Theater on the Verge ready for inaugural show, ‘Every Brilliant Thing’

As the saying goes “You only have one chance to make a first impression.”

When it came to selecting their inaugural production, Chris Jensen and Troy Nickerson, co-founders of the independent theater company Theater on the Verge, knew they needed to choose a show that had a big impact while being small in scale.

Script after script didn’t make the cut for one reason or another, from requiring too big of a cast or set to not sharing a message the duo could feel passionate about.

When Jensen picked up “Every Brilliant Thing,” however, he knew within a few pages that this show was the one.

“In practical terms, it ticked all the boxes in terms of what we could tackle for our first show,” Jensen said. “But it also grabbed me. I was laughing, I was crying. It was doing all that stuff.”

“Every Brilliant Thing” is a one-man play written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe. In the show, a man known as the Storyteller (Doug Dawson) talks about a list he created of everything that’s brilliant about the world.

The list started when the Storyteller was young, featuring things like ice cream, kung fu movies and staying up late, as a means of cheering up his mother while she dealt with depression. As the Storyteller grows older, the things on the list change to reflect his growing interests and his experiences with the world.

The story is told in a linear fashion, with the Storyteller first telling the audience about his life as a young boy, then as a teenager, a college student and an adult.

Jensen sent the script to Nickerson, who had a similar reaction. The pair then reached out to Dawson. Dawson too only needed to read the first few pages of the script before texting Nickerson that the play had already moved him to tears.

“Especially a one man show, learning the lines for 30-some pages is difficult unless the writing’s really good,” Dawson said. “It’s not been too tough to learn this script, because it’s really good writing.”

“Every Brilliant Thing” opens Thursday and runs for six performances at Hamilton Studio. There will be talkbacks with Nickerson and Dawson after the March 6 and March 14 performances.

While some one-man shows find the performer talking to themselves, Dawson said “Every Brilliant Thing,” and the only other one-man show he’s performed, “Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris, both see the audience as another character.

While sharing his list, the Storyteller sometimes has asides with the audience about why that particular item made the list. Dawson will also wander among the audience as they sit three or four to a table during the show.

“It’s very natural feeling,” Dawson said. “I don’t think the audience is gonna be like, ‘Oh crap, here he comes!’ It’s going to be like, ‘Yeah, this is natural.’ This is what people do when they’re telling a story.”

Previously reviewed in the Guardian as “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression,” Jensen, Nickerson and Dawson worked to find the balance between the light and dark moments of “Every Brilliant Thing.”

As a former counselor on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Jensen has experience with the heavier topics – suicide and depression – the play discusses. Jensen said while speaking with those who called the lifeline, it was clear to him that many who called were searching for connection and a chance to be heard.

By sharing his list of brilliant things, the Storyteller too is looking for, and finding, connections with the audience. Together, the Storyteller and audience can remember and appreciate those small moments of joy that can often go unnoticed.

Jensen feels like the show handles those heavy topics in a joyful and life-affirming way while avoiding notes of toxic positivity. Nickerson agreed, saying the show has a fresh approach that gives audiences something to think about in regards to savoring those little moments that make life worth living.

“He keeps working on this list and this list grows and grows and people add to it and it’s been a really great reminder and a great thing even through rehearsals,” Nickerson said. “Right now, what we really need to have are very simple moments that we can appreciate.”

With their debut production ready to make an impact on the Inland Northwest theater community, Jensen and Nickerson are already looking forward to summer and winter productions. They’re trying not to get too ahead of themselves though, enjoying things one production at a time.

“Like Chris was saying earlier, this is kind of a proof of concept,” Nickerson said. “The success of the show is really going to let us know what the excitement is and how people are open to having this. So far, we’ve been really very well supported, but we have tickets left that we need to sell, and then when we get to the end of this, it will definitely form our next moves, which are pretty exciting, if we do say so ourselves.”