Every Brilliant Thing | CalArts | 2023

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Every Brilliant Thing is an immersive interactive solo play. It begins with a 7-year-old who starts a list of every brilliant thing worth living for in the world in an effort to save their mother from her attempts at suicide. Despite the play's darker themes of suicide and depression, the tone of the piece is lighthearted, humorous, and endearing. The play explores these themes with unflinching honesty and does not shy away from conveying the perfect balance between the struggles of life, and celebrating all that is sweet in it.

Our goal as a team was to create an atmosphere of warmth and comfort, while carving out contrasting cool breaths of stillness and sincerity. We cultivated an environment that allowed the text to come across as a lighthearted conversation in order to embrace the audience. We were able to create a container that the performer filled with volume and energy. She was able to explore the space around her, while enveloping the audience in her world.

“If you live a long life and get to the end of it without ever once having felt crushingly depressed, then you probably haven't been paying attention.”