James Phillips, associate professor of Theatre (pictured) will present Every Brilliant Thing on Thursday, May 23 at the college. The performance is sponsored by the college’s Desmond Center for Community Engagement and Wellness.
Armed with his list of everything worth living for, a man reviews his traumas and triumphs in Mount Saint Mary College’s presentation of Every Brilliant Thing on Thursday, May 23.
The performance, sponsored by the college’s Desmond Center for Community Engagement and Wellness, will take place at 7 p.m. in the Aquinas Hall Theatre, 330 Powell Ave., Newburgh, N.Y. The performance is free and open to the public, but you must register to attend. Register online at bit.ly/dccewmay2024. Seating is limited.
The play will be performed by James Phillips, associate professor of Theatre at the Mount. In addition to the Mount’s own theatre last year, Phillips has performed the play in venues as far away as Buffalo, N.Y. and Ohio.
Audience members can stick around after the show for a question and answer session and discussion with Phillips and Psychologist Rosangela Alecia.
Written by playwright Duncan Macmillan and comedian Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing tells the story of a boy who, to ease his mother’s depression, begins creating a list of all the things worth living for. From ice cream to martial arts movies, the list grows as the boy enters adulthood. This one-man play follows the boy’s life into adulthood as he deals with depression, love, trials, and victories.
Phillips says the experience is as comedic as it is poignant: “It’s very funny and entertaining,” he explained, “but it’s also very touching.”
What helps to make theatre so special, Phillips notes, is its finite nature – no two performances are ever the same. That sentiment rings even more true with Every Brilliant Thing than most other plays: six characters are pulled from the audience and adlib their small parts, and more than 50 others are called upon to read entries in the brilliant things list.
“The magic of this piece is that nobody ever says no, nobody freezes, and it just always works,” said Philips. “This story becomes the group’s story together, rather than passively sitting and watching a narrative. Everyone in the audience has their role to play.”