onemanshow | The Sleepless Critic

REVIEW: Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ counts its blessings

Posted on January 5, 2025 by The Sleepless Critic

As famous author Kurt Vonnegut once remarked, ‘Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.’

Bringing to light life’s simple pleasures, Every Brilliant Thing emphasizes that no matter what, there is always something to be grateful for, even when it seems impossible to find.

Amusing, heartfelt, poignant and immersive, Every Brilliant Thing is an interactive piece of experimental theater storytelling that hinges on involvement and its success depends on the combination of a charismatic and efficient storyteller and a game audience.

Cristhian Mancinas-García and Parker Jennings in Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ Photo credit to Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Directed insightfully by Danielle Fauteux Jacques and an excellent choice for the New Year, Apollinaire Theatre Company continues Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe’s Every Brilliant Thing or Cada Cosa Maravillosa live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through January 19. Alternately starring Parker Jennings and Cristhian Mancinas-García, this refreshing and informative production is presented in both English and Spanish and runs approximately 70 minutes long with no intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Set in 1988 and beyond, the small but mighty little things in life are easier to find through the eyes of this seven year old storyteller, even when facing traumatic times. The prospect of dressing up as a Mexican wrestler, roller coasters, and wearing a cape are just a few of the brilliant things that make life worth living. Why would anyone want to throw it all away?

Cristhian Mancinas-García in Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ Photo credit to Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Transforming this Chelsea theater space into a cozy, multi-level room with vintage flair, scenic and sound designer Joseph Lark-Riley invites the audience to feel right at home featuring scattered living room chairs, flowers, plush couches, a dining room, and rugs spread out on the floor. Danielle Fouteux Jacques as lighting designer adds vintage flair with a variety of eclectic lamps and Lark-Riley’s upbeat selection of American Standards from the swing era and beyond. Music and exacting sound effects also play a significant and symbolic role in this production which leaves lots of room for originality and imagination with makeshift props and much more.

It takes a special ability to solely make an audience comfortable while bringing them into your confidence. Cristhian Mancinas-García rises to the occasion with unassuming sincerity and playfulness that adds levity to the production’s somber moments. Sharing his journey with earnestness and ingenuity, he warmly brings this zany and game audience cheerfully into elements of the production.

Every Brilliant Thing is ideal for people who wish to play along and participate in minor ways, but if you are performance shy, maybe sit in the back. It has some flexibility and a way of bringing the audience uniquely together while leaving you at the edge of your seat for what is next.

Fast paced and improvisational, Every Brilliant Thing infuses a life affirming journey into a shared experience while spontaneously drawing connections into its articulate and occasionally arbitrary script. Mancinas-García tackles a challenging piece and it is amazing how well he draws each connection into the story as each little joy is revealed in its amusing and ardent beauty that one can only long to reflect on them a bit longer.

Parker Jennings and Cristhian Mancinas-García in Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ Photo credit to Danielle Fauteux Jacques

For some, the New Year can bring great hope and immense reflection. Every Brilliant Thing has a way of delivering both in love, loss, grief, and trauma with moments of humor and joy. It is short enough that it never wears thin and long enough to tell a complete, meaningful and relevant tale that will be sure to carry weight for many and a solid reminder of the joy in the smallest of things and a restored appreciation of everything.

Apollinaire Theatre Company continues Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe’s Every Brilliant Thing or Cada Cosa Maravillosa live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through January 19. Click here for more information and for tickets.

REVIEW: Lyric Stage Company’s heartfelt and semi-interactive ‘Mr. Parent’ a life changing journey

Posted on January 25, 2022 by The Sleepless Critic

It is a production so engrossing that when it ends, you find yourself asking, “Then what happens?”

This is not to say that this insightful one man production, Mr. Parent is incomplete by any means, but the essence of this thought can be found in Maurice Emmanuel Parent‘s charismatic and absorbing storytelling. This autobiographical and semi-interactive recollection of a life-changing period in Parent’s compelling history features amusing and captivating characters that will keep you invested in his journey, eager to find out what is next.

Seamlessly directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, Lyric Stage Company continues the timely production Mr. Parent by Melinda Lopez through February 6 at Lyric Stage Company in Boston, Massachusetts. It will also be available for streaming from February 7 through February 20. This show runs 90 minutes with no intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Maurice Emmanuel Parent Photo by Mark S Howard

Within a colorful and empty classroom by Cristina Todesco, the aptly-named Mr. Parent manages to cover a great deal in its limited time frame from the state education system to struggling families to struggling teachers to desegregation during a pivotal time in Mr. Parent’s life approached with the kind of heart and humor that comes from experience. Inspirational, educational, and complex, Mr. Parent also begs a significant question that many people face every day: How do I pursue my passion while still making a decent living?

Working in the arts, this quest is close to my heart. In order to do what one loves, one may have to supplement that journey with additional job or jobs to make it all work. It is a journey of sacrifice, more than likely a lack of sleep, and an overwhelming desire towards that dream goal, however means it may take to get there. For some, taking this avenue may create another dream realized.

Maurice Immanuel Parent as himself is a struggling actor hoping to find success, but quickly realizes that doing so requires supplemental income. He finds it in the form of teaching. Having seen him perform as Cardinal Richelieu in Greater Boston Stage Company and Front Porch Arts Collective’s The Three Musketeers, Parent has a wealth of talent. He is a charismatic presence onstage and it is easy to see the drive and heart he puts into his work. Here, Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s personal account reflects that talent in spades.

Maurice Emmanuel Parent Photo courtesy of Mark S Howard

It has as much heart as adventure from hyena auditions to a sneaky hoodie to recollections of shows he encourages his parents not to see, Parent recounts the unsettled and unpredictable life of teaching and acting which includes plenty of realizations along the way with bite, humor, and in times of distress, unmitigated honesty. For example, in two particularly moving moments, Mr. Parent describes in anguish what it is like to see his bright students from low income families struggle for their basic needs and enduring the scare of a lockdown. He navigates scenario after scenario invoking an intensity and desperation to succeed in a job that he hopes will meet his needs, but wondering if he may be in over his head. Seemingly sterling opportunities almost always have its challenges and Mr. Parent shows that we all have much to learn.

Lyric Stage Company continues Mr. Parent through February 6 live and in person at Lyric Stage Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and for tickets.