Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Opens Every Brilliant Thing: \u201cThe Funniest Play You\u2019ll Ever See About Depression\u201d<\/p>\n
CENTER VALLEY, PA: June 6, 2022\u2014\u00a01. Ice cream. 2. Kung Fu movies. 3. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out of your nose. 4. Me. In the face of severe depression, a child begins a list of everything that\u2019s brilliant about the world. The list soon takes on a life of its own in this captivating play by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe.\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>\u00a0opens June 9 at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the professional theatre on the campus of DeSales University.<\/p>\n The Guardian (UK)<\/em>\u00a0calls it \u201cOne of the funniest plays you\u2019ll ever see about depression\u2014and possibly one of the funniest plays you\u2019ll ever see, full stop.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>\u00a0previews June 7 and 8, opens June 9, and runs through June 19 in the Schubert Theatre at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n An uplifting story examining a family\u2019s resilience through laughter and appreciation for life, PSF veteran and DeSales alum\u00a0Suzanne O\u2019Donnell<\/strong>\u00a0returns in this one actor play directed by Festival newcomer\u00a0Anne Hering<\/strong>. O\u2019Donnell and Hering reprise their roles together following their successful run of this production in 2021 at Orlando Shakespeare Theater.<\/p>\n O\u2019Donnell\u2019s PSF credits include\u00a0Maria in\u00a0Twelfth Night<\/em>, Mistress Ford in\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>, Maria in\u00a0Lend Me a Tenor<\/em>, and Miss Prism in\u00a0The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em>, among others. Additionally, she has worked regionally at Florida Repertory Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, 1812 Productions, Folger Theatre, and Arden Theatre, to name a few.<\/p>\n Hering, an actor and director and new to PSF this season, currently serves as Director of Education at Orlando Shakespeare Theater (OST), as well as teaching Theatre and Speech at University of Central Florida, Valencia College, Rollins College, and Seminole State College. Directing credits at OST include\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing, Christmas at Pemberley, The Tempest, The Great Gatsby<\/em>,\u00a0The Turn of the Screw<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Yankee Tavern<\/em>. Select acting credits include OST productions of\u00a0The Three Musketeers, Henry IV, Part 1, All\u2019s Well that Ends Well, Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie<\/em>,\u00a0King Lear<\/em>, and\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Production Stage Manager is\u00a0George Hamrah<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>who serves as the Director of Production at OST. A 30-year member of Actors\u2019 Equity Association, he has worked as a Stage Manager for theatres throughout the east coast including Trinity Rep. in Providence, RI, The Barter Theatre in Virginia; and in Florida at Orlando Theatre Project, Florida Rep., Riverside Theatre, Walt Disney World and OST.<\/p>\n Sound design is by\u00a0David M. Greenberg<\/strong>, resident sound designer and sound supervisor for PSF and DeSales University ACT 1 productions. A member of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA), he holds an MFA in Theatre Sound Design and Technology from the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.<\/p>\n Keith & Stefanie Wexler\u00a0<\/strong>are the Production Sponsors for\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing.<\/em>\u00a0Kathleen Kund Nolan & Timothy E. Nolan\u00a0<\/strong>are\u00a0<\/strong>the 2022 Season Sponsors. Associate Season Sponsors are\u00a0Douglas Dykhouse, Linda<\/strong>\u00a0Lapos and Paul Wirth<\/strong>,\u00a0The Szarko Family<\/strong>, and\u00a0Harry C. Trexler Trust<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Patrons can meet with the actor Suzanne O\u2019Donnell following every performance for an informal talk-back offering insights into the production. Volunteers from NAMI, Lehigh Valley (National Alliance on Mental Illness) will also be available at the talk back, and before, and during the performances in the event a patron would need support due to the content of the play and its references to suicide and mental illness. Additional support will be provided by the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs prior to the 7:30pm performance on Thursday, June 16.<\/p>\n Subscription packages and single tickets can be purchased online at\u00a0pashakespeare.org<\/a>\u00a0or by calling the PSF box office at 610.282.WILL [9455].<\/p>\n The season will run June 3 to August 7 at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the bucolic campus of DeSales University in Center Valley, PA.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival\u00a0features acclaimed actors from Broadway, television, and film, and\u00a0is summer home to over 200 artists from around the country, including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Jefferson, and Barrymore awards.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Summer 2022:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Main Stage:\u00a0<\/strong>A Chorus Line<\/em>:\u00a0June 22 \u2013 July 10;\u00a0<\/strong>August Wilson\u2019s\u00a0Fences:\u00a0<\/em>July 27 \u2013 August 7; Schubert Theatre:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>:\u00a0June 7 \u2013 June 19;\u00a0<\/strong>The River Bride:\u00a0<\/em>July 1 \u2013 July 3;\u00a0Much Ado About Nothing:\u00a0<\/em>July 13 \u2013 August 7;\u00a0Little Red:\u00a0<\/em>June 3 \u2013 August 6.<\/p>\n About Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy, is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can normally be seen in rep and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season. Similarly, PSF was among just a handful of theatres on the continent in recent summers to produce three Shakespeare plays in a single summer season.\u00a0 A patron would have to travel seven to nine hours from PSF to find a comparable range of offerings at a single theatre within a few weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n The Festival\u2019s award-winning company of many world-class artists includes Broadway, film, and television veterans, and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, Hayes, Lortel, and Barrymore awards. A leading Shakespeare theatre with a national reputation for excellence, PSF has received coverage in\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>,\u00a0NPR<\/em>,\u00a0American Theatre Magazine<\/em>, Playbill.com,\u00a0The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, and in recent seasons\u00a0The New York<\/em>\u00a0Times\u00a0<\/em>has identified PSF as one of the leading summer theatre festivals in the nation. \u201cA world-class theater experience on a par with the top Bard fests,\u201d is how one New York Drama Desk reviewer characterized PSF.<\/p>\n Founded in 1992 and the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSF\u2019s mission is to enrich, inspire, engage, and entertain the widest possible audience through first-rate productions of classical and contemporary plays, with a core commitment to Shakespeare and other master dramatists, and through an array of education and mentorship programs. A not-for-profit theatre, PSF receives significant support from its host, DeSales University, from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Traditionally, with 150 performances of seven productions, the Festival attracts patrons each summer from 30+ states. In 30 years, PSF has offered 200+ total productions (82 Shakespeare), and entertained 1,000,000+ patrons from 50 states, now averaging 34,000-40,000 in attendance each summer season, plus another 13,000 students each year through its WillPower Tour to schools. PSF is a multi-year recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities, and is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). In 2013, leaders of the world\u2019s premier Shakespeare theatres gathered at PSF as the Festival hosted the international STA Conference.<\/p>\n The Festival\u2019s vision is for world-class theatre.<\/p>\n PATRICK MULCAHY\u00a0(Producing Artistic Director) Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mulcahy has led PSF\u2019s surge in artistic excellence, financial stability, and national recognition. Accomplishments include first and subsequent grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, attracting a multitude of award-winning artists including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Barrymore, and Emmy awards, a doubling of annual attendance, a successful campaign to double the Festival\u2019s endowment, and the expansion of the number of Actors\u2019 Equity contracts per season. He led the strategic planning process that led to PSF\u2019s Vision 2030, a commitment to world-class professional theatre, and coverage in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Post. As a professional director, actor, and fight director, credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, television and radio. Mr. Mulcahy has acted with many industry luminaries including Don Cheadle, Angela Bassett, Cynthia Nixon, and Tony Shaloub at the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Roundabout Theatre, Hartford Stage, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, and the Walnut Street Theatre.\u00a0 He served as fight director for\u00a0A Few Good Men<\/em>\u00a0on Broadway, and multiple Off-Broadway productions starring Marcia Gay Harden, John Mahoney, Patrick Dempsey, and John Savage.\u00a0 He directed Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga in\u00a0The Real Thing<\/em>, and, for PSF, directed\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>,\u00a0Henry IV, Part 1<\/em>,\u00a0The Tempest<\/em>,\u00a0Antony and Cleopatra<\/em>,\u00a0Hamlet<\/em>,\u00a0Macbeth<\/em>,\u00a0Julius Caesar<\/em>, and\u00a0Shakespeare in Love<\/em>. Also Head of Acting at DeSales, Patrick holds degrees in acting and directing from Syracuse University<\/p>\n Artist Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n SUZANNE O\u2019DONNELL*\u00a0(Narrator,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>) Recent PSF: Maria,\u00a0Twelfth Night<\/em>, Mistress Ford,\u00a0Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>, Maria,\u00a0Lend Me a Tenor<\/em>, and Miss Prism,\u00a0The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em>;\u00a0Florida Rep: Nora,\u00a0A Doll\u2019s House Pt 2<\/em>; Orlando Shakespeare Theater: Hermione,\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>, Emilia,\u00a0Othello<\/em>, Beatrice,\u00a0Much Ado About Nothing<\/em>, and Kate in\u00a0Taming of the Shrew<\/em>; 1812 Productions:\u00a0Boston Marriage<\/em>; Folger Theatre:\u00a0Comedy of Errors<\/em>,\u00a0Arcadia<\/em>;\u00a0Arden Theatre:\u00a0Dancing at Lughnasa<\/em>,\u00a0Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/p>\n Creative Team Bios:<\/strong><\/p>\n DAVID M. GREENBERG\u00a0(Sound Supervisor; Sound Designer,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>) is a composer and sound designer from Fort Lauderdale, FL by way of Knoxville, TN. He received his BA in Theatre from the University of Tennessee and went on to earn his MFA in Theatre Sound Design and Technology at the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A member of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA), David serves as the Resident Sound Designer\/Sound Supervisor for DeSales University and PSF.<\/p>\n GEORGE HAMRAH*\u00a0(Stage Manager,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing)<\/em>\u00a0is a graduate of Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and The Eugene O\u2019Neill Theater Center in CT. A 30-year member of Actors\u2019 Equity Association, Mr. Hamrah has worked as a Stage Manager for theatres throughout the east coast including Trinity Rep. in Providence, RI, and The Barter Theatre in Virginia. In Florida, Orlando Theatre Project, Florida Rep., Riverside Theatre, Walt Disney World and Orlando Shakes. George has also spent time at Royal Caribbean International, Acadia Repertory Theatre in Maine and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. George makes his home in Orlando, FL with his wife, Laura Hodos and their cats where he is the Director of Production for Orlando Shakes.<\/p>\n ANNE HERING\u00a0(Director,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>) is Director of Education at Orlando Shakespeare Theater and has been a Theatre and Speech instructor at University of Central Florida, Valencia College, Rollins College and Seminole State College. She has appeared in OST productions of\u00a0The Three Musketeers, Henry IV, Part 1<\/em>,\u00a0God of Carnage<\/em>,\u00a0Pride and Prejudice, All\u2019s Well that Ends Well, Hamlet, The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge<\/em>,\u00a0The Glass Menagerie<\/em>,\u00a0The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>,\u00a0King Lear<\/em>,\u00a0Into the Woods<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>. Directing credits:\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing, Christmas at Pemberley, The Tempest, The Great Gatsby<\/em>,\u00a0The Turn of the Screw<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Yankee Tavern<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>She is a member of AEA and SAG\/AFTRA.\u00a0<\/em>Anne has an MFA in Acting from The Ohio State University and a BS in Speech Communications from Ithaca College.<\/p>\n CHIARA H. JOHNSON\u00a0(Assistant Stage Manager,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>) is a BIPOC stage manager from NYC. Credits include New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Playbill\u2019s Pride Plays series.<\/p>\n DUNCAN MACMILLIAN\u00a0(Playwright,\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>) plays include:\u00a0People, Places And Things<\/em>\u00a0(2015-2017, National Theatre\/Wyndham\u2019s Theatre, West End);\u00a01984<\/em>, adapted from George Orwell (2013-2017, Headlong\/Nottingham Playhouse, West End, Broadway, international tours, co-adapted\/co-directed with Rob Icke);\u00a0Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>\u00a0(2013-2017, Paines Plough\/Pentabus Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, UK and international tours, HBO);\u00a0City Of Glass<\/em>, adapted from Paul Auster (2017, 59 Productions, HOME, and Lyric Hammersmith);\u00a02071<\/em>, co-written with Chris Rapley (2014-2015, The Royal Court\/Hamburg Schauspielhaus);\u00a0The Forbidden Zone<\/em>\u00a0(2014-2016, Salzburg Festival and Schaub\u00fchne Berlin);\u00a0Wunschloses Ungl\u00fcck<\/em>, adapted from Peter Handke (2014, Burgtheater Vienna);\u00a0Reise Durch Die Nacht<\/em>, adapted from Friederike Mayr\u00f6cker (2012-2014, Schauspiel\u00a0K\u00f6ln, Festival d\u2019Avignon, Theatertreffen);\u00a0Lungs<\/em>\u00a0(2011-2016, Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres\/Studio Theatre, Washington, DC); and\u00a0Monster<\/em>\u00a0(2006, Royal Exchange Theatre).<\/p>\n * Member of Actors\u2019 Equity Association<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Opens Every Brilliant Thing: \u201cThe Funniest Play You\u2019ll Ever See About Depression\u201d CENTER VALLEY, PA: June 6, 2022\u2014\u00a01. Ice cream. 2. Kung Fu movies. 3. Laughing so … Continue reading Every Brilliant Thing Opens at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival<\/span>
\nShakespeare For Kids<\/em>:\u00a0July 27 \u2013 August 6.<\/p>\n
\nTina Louise Slak
\nPennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
\nThe Professional Theatre at DeSales University
\n2755 Station Avenue
\nCenter Valley, PA 18034
\np: 610-282-WILL [9455]\nwww.pashakespeare.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"