Every Brilliant Thing at Florida Rep ArtStage Theatre through March 29

Florida Repertory Theatre announces the opening of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe. It will play in the ArtStage Studio Theatre Feb. 28 to March 29.
1) Ice cream. 2) Rollercoasters. 3) Staying up past your bedtime. This brand-new one-person-play is an unexpectedly funny and inventive story of how a seven-year-old boy copes with his mother’s depression by making a list of everything brilliant that makes life worth living.
As time passes and the list grows, what began as an innocent attempt to deal with tragedy becomes an epic chronicle of life’s small joys. Every Brilliant Thing is a touching, funny, and intimate one-person tour-de-force charts the lengths we will go for those we love and asks the audience’s help to tell the story in a setting the ArtStage Studio Theatre has never seen. Every Brilliant Thing is an electrifying new play that strikes a delicate balance between sobering loss and cathartic laughter.
“I cannot wait for our audiences to see this important and refreshing new play,” said artistic director Greg Longenhagen. “Not only is this play inventive and funny, but it is also poignant and packed with heart and emotion. The play deals with some critical issues, and it asks us to be open about mental illness and to have a frank discussion about how we deal with depression and how it impacts families – but it does it through humor and personal connection. This unique play is not one to miss.”
Every Brilliant Thing stars Michael Satow as the play’s narrator and protagonist. Satow is a New York actor who is returning to Florida Rep after appearances in some of the biggest comic hits in the theatre’s recent history, including Lend me a Tenor, The Hound of the Baskervilles and as Mortimer Brewster in 2014’s nationally acclaimed Arsenic and Old Lace. In addition to his work on stages across the country, Satow plays a recurring role on the CBS series, The Good Fight.
Director Eleanor Holdridge returns to Florida Rep after helming last season’s hit show, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical. She works extensively in regional theatre, holds an MFA from Yale and is Head of Directing and Producer at the Catholic University of America’s Department of Drama. Holdridge leads a creative team including set designer Tim Billman (Always…Patsy Cline), costume designer Brooke Arthur (Florida Rep debut), lighting designer Annalise Caudle (Florida Rep debut), sound designer Katie Lowe (A Gentleman’s Guide) and ensemble stage manager Amy L. Massari (Barefoot in the Park).
Tickets start at $55 for regular performances and $35 for previews. Tickets are available online at www.FloridaRep.org and through the box office at 239-332-4488.
Subscriptions are also on sale now and offer the best seats at the most significant discount. Subscriptions are available through the box office at 239-332-4488 or toll-free at 877-787-8053.
Performances are Tuesday-Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Box office hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM. Again this season, Florida Rep’s parking lot will open 2 hours before each performance and offers guests free parking across the street from the Arcade Theatre.