every brilliant thingby Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe
May 20, 2022 – May 22, 2022
Every Brilliant Thing was a month-long process of, truly, an absurd amount of work. Directing and designing a production over the span of 3-4 weeks is already insane. Try solely producing and marketing the production on top of that. Oh, right. And memorizing an hour-and-a-half long monologue, rehearsing it everyday for hours, all while keeping the production afloat. This was my life during the last month of college, and although it was one of the most, if not the most, stressful periods of creating I have ever experienced, it was totally worth it. I am crazy; I know that. But my craziness fuels my creativity, and I wanted my last artistic endeavor in college to represent that beautiful insanity that occupies my brain.
In mid-April after completing my second thesis of the academic year, closing the door on the first draft of full-length script, I made the decision to be the actor, co-director, designer, and producer for a play I had fallen in love with years prior. I lived in Bates College’s Gannett Theater for around 3.5 weeks, rehearsing the script, building the set, designing the lights and sound, and eating dinner at stupid hours of the night. I will be honest; my mental health plummeted during that month long process, but the story I was telling kept me afloat. I held on to the little things in my life that brought me joy, and the fact that I was pushing my artistry to its absolute limit. It was a significant challenge; I had to teach myself a lot, seek out a lot of help, and push myself over and over to keep going. But when the music began to play on opening night, it all came together, everything I had worked toward over the four years prior, the culmination of the thirteen years of artistic work I had put myself through, the moment I would say goodbye to what I was and begin the next chapter in the story of what was to come.
My Program Note:
I was first introduced to this play in high school, when a friend of mine at the time performed a cutting of it for a speech and debate piece. I immediately fell in love with it, and since my first year of college I had talked about performing it at some point in my artistic career.
As an artist, I am always trying to find creative ways to advocate for things I believe in, tell stories that I feel need to be told, and to make an impact on those that indulge in my work. And I believed that exploring this play would accomplish all of that beautifully.
Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing, is everything I stand for, and everything that pushes me forward. It’s thinking deeply about life and being open about how you are feeling, whether it be good or bad. As someone with social anxiety that often manifests with depressive symptoms, as well as someone who has a deep appreciation for vulnerability and mental health literacy, this story resonated with me and spoke to me from the moment I picked it up for the first time. It’s beautiful, it’s funny, it’s powerful, and it represents ideas that I would not be here without. Furthermore, this story has made me celebrate my appreciation for things in my life that sometimes get overlooked, things that truly make my life worth living.
Sharing stories that validate my experience and the experiences of others.
