See Mariska Hargitay Reprise Her Performance in Every Brilliant Thing on the West Coast
Mariska Hargitay reprised her acclaimed performance in Every Brilliant Thing last weekend, bringing the recent Broadway hit to the Bay Area during TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s New Works Festival August 7–8 for three performances as a benefit presentation. See photos from the special event in the gallery below.
Proceeds from the performances supported TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and the Joyful Heart Foundation. The event also included an afternoon panel featuring Hargitay and her half-sisters: TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and producer Pietra Sardelli.
The beloved Law & Order: SVU star made her Broadway debut in the Duncan Macmillan-Jonny Donahoe solo play this spring, taking over the role for original star Daniel Radcliffe. Hargitay played a limited engagement through May 26 through July 5, with Black-ish and Girlfriends star Tracee Ellis Ross taking over July 7. The show closed August 9.
In Every Brilliant Thing, Hargitay’s nameless protagonist faces a distant father, a suicidal mother, and her own inexplicable deep sadness. And in a spark of childhood genius, she counteracts these obstacles by chronicling every brilliant thing in the world—first to cheer up her depressed mother, and later for friends, lovers, and herself. And the uniquely constructed play offers audience members a chance to join Hargitay in the action, with various strangers called on each night to read some of her favorite brilliant things and stand in for characters in her story.
The solo play debuted at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it played three sold-out consecutive summers before coming to Off-Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre in 2014. The latter run was filmed live and aired on HBO with Donahoe starring. The work returned to Edinburgh Fringe in 2024, where it was a Playbill Pick. The work also recently made its West End debut at @sohoplace, and featured a rotating roster of stars.
For more information on TheatreWorks, visit TheatreWorks.org.