Writers Theatre continues its 2024/25 Season with Every Brilliant Thing
Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Artistic Director Braden Abraham, continues its 2024/25 Season with Every Brilliant Thing, written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, directed by Kimberly Senior, and starring Jessie Fisher. Every Brilliant Thing will run October 31, 2024 - January 5, 2025 in the Gillian Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe.
"1. Ice Cream. 2. Water fights. 3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV." This is how a six-year-old child begins a list of all the things that make life wonderful. They're making the list for their mother, who suffers from depression. As life goes on, and the challenges faced morph from childhood to adulthood, the list continues to grow and take on a life of its own. By shining a hilarious and compassionate light on life's small abundant joys, this big-hearted play-told in gentle collaboration with the audience-is a loving tribute to resilience and the lengths we will go to for those we love.
Every Brillinant Thing stars Jessie Fisher, who is returning home to Chicago after appearing on Broadway in A Beautiful Noise, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Once. Director Kimberly Senior returns to Writers where she previously directed Buried Child, The Scene, Marjorie Prime, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hedda Gabler and The Letters. She directed the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar on Broadway.
The designers are: Izumi Inaba (scenic and costume design), Jason Lynch (lighting design), Angela Baldasare and Mikhail Fiksel (co-sound design), and Rae Watson (props design). The creative team includes Faith Hart (assistant director), Erin Shea Brady (dramaturg) and Julie Jachym (stage manager).
Artistic Director Braden Abraham comments, "We are thrilled to return to producing in our Gillian Theatre with Every Brilliant Thing, a remarkable piece of theatre that plays to the unique strengths of our beloved black box space. The play is in many ways a testament to the everlasting power and boundless potential of theatre in its most unvarnished form; an unexpected collaboration between performer and audience yields an unforgettable shared experience. We can think of no better pairing of artists than Kimberly Senior and Jessie Fisher to take us on this theatrical adventure with kindness and care."