SpeakEasy Teams Up With NAMI Mass for 'Brilliant' Talks

SpeakEasy Stage is proud to team up with the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Mass) for a series of Thursday post-show talks in conjunction with its acclaimed production of EVERY BRILLIANT THING, running now through March 31.

Written by British playwright Duncan Macmillan (Lungs; People, Places, and Things), EVERY BRILLIANT THING explores depression, and looks at the lengths we will go to help those we love. The story begins when a young girl compiles a list of things worth living for to help ease her mother's sadness: things like ice cream, and water fights, and staying up past your bedtime to watch TV. Through adulthood, as the list grows, she comes to understand the deep significance the list has had on her own life, and the irrepressible resilience inside us all.

Each Thursday's post-show talk will include one doctor from the well-known psychiatric facility McLean Hospital paired with one person from NAMI's In Our Own Voice Program. The In Our Own Voice panelists are individuals with lived experience of mental illness and are in recovery. These presenters regularly relate their journey to wellness and stability at a variety of venues from police trainings to schools and universities and inpatient units. (The schedule of speakers appears on the following page.)

This is the second time the NAMI Mass has partnered with SpeakEasy Stage on a production about mental illness. The two organizations partnered for a similar series of talks for SpeakEasy's production of the musical Next to Normal, which told the story of a woman with bipolar disorder.

"We are so thankful to our friends at NAMI Mass for their invaluable help in arranging this special talkback series, and for all they do to help people living with mental illness," said Paul Daigneault, SpeakEasy's Producing Artistic Director.

"Any opportunity NAMI Mass has to break the bonds of stigma that surrounds mental illness is an opportunity NAMI Mass will always take," added Cheri Andes, Executive Director of NAMI Mass,. "Every Brilliant Thing will educate audience-goers about battling depression with humor and grace."

EVERY BRILLIANT THING continues through March 31, 2018 in the round in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End.

Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons age 25 and under.

For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call the box office at 617.933.8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

Photo Credit: Maggie Hall Photography