Every Brilliant Thing

Performed by Katie Downing, with direction by Mary Beth Killian, Every Brilliant Thing, by Duncan Mcmillan, is an attempt to catalog everything worth living for. By turns funny and sad, it chronicles the narrator’s struggle to understand her mother’s repeated suicide attempts, navigate growing up, and wrestle with her own mental health. Through it all, the list grounds her in all of her reasons for living. “Number 1: Ice cream.”

Poster for Every Brilliant Thing: A record player with a wall covered in post-it notes in the background. Text: Silk Moth Stage presents Every Brilliant Thing, by Duncan Macmillan with Johnny Donahoe. August 6, 7, 12, and 13 at 7 pm. General Admission $35/Students $18. More info and tickets at SilkMothStage.com Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service

We invite audience members to bring their own brilliant things. Write them on our stage. Share them with each other. Expand your list in conversation with the performers after the show.

In this dark time, brilliance is an act of rebellion. Join us.

Did you already see the production at American Shakespeare Center? You should still come to this one. Every Brilliant Thing is vastly different depending on the performer and the venue. Our Artistic Director wrote a whole thing about how much she loved ASC’s production. Ours is going to be different, though. We’d love to hear from people who end up seeing both. What did you notice?

Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.

Production shots

Images by Tiffany Showalter Photography

The lawn, with people watching the play.
In the foreground, the word NAPS is written on a post. Blurred in the background is Azalea, playing the guitar.
Azalea Twining plays the guitar
Artistic director Aili Huber welcomes the crowd
Artistic director Aili Huber welcomes the crowd. In the foreground, musician Azalea Twining tunes her guitar.
Katie performs with an audience member. She is standing. He is sitting on the stage, looking up at her.
Kate performs with an audience member. They are sitting on the stage.
Katie writes on the stage
Katie performs with an audience member. They are both sitting on the stage.
A shot from the back of the crowd, showing black-eyed susans and people in lawn chairs.
Katie sits on stage.
Board member Holly Labbe watches the show
Katie's legs are in the background. In the foreground, we see the words Oct 3 and Letting things go written on the stage.
Katie runs through the crowd, high-fiving everyone.
Katie performs with an audience member who is kneeling to propose marriage.
Aili Watches the show
Katie stands on the corner of the stage
Katie gestures for an audience member to join her on stage.
An audience member, pretending to be Katie's dad, gives a speech at her wedding.
In the foreground are pink flowers. Katie is behind them, onstage and blurry
Katie sits on the stage, talking to the audience
Katie sits on stage. She waves a sleeve, which she has pulled from the box on her lap.
Katie stands alone on stage, leaning against a post. A pile of boxes is behind her.
Azalea walks through the crowd playing the guitar.
An audience member writes in chalk on the stage.
Pieces of sidewalk chalk on the stage
The word COMMUNITY written on the stage
A child writes on the stage. Katie stands in the foreground, talking to an audience member
Board members Pam Mandigo and Liz Marin talk with an audience member
Katie and Aili talk after the show
Aili and Mary Beth talk after the show
MaryBeth excitedly grabs Katie
Aili, Katie, and MaryBeth chat after the show. This photo was shot through a railing, which is blurry in the foreground.
Aili, MaryBeth, and Katie chat after the show
MaryBeth toasts a marhsmallow

About the creative team

MaryBeth Killian

MaryBeth Killian headshot

Every Brilliant Thing is MaryBeth’s first directing project, as well as her first production at Silk Moth Stage. She earned her BS in Psychology and Theatre from Bridgewater College 2020. She has been seen acting in many Bridgewater College performances such as Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, Almost, Maine, Men on Boats, plus more. MaryBeth is thankful for everyone at Silk Moth Stage for their excitement and their belief in this production.

Katie Downing

Katie Downing headshot

Every Brilliant Thing is Katie’s first performance at Silk Moth. She earned her BA in Theatre from Bridgewater College in 2020. Prior to this performance Katie was actively involved in theatre all throughout her academic career. Her experiences include acting, directing, stage managing, and playwriting.

Azalea Twining

Azalea Twining (she/her) is a sixteen year old composer, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. As a 2020-2021 fellow of the Luna Composition Lab at Kaufman Music Center, Azalea studied composition with Ellen Reid and composed Under Her Voices for piano trio, which was the winner of the 2021 G. Schirmer for Luna Lab Prize. Azalea’s most recent and current projects include “Echo” for solo flute commissioned by Intersection, a song cycle set to the poetry of the Brontë sisters, and a saxophone quartet commissioned by Second Stage and Composers Now. She also composes and performs original work for voice, string quartet, prepared piano, and more through her school’s Fine Arts Academy. Azalea has been studying voice with Eileen Clark since 2014. An alumni of the WNO Opera Institute, Eastman Summer Classical Studies programs, and NYU MPAP Summer Classical Voice Intensive, Azalea has a passion for art song and arias. More recently, she has fostered a love for performing small vocal ensemble music- both early and experimental. She hopes to one day compose and sing in her own experimental operas.