Tampa Rep digs in deep with ‘Every Brilliant Thing’

There are so many intimate, revealing moments in Every Brilliant Thing, produced over the next two weekends by Tampa Repertory Theatre, it’s almost as if the lone actor onstage, known only as The Narrator, is a member of the audience who just stood up and started talking.

Which is not far from the truth, as the play by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe involves the audience from start to finish in short, tender bites of shared dialogue, as The Narrator – who begins Every Brilliant Thing as a 7-year-old – reviews an important development in his life, all the way to adulthood.

His mother, we’re told, is in the hospital after “trying to hurt herself,” as Dad tells him. She can’t find anything worth living for, he says.

And so The Narrator begins a lengthy but terribly important task: Creating a list of things to live for, every brilliant thing there is in life, to proudly show his mother. Over time, it morphs, changes and grows older and more mature as he does.

Number One on the list is ice cream.

Every Brilliant Thing, which stars the brilliant Ned Averill-Snell, is being presented as an outdoor production in the garden at Ybor City Museum State Park. Tickets are free.

This engaging story about life, love, death and rebirth is Tampa Rep’s first live production since 2019. Last year, the company suffered twin hardships: The death of founder C. David Frankel in March, followed immediately by Covid-19 and the worldwide live theater shutdown.

“It’s a delightfully uplifting, life-affirming piece,” announces Producing Artistic Director Emilia Sargent. “And that just seems like the most timely qualification for a show right now. Coming out of the pandemic, and the theater shutdown, probably the biggest thing for us is connections with others, and the community.

“Not only does it focus on every brilliant thing that The Narrator could think of, it brings people together as an interactive piece. So the audience and the actor are really, really in it together. Even moreso than a regular play.”

With a socially distanced cap of 70 seats, the show represents a gentle, safe rebirth for Tampa Rep, which doesn’t have a permanent home but will shortly announce a full, indoor production season for 2021-22.

“It’s a small, intimate play, so we wanted it to feel like an outdoor, yard gathering,” Sargent says. “And the beautiful garden that they have out there really is conducive to that. It’s surrounded by a wrought iron gate, it’s brick, it has a fountain, it’s just lovely and green.”

The Guardian U.K. called Every Brilliant Thing “heart-wrenching” and “hilarious” … and “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression.”

Which doesn’t mean it’s making light of the subject. “The thing is, everybody struggles, so everybody will find something to relate to,” offers Sargent.

“While treating suicide and depression as very, very important, and treating it with great care and delicacy, the play itself focuses on finding the things that we have to be grateful for, that make life worth living. And on the importance of hope in our darkest moments.”

Every Brilliant Thing finds the company collaborating with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, which will have reading material available at every performance. A Crisis Center representative will be there for an after-show talkback June 10.

The show opens June 3 (Thursday). Free tickets are available here.

Sargent admits that Averill-Snell, who’s been associated with Tampa Rep since its beginnings in 2011, was her first and only choice to play The Narrator.

“I’ve known about this piece for a long while, and I really love it,” she says. “And I honestly, just immediately thought of Ned.

“And there’s something wonderfully synchronous about having one of the co-founders of Tampa Rep be the center of our return to the stage for this second decade.”