Back by popular demand!

Thanks to the generosity of Sentara, Virginia Stage Company’s exhilarating production of Every Brilliant Thing reminds us that hope comes from the miracles of life’s minutiae.

Audience Interaction:
This production involves audience participation. All Interactions are optional and confirmed by consent. The production may be enjoyed with or without directly participating.

Cast

Laura Agudelo (Laura) is delighted to be performing in this beautiful play.  In the past 15 years, Laura has worked with Core Theatre Ensemble, an internationally touring independent theatre company based out of Hampton Roads. With CTE, she has performed in Frankenstein, Antigone, Macbeth, and Niobe. Other credits include Matilda the Musical at Virginia Stage Company, Doubt, Little Women, and Loves Labours Lost at Tidewater Community College. Laura has also performed at La Mama ETC, Sanford Meisner Theatre, Repretorio Español in New York City and at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. Laura is currently the Theatre Arts and Spanish teacher for Chesapeake Public Schools. She directs three shows per year and is proud to share that her students are the reigning VHSL 6A State Champions. Laura also proudly shares that she was named Chesapeake High School Teacher of the Year in 2018. 

Greg Dragas (Greg) is pleased to be working with Virginia Stage Company as part of the team bringing this production to the stage. Born in Norfolk, VA, Greg has spent most of his professional career as a high school history teacher in Virginia Beach. He has been active on stages around Hampton Roads for a number of years and holds degrees from The College of William & Mary and Wake Forest University. Recent credits include The Tempest with Tidewater Community College’s Shakespeare in the Grove, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville with The Little Theatre of Virginia Beach, and Macbeth with CORE Theatre Ensemble.

Candunn Jennette (Candunn) is elated to embark on another journey with the Virginia Stage Company. Between touring the country with the World-Famous Harlem Globetrotters, she has nestled into several creative ventures such as writing, but most importantly, being immersed in performance as a true lover of the arts. Some of her works include Regional: Comedy of Errors (Duke/Adriana/Kim Karcourtesan), Beneath the Surface (Dr. Alexander), (Virginia Stage Company) Miss Understood (Nia), Zeiders American Dream Theatre University: Funny House of a Negro (Sarah), The Colored Museum (Lala Lamazing Grace), The Wiz (Church Lady/Ensemble), The Amen Corner (Margret/Odessa), Black Nativity (Ensemble), The Color Purple (Ensemble), Fences (Rose), For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide (Lady in Green), Anna Alone (Anna) (Norfolk State University) Other Credits: Spread Game World Tour (Gran’Mama/Dr. Broke Ankles) (Harlem Globetrotters Inc.) Education: Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Performance from Norfolk State University.

Bethany Mayo (Bethany) is a actor and teaching artist from Des Moines, IA. She has come to Norfolk by way of Kansas City, Pensacola, and Baltimore. Her favorite credits include Powell in Men on Boats/Cohesion Theater; Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor/Baltimore Shakespeare Factory; The Player, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead/Fells Point Corner Theater; and Elise in The Miser/Classic Theater of Maryland. She holds a BA in Musical Theater from William Woods University and a MA in Theater Education from The Catholic University of America. She is a founding member of the Black Classical Acting Ensemble at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. She does not thank her dog or her husband, who never want to run lines.

Creative Team and Crew

Tom Quaintance (Director)  is in his seventh year with Virginia Stage Company. At the Wells, Tom has directed Every Brilliant Thing, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, The Santaland Diaries, and Matilda The Musical. Pre-pandemic, Tom traveled to Minneapolis where he directed Twelfth Night at the Guthrie Theater. As Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT), Tom produced over 35 plays and directed the World Premiere of Downrange: Voices from the Homefront, a play based on interviews with military spouses from Fort Bragg. Tom is an Associate Artist at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill where he directed An Enemy of the People, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and The Little Prince. He also directed The Little Prince at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As the founder of FreightTrain Shakespeare in Los Angeles, he earned a Drama-Logue Award for his direction of Pericles. Other Los Angeles credits range from King Lear to The Devil With Boobs. A member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Tom is a graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) with a B.A. in Theatre and Economics, and the University of California, San Diego MFA directing program, where he was the assistant director on the original production of The Who’s Tommy.

DUNCAN MACMILLAN (Author) Plays include: PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS (2015-2017, National Theatre/Wyndham’s Theatre, West End); 1984, adapted from George Orwell (2013-2017, Headlong/Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company, West End, Broadway, international tours, co-adapted/co-directed with Rob Icke); EVERY BRILLIANT THING (2013-2017, 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 (2014-2015, The Royal Court/Hamburg Schauspielhaus); THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (2014-2016, Salzburg Festival and Schaubühne Berlin); WUNSCHLOSES UNGLÜCK, adapted from Peter Handke (2014, Burgtheater Vienna); REISE DURCH DIE NACHT, adapted from Friederike Mayröcker (2012-2014, Schauspiel Köln, Festival d’Avignon, Theatertreffen); LUNGS (2011-2016, Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres/Studio Theatre, Washington, DC); and MONSTER (2006, Royal Exchange Theatre).

Rachel Finney Stage Manager

Jordan Setzer Tour Manager

Every Brilliant Thing is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

Every Brilliant Thing was first produced by Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre, on 28 June 2013 at Ludlow Fringe Festival. The play had its North American premiere at Barrow Street Theatre, New York, on 6 December 2014, where it was presented by Barrow Street Theatre and Jean Doumanian Productions.

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