Every Brilliant Thing comes to FlagShakes

By Holly Robinson

Show Dates and Times: May 29th at 7PM, May 30th at 2PM & 7PM, and May 31st at 2PM

Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, takes you through the story of a mother struggling with the dark moments of depression and thoughts of suicide, but from the child’s point of view bringing in humor and hope. The story brings vulnerable moments of life to the stage for audience members to witness. Each performance can bring different experiences for audience members because it relies on audience involvement.

The Flagstaff production of Every Brilliant Thing welcomes Matthew Windham as the director and stars AJ Flores. Matthew has been in multiple FlagShakes productions including King Lear, Emma, and Shakespeare on Pluto – two of which are finalists for the 2026 Viola Awards. AJ Flores joins FlagShakes for his first production, though is no stranger to taking the stage, having previously worked with Simon Says Theatre, Stray Cat Theatre, and Theatrikos Theatre – winning the BWW Phoenix Award: Best Direction of a Play in 2025 for Swing State.

To get some input from Matthew and AJ, we asked a couple of questions to bring in their point of view to this brilliant show:

What is a key takeaway you hope the audience gets when they watch this performance?

AJ Flores: “I hope the audience is reminded of the simple joys. Oftentimes in today’s world we focus on the big moments or the big picture and we often forget those tiny things throughout the day that make each day special. It’s the small things that make the big picture worthwhile.” 

There is a lot of unpredictability within this show, how do you feel it makes the show better?

AJ Flores: “Unpredictability allows for more opportunities to be vulnerable. Not just for myself but for the audience as well. It offers up an opportunity to take risks and to truly make each performance different. You’re obviously going to get different levels of vulnerability night to night, so it’s my job as the actor to take a risk with the audience and allow myself to be vulnerable as well. Which I think helps ease the audience into the subject matter of the show as well.” 

The show balances dark moments with lots of humor, how do you find that same balance when rehearsing/directing scenes?

Matthew Windham: “I believe that humor is rooted in truth, whether it’s in a broad farce or a play with darker subject matter. You have to trust the writing—and it helps to start with such a carefully crafted, smartly structured script. I primarily direct comedies, but I try to avoid telling the audience where to laugh. If you’re being truthful rather than artificially layering gags and comic bits into the play, the audience will find the material relatable AND organically laugh where they find it funny. You have to trust the audience too.

I rarely go into a rehearsal with a strong preconception of how I want any beats or moments in the show to play. The whole purpose of rehearsals is discovery. You get to know the text and the story and characters in one way as you’re preparing to rehearse, and you get to know it in a whole new way once an actor is speaking the words and showing you the characters in their own voice and rhythms and unique physicality, and as a marriage of the text and their own brain. Then you nudge them one way or another to help them make the storytelling clearer and make the journey real for the audience.

It takes very careful attention and a lot of consideration, and I believe that good directing always requires you to avoid getting precious about your ideas or decisions, and to be willing to revise or scrap things that aren’t working. If you can put your own ego aside a little, you learn to be able to tell the difference between an actor performing an action onstage only because their clever director told them to do it, and an actor embodying an action because it’s a natural part of the person they’re inhabiting. Again, you’re hunting for the truth. You have to develop a keen eye and ear for what rings false.”

Every Brilliant Thing will be running at Beaver Street Theatre from May 29th to May 31st. All performances are Pay What You Wish, and tickets can be reserved on FlagShakes.org. Thank you to the Art Flores Memorial Foundation for sponsoring this show. Every Brilliant Thing is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.com