Rehearsals Begin for “Every Brilliant Thing” at Geffen Playhouse

REHEARSALS BEGIN FOR “EVERY BRILLIANT THING” AT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

FEATURING DANIEL K. ISAAC AND DIRECTED BY COLM SUMMERS

WRITTEN BY DUNCAN MACMILLAN WITH JONNY DONAHOE

PREVIEWS BEGIN SEPTEMBER 6 - OPENING NIGHT IS SEPTEMBER 14

LOS ANGELES (August 8, 2023) – Rehearsals have begun for Geffen Playhouse’s production of Every Brilliant Thing, written by Olivier Award–nominated playwright Duncan Macmillan (Lungs; People, Places, and Things) with Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee Jonny Donahoe (Thirty Christmases, Forgiveness). The one-person play features Drama Desk Award nominee Daniel K. Isaac (Billions, The Chinese Lady) and is being directed by Colm Summers (Associate Director, The Inheritance; Portia Coughlan).

Previews for Every Brilliant Thing begin Wednesday, September 6, 2023, in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, September 14, 2023.

“Ice cream.” “Water fights.” “Peeing in the sea and nobody knows.” A boy’s handwritten list to cheer up his despondent mom becomes a surprisingly funny and poignant ode to humanity. Daniel K. Isaac takes audiences on a transcendent and tender coming-of-age journey that reminds us to pay attention to life’s smallest joys—and to each other.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
Directed by Colm Summers

Previews: September 6, 2023 – September 13, 2023
Opening Night: September 14, 2023
Closing Night: October 15, 2023

CAST
Daniel K. Isaac as Performer

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Sibyl Wickersheimer
Costume Designer Samantha C. Jones
Lighting Designer Benedict Conran
Sound Designer Stephanie Lynn Yackovetsky
Associate Director Austin Tooley
Intimacy Director Amanda Rose Villarreal
Dramaturg Olivia O’Connor
Production Stage Manager Colleen Danaher
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday – Tuesday No performance*
Wednesday – Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.
*There will be one Tuesday performance on October 10, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Runtime
Approx. 70 minutes, no intermission.

Warnings
Content Advisory: This production contains discussions of depression and suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or thinking about self-harm or suicide, there is help available. Call or text 988 for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Age Recommendation: 16+
All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under 10 years of age will not be admitted.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $30.00 - $129.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under ten years of age will not be admitted.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.

COLLEGE AUDIENCES
Through a variety of events and other opportunities, Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Duncan Macmillan (Playwright)
Duncan Macmillan is a writer for theatre, television, and film. His theatre work includes Lungs; People, Places and Things; Every Brilliant Thing; Rosmersholm (adapt. Henrik Ibsen); 1984 (adapt. George Orwell, co-written and co-directed with Robert Icke); City of Glass (adapt. Paul Auster); and 2071 (co-written with Chris Rapley). Other plays include The Forbidden Zone; Wunschloses Unglück (adapt. Peter Handke); Reise Durch die Nacht (adapt. Friederike Mayröcker). His work has been performed throughout the world, including National Theatre, The Old Vic, Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Barbican, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Melbourne Theatre Company, Berliner Ensemble, Hamburg Schauspielhaus, Schauspielhaus Köln, Burgtheater Wien, Vesturport, Kansallisteatteri, Nationaltheatret Oslo, and in the repertory of the Schaubühne Berlin, as well as the Edinburgh Festival, the Manchester International Festival, Salzburg Festival, Festival d’Avignon, Theatertreffen, in the West End, and on Broadway. His screen work has appeared on the BBC, HBO, Netflix and at the Berlin and London Film Festivals. Reise Durch die Nacht was awarded the Nestroy Preis for Best German Language Production. Both 1984 and People, Places and Things were nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards, and Rosmersholm was nominated for Best Revival.

Jonny Donahoe (Playwright)
Jonny Donahoe is an actor, comedian, playwright, and screenwriter. His one-man show Every Brilliant Thing, (which he co-wrote and originally performed), has played more than six hundred times over four continents, including five months off-Broadway at The Barrow Street Theatre. The show was filmed by World of Wonder and screened as a special on HBO. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, and an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for his performance. He is the frontman of musical-comedy-satirists, Jonny & The Baptists, as well regularly performing stand-up in his own right. His play Thirty Christmases (starring himself and Rachel Parris), premiered at the Old Fire Station in Oxford, before transferring to the New Diorama Theatre in London. He has also created a twelve-part series on parenthood with real-life partner Josie Long called Josie & Jonny Are Having a Baby (With You!) for American podcast network Midroll. More recently has written the acclaimed new play Forgiveness which toured the UK and internationally in 2022.

Colm Summers (Director)
Colm Summers is a director from Waterford, Ireland, based between Los Angeles, New York, and Dublin. Selected credits include: The Inheritance (Geffen Playhouse), Portia Coughlan (Abbey Theatre), La Clemenza di Tito (Grand Théâtre de Genève). Colm has worked with The Wooster Group, the feath3r theory, Milo Rau, Dead Centre, and Pan Pan. Read Colm’s essays in Études, Blast at 100 (Brill), and in Charles Macklin and the Theatres of London (Liverpool University Press). As playwright, Colm is published in Fresh Cuts: New Plays from Dublin Fringe (Oberon). He is a Berkeley Rep Ground Floor cohort member, Dublin Fringe Radical Spirit Award Nominee, Dublin Theatre Festival Next Stage cohort member, and Pan Pan International Mentorship. Colm was Resident Director at the National Theatre of Ireland, inaugural Director in Residence at the Geffen Playhouse, and a Resident Performing Artist at BRIClab, Brooklyn. Colm was recently awarded the Irish Arts Council Next Generation Artists Award. He is delighted and grateful to make his Geffen Playhouse debut. www.colmsummers.com

Daniel K. Isaac (Performer)
Off-Broadway: You Will Get Sick (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Chinese Lady (Drama Desk Nomination, Ma-Yi Theater Company/The Public Theater); You Never Touched the Dirt (Clubbed Thumb); The Gentleman Caller (Abingdon Theatre Company); Sagittarius Ponderosa (NAATCO); Underland (59E59 Theaters); Anna Nicole the Opera (BAM). Regional: The Ballad of Little Jo (Two River Theater). Film/TV: “Ben Kim” on Billions (Showtime); The Other Two, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Deuce, Crashing, Too Big to Fail (HBO); The Drummer, The Expecting, Money Monster, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Person of Interest. Upcoming: Plan B, Dirty Rhetoric. As a playwright, he made his debut with ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME (Ma-Yi). @danielkisaac

OPENING NIGHT SPONSOR
Skylight Gardens

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr. and Board Chair Adi Greenberg. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org

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MEDIA CONTACTS

Zenon Dmytryk
Geffen Playhouse

Isaak Berliner
Geffen Playhouse