Courtesy of The New Jewish Theatre.
Will Bonfoglio in "Every Brilliant Thing" at The New Jewish Theatre
Will Bonfoglio in "Every Brilliant Thing."
A New Jewish Theatre reunion is coming to The J this week as director Ellie Schwetye and actor Will Bonfiglio once again partner for a one-man show on the Wool Studio Theatre stage. The team behind 2019’s Fully Committed are back to present Every Brilliant Thing, a one-character stage show written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, on stage March 16–April 2. The play follows a child who begins writing a list of “every brilliant thing” that makes life worth living after his mother’s suicide attempt. As he grows up and encounters his own struggles, the list continues. While the show tackles some serious topics, it is filled with laughter, joy, and—Schwetye stresses—a much-needed Jackie Wilson dance break. We caught up with Schwetye ahead of the premiere to talk about crafting the show, working with Bonfiglio again, and finding the light alongside the dark.
Tell us a bit about this story.
The story is told by our narrator, who is flexible to be a man, a woman, whoever. There's no character name or anything, but they're recalling growing up and having a mother who struggles with depression and mental health difficulties. As a child, our narrator decides that he's going to start a list of every brilliant thing in the world to give his mom a sense of hope and a reason to stick around. Then, as an adult, our narrator faces some of these struggles himself. But in the meantime, we get this whole beautiful picture of life, of going to college and meeting a partner and falling in love, getting a job, having a wedding...His father is a big central character in his life. So that's sort of the through line—continuing to keep up with this list throughout his life, even though he's going through difficulties and struggles of his own at some times.
This is a play that’s been done all over and has even been adapted into a film. What makes the New Jewish Theatre’s production different or special?
I think what makes The New Jewish production different or special is the fact that—and this is a brilliant kind of structure of the play itself—we, in our telling of it, are really going to be relying on the audience to help tell this story. The sort hook about this play is that, even though there is one actor in the play, there's many characters, and at one point our actor is going to ask an audience member to help him out and play the father, or come in and play the school counselor, or the vet. And meanwhile, we're also asking the audience to provide these “brilliant things” that are on the list. So each production will be kind of a new adventure. Knowing that the New Jewish Theatre really does have such a loyal following and patrons and supporters that are coming out and seeing everything that they're doing, we're really looking forward to being able to engage them so directly in the narrative of the play. We're excited about that.
You’ve got just one actor in this play who's handling a pretty big lift. What’s that very one-on-one actor-director process been like for you and your star, Will Bonfiglio?
Well, it's just wonderful. This is the second one-person show that Will and I have collaborated on for The New Jewish Theatre. We got our sea legs in 2019 doing a one-person show called Fully Committed. So now, coming into Every Brilliant Thing kind of makes perfect sense. With the subject matter, we're kind of pulling from what we've all been going through these past three years with COVID and trying to find moments of what's bringing us joy into our life. Will and I have both matured as people and as artists, and it's great to come to do this play together, which feels like a maturing and deepening of our storytelling collaboration.
Ellie Schwetye. Courtesy of The New Jewish Theatre.
Ellie Schwetye
Most of the time, though, we just laugh so much. Aside from being artistic collaborators, we're also just good friends, so that's just a lot of joy, and we think about things in very similar ways. We're trying to infuse this production with that joy that we feel being in this rehearsal room together. It's a play with darker tones sometimes, but it really does kind of make you find the most joy in life.
You're getting at it a bit there, but this is a story that focuses on gratitude in the face of some really challenging stuff. Have you learned anything yourself from working with this material over these past weeks?
A good friend of mine is a counselor, and we talked a little bit as we were just starting rehearsals. She had this great advice that it might not seem like these darker things are sticking with you, but they do. Feelings that you have about the struggles that we talk about might creep up on you. So her advice was like, “Drink lots of water, have great nutrition, just get out and exercise. Do these things mental health professionals have been telling us to do.” That advice has been really helpful, because sometimes I'll come home and find myself...even though I've laughed my way through rehearsal, one little moment will kind of stick with me, and it can be a little bit of a darker thought. But I've learned more about myself, because I think as a person in general, I do strive to find positivity and really find the silver lining to anything. So this play for me is just confirming that that's a great way to approach life in general—that idea that yes, I can take this and I can transform it into something that will bring me a lot of joy. I think that idea of finding gratitude or finding joy that permeates this play is definitely one that I'm mostly leaving rehearsal with every day.
What are you most looking forward to as you start to get these audiences in and get the participation going? How do you think that's going to change your experience?
Right now that’s causing us the most excitement. The play's going to get to a place when we have audience members we're calling on. The thing that's most exciting right now is like, what will the audience do? I'm excited to see how Will can tell this story in a way that just charms, engages, and hooks our audience so that they're looking forward to the participation. I mean, so many plays that have audience participation, people are just like, “Oh God, oh no, don't pick me.” It can be kind of a scary thing. So the challenge and the opportunity with this play is to present it in such a warm and welcoming way that it's not a scary thing for the audience and they say, “OK, we're willing to play along here.”
What do you most think that the audience should know or understand about this play before they walk into it?
I mean, certainly the fact that there is discussion of mental health difficulties. There is discussion of depression; there is discussion of suicide, and it's pretty factual and straightforward. But if that's something that is concerning to people, just know that that is what the play is about, but it's presented in a way that is completely life-affirming. We're finding silliness and joy, and we have a great dance break with some Jackie Wilson music halfway through the play. So if for nothing else, come bop along with us to that.
Is there anything else that you’d really like to share about this work?
Just that I hope that everyone comes with an open heart, an open mind, and a sense of play.
Every Brilliant Thing runs March 16–April 2 at The J’s Wool Studio Theatre. For tickets and more information visit jccstl.com.
