“Give me one reason to stay here,” crooned Tracy Chapman in 1995, “and I’ll turn right back around.” A few years earlier, a 7-year-old named Duncan MacMillan embraced the spirit of this lyric as, in an attempt to pull his mother back from the brink of oblivion, he began keeping a list of the beautiful objects, moments, and experiences that make life worth living.
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The list continued to grow and change as MacMillan’s life went on, eventually becoming the subject of a one-man show, Every Brilliant Thing, the 2018 Olney Theatre Center production which is currently being presented at Studio Theatre under the direction of Jason Loewith and starring Alexander Strain.
Written with Jonny Donahoe, the play was first produced by Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre in 2013 at the Ludlow Fringe Festival in the UK. Following a North American premiere in New York in 2014 and being filmed for HBO, Every Brilliant Thing is now being used to launch Studio’s new SHOWROOM series. To be more specific, the name SHOWROOM is recent, but the concept has been around for a while—the new title is an attempt to wrangle Studio’s festival-like summertime offerings under a cohesive moniker.
In keeping with the more casual vibe, the show is held in one of Studio’s upstairs spaces, and seating is done cabaret-style, around cocktail tables. The space features a full bar, free cookies on the stage meant for audience members, and general encouragement for spectators to get to know one another. The pre-show routine also includes Strain handing out different objects with numbers and words written on them to members of the audience, instructing them to read the words whenever their number is called.
Every Brilliant Thing closes at Studio Theatre July 7, 2019. Details and tickets
From there, Strain goes on to tell MacMillan’s story. The premise is simple if somber: following the first of several suicide attempts by his mother, our protagonist, feeling helpless, begins to keep a rudimentary, numbered list of all the small and large wondrous things about the world that are worth sticking around for. Predictably, they range from the broad and universal—ice cream, coffee—to the more specific and intangible, like the fact that sometimes there’s the perfect song to match what you’re feeling or the experience of peeing in the ocean without anyone knowing.
The show tracks the evolution of the list and its stops and starts—following MacMillan’s mother’s second suicide attempt when he’s 17; when it morphs into a means of connecting with and wooing a fellow college student named Sam; when he returns to it after the dissolution of he and Sam’s marriage years later due to his initial unwillingness to deal with his own depression. All the while, the audience is drawn into the story, not just to read items from the list, but to embody various other characters in the story including a veterinarian, a sock-puppet-wielding guidance counselor, and both MacMillan’s father and Sam herself.
Strain truly excels at working the audience, making them feel comfortable and coaxing participation out of them in a warm and welcoming way. He also shows a proficiency for improvisation, playing off the audience members in real time (side note: I could almost believe that I was secretly seated with a crowd full of plants; DC audiences have some real talent and are, generally, good sports!). The script addresses hard topics but does so with touches of humor and a sprinkling of facts, which helps to keep the whole endeavor from falling into clichéd sentimentalism.
Under Loewith’s naturalistic direction, Strain uses the entirety of the intimate space in a way that feels unforced. Max Doolittle’s deft lighting design follows suit, subtly enhancing the story—except for the few moments it makes itself known to the audience with a wry smile and wink (props also go to Paige Hathaway’s scenic design, which includes an array of gorgeous chandeliers that I somehow missed until they were frenetically flickering above me). Altogether, the effect is downright cozy.
At just a little over an hour, Every Brilliant Thing easily fulfills SHOWROOM’s stated mission of delivering “great performances in small rooms” and makes for an enjoyable summertime afternoon or evening. Rarely have I felt such camaraderie with a room full of strangers, despite having attended the performance on my own.
We’re living in a time when finding the special, worthwhile things in life can feel like a challenge; but Every Brilliant Thing is something I can unreservedly recommend you add to your own personal list before it, like the season itself, is gone.
Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe. Directed by Jason Loewith. Featuring Alexander Strain. Scenic design: Paige Hathaway. Lighting design: Max Doolittle. Sound design: Ryan Gravett and Jane Behre. Costume design: Debra Kim Sivigny. Props design: Kate Brittingham. Production stage manager: Dayna Svoboda. Director of production: Josh Escajeda. Technical director: Jeffery Martin. Produced by Studio Theatre. Reviewed by John Bavoso.
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