Karl Gregory to Return to The Kitchen Theatre in EVERY BRILLIANT THING

Kitchen Theatre Company continues its 2017-2018 Season with the regional premiere of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, a funny and moving new play about the lengths to which we will go for those we love. It is an immersive experience, as members of the audience are called upon to help tell the story. You'll want to see it more than once!

Performances of Every Brilliant Thing begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in The Percy Browning Theatre on November 11 and run through December 10.

"If you've ever seen Karl on stage, I'm sure you can imagine the number of times that name got mentioned, dropped into conversation, even written on secret notes passed my way as I got started here at the Kitchen," says M. Bevin O'Gara, the Kitchen's new Producing Artistic Director. "Since then, I've had the great honor of getting to know Karl as an artist and as a friend. He is such a generous, honest, and captivating person. I could not be prouder to have him as part of my first season. And Wendy too! Getting to work with this sensitive, astute, and kind director brings me so much joy. I strongly believe the role of the regional theater is to represent the region and to bring them the best of what is happening on the national level. And in Wendy and Karl, we get both."

"I'm so happy to be working with Wendy Dann on another one person show," says Karl Gregory. "Our last one, Buyer & Cellar, was a great success for the KTC, so I'm thrilled to tackle this show with her. It's a very different theatrical experience, as there is a lot of audience involvement, and I can't wait to share it with our audiences!"

Every Brilliant Thing asks you to notice the little things. The brilliant things. And that's something worth reminding us all to do right now. It also asks important questions about how a community can come together to heal an individual, to heal each other, and to re-learn how important it is to be there for one another. It's served up with a large dose of the best medicine: laughter.

An amazing team of designers and assistants all hailing from Ithaca area schools are working behind the scenes to make Every Brilliant Thing a reality. Scenic and lighting design is by Steve TenEyck, assisted by Indigo Shea. Sound design is Don Tindall, assisted by Sean Woods. Costume design is by Lisa Boquist. The Props Designer and Scenic Artist is Megan Parker. The assistant director is Aaron Roberts. The Production Stage Manager is Jennifer Schilansky.

Special events for Every Brilliant Thing include Pay What You Can Nights on November 12 and 14 and Actors' Forum discussions after the show on November 17 and December 1. For more events and information, visit kitchentheatre.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Duncan Macmillan (Playwright) Work includes: People, Places and Things (2015-17, National Theatre/Wyndham's Theatre, West End); 1984, adapted from George Orwell (2013-17, Headlong/Nottingham Playhouse, West End, Broadway, international tours; co-adapted/co-directed with Rob Icke); Every Brilliant Thing (2013-17, Paines Plough/Pentabus Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, UK and international tours, HBO); City of Glass, adapted from Paul Auster (2017, 59 Productions, Home, and Lyric Hammersmith); 2071, co-written with Chris Rapley (2014-15, Royal Court Theatre/Hamburg Schauspielhaus); The Forbidden Zone (2014-16, Salzburg Festival and Schaubühne Berlin); Wunschloses Unglück, adapted from Peter Handke (2014, Burgtheater Vienna); Reise durch die Nacht, adapted from Friederike Mayröcker (2012-14, Schauspielhaus Köln, Festival d'Avignon, Theatertreffen); LUNGS (2011-16, Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres/Studio Theatre, Washington, DC); and Monster (2006, Royal Exchange).

WENDY DANN (Director) Regional directing work includes: Dallas Theater Center, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, ALLIANCE THEATRE, Syracuse Stage, Capitol Repertory Theatre, Kitchen Theatre, and seven seasons as associate artistic director at the Hangar Theatre. She is the co-author of the musical Sammy & Me (MusicalFare Theatre, Hangar Theatre, ALLIANCE THEATRE, National Black Theatre Festival, and New Vintage Theatricals). Wendy is also a playwright and her plays have been finalists for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference as well as the Arts & Letters Prize in Drama. Wendy is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting. Her play, Birds of East Africa, received its world premiere in 2017 at the Kitchen Theatre. Member, SDC and The Dramatists Guild.

Karl Gregory (Actor) Previous NYC credits: From White Plains (Fault Line Theatre, GLAAD Media Award), FROGS (Fault Line Theatre), Mother's Da (FringeNYC Encore Series), BecauseHeCan (Personal Space Theatrics), The Servant of Two Masters (PS122). Regional: Ever So Humble, The 39 Steps (Hangar Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (SFSTL), The Importance of Being Earnest (Trinity Rep). Karl was a Resident Company member with Kitchen Theatre Company for five seasons, in over 40 productions. Favorite shows include: Hand To God, Buyer & Cellar, Peter and the Starcatcher (SALT Award), Gutenberg! The Musical!, Fully Committed (SALT Award), SantaLand Diaries, Swimming In The Shallows, The Drunken City, as well as title roles in A Perfect Ganesh, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and The Servant of Two Masters. TV: ALPHA HOUSE, NIGHTCAP. He is also in a new webseries called "Precious Cargo." You can also catch him this December 13 & 14 at the KTC Holiday Party. Don't miss it! BFA- Syracuse University, MFA- Brown/Trinity Rep. He and his husband, Andrew, now split their time between NYC and Ithaca. www.karlgregory.com

Steve TenEyck (Scenic & Lighting Designer) is pleased to return to the Kitchen Theatre having designed over 25 productions since 2001. Some favorites include The Trial, The Glass Menagerie, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek and Buyer Cellar, and Birds of East Africa from last year's season. Design work has been seen both nationally and internationally. Companies include: Syracuse Stage, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, TACT-NYC, Big Art Group NYC, The Dallas Theatre Center, The Gulf Shore Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Hangar Theatre, Tacoma Opera, Madison Opera, Syracuse Opera, Anchorage Opera, Minnesota Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Tri-Cities Opera and The Mill City Summer Opera. Designs for live events with the Herson Group Ltd. for such institutions as Northwestern, Princeton, Cornell, Texas A&M, and the University of Tennessee, to name a few. Steve is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and teaches design at Ithaca College.

Don Tindall (Sound Designer) is a freelance sound designer and composer and an Associate Professor of sound design at Ithaca College. Previous designs at the Kitchen Theatre Company include: Selling Out, I Become a Guitar, The Two of You, Old Times, STRANGERHORSE, and After Ashley. He has also designed for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, The Hangar Theatre, Signature Theatre Company, Illusion Theatre, Bridge Repertory Theatre, Playhouse Creatures, Working Theater, and others. Don is an active member of the OISTAT Sound Design Group, USITT Sound Commission, and TSDCA.

LISA BOQUIST (Costume Design) has designed and coordinated costumes for a number of previous productions at Kitchen Theatre Company including: Smart People, Precious Nonsense, Thin Walls, A Body of Water, Lungs, Black Pearl Sings!, Heroes, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Whipping Man, Circle Mirror Transformation, Irma Vep, Red Light Winter, Broke-ology and Waiting For Spring. Other favorite designs at the Kitchen include: Mary's Wedding, Bed and Sofa, Last Train To Nibroc, I Become A Guitar, and Nine Parts Of Desire. She runs her own studio, where she designs and constructs prototypes, mascots and custom clothing for film and public appearances. She has been the Textiles Coordinator and Design Associate for MacKenzie-Childs, Ltd., and presently runs the costume shop at Cornell University. There she is responsible for training students in all aspects of costume construction, and has designed costumes for: Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Beat Box Bard, Bedroom Farce, and Drama, Dance And The Disco Of Desire, among others.

Bold, intimate, engaging... Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), now in its 27th season, is downtown Ithaca's critically acclaimed and nationally recognized year-round professional theater company, specializing in regional and world premiere plays. KTC's intimate 99-seat theater is in a beautifully renovated, LEED-certified building in the West End neighborhood of downtown Ithaca, New York. KTC is the first not-for-profit recipient of the David R. Strong Memorial "Small Business of the Year" Award from the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the Tompkins County Tourism Program. The Kitchen Theatre Company also receives general operating support from the Shubert Foundation.

Photo by Lesley Greene

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