoon

Live Musician Coordinator …… Jake Hudgins

Director of American Sign Language …… Deb McKinney

ASL/English Interpreters … Nicole Comtois and Jola Leary

Every Brilliant Thing is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection (www.dramatists.com).

Every Brilliant Thing was first produced by Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre, on 28 June 2013 at Ludlow Fringe Festival. The play had its North American premiere at Barrow Street Theatre, New York, on 6 December 2014, where it was presented by Barrow Street Theatre and Jean Doumanian Productions.

The Company

Peter Josephson (Storyteller 2/7, 2/9, 2/22 ) is in his fourteenth season as a company member of the/atre KAPOW. An accomplished actor and director, he has been nominated for Seacoast Spotlight awards for both acting and directing, and has won two New Hampshire Theatre Awards for his roles in Penelope and Exit the King (both with tKAPOW). In addition to tKAPOW he has performed with the New Hampshire Theatre Project, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, and the Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, and has directed for tKAPOW, the New Hampshire Theatre Project, Threshold Stage, and Glass Dove Productions. Peter’s most recent productions with tKAPOW include Macbeth, Mr. Wolf, Tiny Beautiful Things, The Thanksgiving Play and Life Sucks. He leads occasional acting workshops in the Michael Chekhov technique. For more than 40 years (!) he has benefited from the love and support of his wife Becky, without whom he would be a shadow of his present self.

Carey Cahoon (Storyteller 2/8, 2/21, 2/23) was seen on stage last season with tKAPOW as Woman in On the Exhale and as Alex in Paradise Now!. She has won 3 NH Theatre Awards for Best Actress in tKAPOW’s productions as Briseis in Living in Exile Queen Marguerite in Exit the King, for her roles in tKAPOW’s 3-person Macbeth.Other favorite roles include the woman in On the Exhale, Sarah Goodwin in Time Stands Still, Cassandra in Agamemnon, Hedda Tesman in Hedda Gabler, Jessie in ‘night, Mother, the Pilot in Grounded and Penelope in The Penelopiad. Carey has also performed, directed or designed with Glass Dove Productions, Boston Playwright’s Platform, Stage One Productions, the Palace Theatre, and the Anselmian Abbey Players. She holds a BA in Classics from St. Anselm College, and trained at the Atlantic Acting School, Shakespeare & Company, and with SITI Company. careycahoon.com

Emma Cahoon (Director) is a theatre-maker dedicated to the art of asking questions. A graduate of Boston University with a BFA in Theatre Arts, Emma has worked with organizations across the country including Central Square Theater, What Would the Neighbors Say?, the Seven Devils New Play Foundry, and more. Emma is very grateful to be working with theatre KAPOW again, with her previous directing credits including A Midsummer Night’s Dream for St. Anselm College’s Shakespeare on the Green and performance credits including Life Sucks. (Sonia), The Penelopiad (Maid), and Translations (Sarah). Emma’s directing practice centers elevating and exploring dramatic texts to their fullest depths, while creating collaborative environments built on equal parts creativity, joy, and rigor, and working on Every Brilliant Thing has been a challenge and a joy for her.

Kate Dugas (Stage Manager) is a multi-hyphenate theatre maker based in New Hampshire. Their work is both physical and ephemeral as they cross between design, management and the choreographic, working as a technical director, scenic artist, stage manager and Intimacy Director. They are based in Portsmouth and started this past August as New Hampton School’s Technical Director as well as Visual and Performing Arts Faculty. Before that, they worked at the Seacoast Rep for about 6 years as Resident Stage Manager, Asst Production Manager, Scenic Charge and other odd jobs. They have a lifelong dream of driving a Zamboni and owe all their success to their two cats, Riff and Hades. 

Kyrie Ellison (Consultant) is a performance maker, Intimacy Director, and Fight Director based in New Hampshire. Her work utilizes the choreographic, through stage combat and movement, to build femme communal spaces & speculative narratives to confront oppressive forms. She’s curious about the stories we tell each other to “just get through it” and how they relate to the fairy tales and tropes made popular by writers. She is passionate about the facilitation of safe spaces for artists, audiences, and creatives to engage with their communities, both locally and globally. Her work has been seen on stage at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, Bank of New Hampshire Stage (theatreKAPOW), and Sarah Lawrence College. She’s ecstatic to be working with Winnipesaukee Playhouse on another performance. Currently, she works as the Associate Director of Theatre at New Hampton School. Past credits include Witch (Winnipesaukee Playhouse), The Thanksgiving Play (theatreKAPOW), Sweeney Todd (Winnipesaukee Playhouse), Tiny Beautiful Things (theatreKAPOW), Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor (Winnipesaukee Playhouse), Mr. Wolf (theatreKAPOW), Breadcrumbs (theatreKAPOW), Weekend Warrior (Sarah Lawrence College), Athena (Sarah Lawrence College), Small Mouth Sounds (Sarah Lawrence College), Spring Awakening (Russell Sage College) & Cabaret (Russell Sage College). www.ellisonarts.com

Matthew Cahoon (Artistic Director/Scenic Designer) is a theatre maker who specializes in Direction and Production Design. He is one of the co-founders of theatre KAPOW and during his time with tKAPOW, Matt has directed over 30 productions for the company.  He has received multiple NH Theatre Awards for his work with tKAPOW including Best Director (3x) and Best Scenic Design.  Matt has also directed at St. Anselm College, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, Jean’s Playhouse, and LaMaMa Umbria.  He is a three-time recipient of the NHSCA Artist Entrepreneurial Grant Award and was named one of the Union Leader’s 40 Under Forty (back when he was under forty!). Matt has an MA in Arts Administration from Goucher College and an M.Ed. in Leadership and Management from Fitchburg State University.  Additional training includes work with Double Edge Theatre Company and the Tectonic Theater Project. After spending 18 years as the Director of Cultural Programming and Director of the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy, Matt became the Director of Theatre at New Hampton School. In July 2024, Matt was named New Hampton’s next Academic Dean. 

Barbara Holbrook (Costumer) has a BA in Theatre, an MFA in Costume Design, and a passion for creative collaborations on stage and off. She’s thrilled to be returning to theatre KAPOW for another season, continuing an artistic relationship that began in 2022. Past projects with special places in her heart include Pippin, The Secret Garden, Annie, Godspell, The Imaginary Invalid, Merrily We Roll Along, Candide, The Good Person of Szechwan, and The Man of La Mancha. Barbara’s also a certified meditation instructor, Reiki Master, yoga teacher, and co-founder of 4th Wheel Flow, where she brings all those threads together under the umbrella of energetic intelligence. She lives north of Boston in a multi-generational household where she hones her practices of love, humor, resilience, and unapologetic self-care. 

Duncan Macmillian (playwright) is an award-winning writer and theatre director whose plays include Lungs, Every Brilliant Thing and 2071. 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).

theatre KAPOW is in its seventeenth season and has established a reputation for presenting important classic and new dramatic literature including productions by Henrik Ibsen, Sam Shepard, Sarah Ruhl, Tony Kushner, Lauren Gunderson,  and Paula Vogel. In 2019, tKAPOW won the NH Theatre Award for Best Production of a Play for The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. tKAPOW has also won Best Production of a Play for Penelope by Enda Walsh (2014), Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies (2015), and Exit the King by Eugene Ionesco (2017). In 2021, tKAPOW was honored with a Silver Lining Resilience Governor’s Arts Award for creative and innovative solutions offsetting challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, tKAPOW became the resident theatre company of the BNH Stage in Concord, NH. 

theatre KAPOW is supported in part by a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Braille material printing supported by the Henry Lord Scholarship Fund

theatre KAPOW is proud to be a Senior Fellow in the New Hampshire Dance Collaborative’s Accelerator Program and we are grateful for their support.

theatre KAPOW thanks the following people and organizations for their support of Life Sucks.

• BNH Stage
• Winnipesaukee Playhouse
• Full Circle Vinyl
• Capital Art Therapy
• Future in Sight
• Perkins School for the Blind
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• The Jason R Flood Memorial Fund
• New Hampton Schoo

VISUAL DESCRIPTION

The audience seating creates a rectangle, so everyone can see everyone else in the room. Vinyl Records are suspended from the lighting truss above the Audience.  Full stage and house lights remain on for the performance