Tracee Ellis Ross is embracing the subtle joys of life, from the satisfying click of a curling iron to the distinct taste of olives.
This newfound appreciation is, in a way, part of her current professional endeavor as she makes her Broadway debut in “Every Brilliant Thing.”
Opening Tuesday, the play stands out as one of the summer’s more uplifting and joyful productions, despite its exploration of depression.
It centers on a narrator who meticulously compiles a list of life’s brilliant moments to convince their depressed mother that existence is worthwhile.
The list includes simple pleasures like ducklings, spaghetti Bolognese, and dancing in public, with entry No. 999,996 being: “Peeling off a sheet of wallpaper in one intact piece.”
Ross, known for her roles in “black-ish” and “Girlfriends,” finds this process transformative.
“What is incredible when you start doing this is that you really do start to notice things that you never thought of before,” she says. “They’re everywhere and that’s why this piece is so beautiful: It changes the way you see the world.”
In this solo show, Ross steps into a role previously held by Daniel Radcliffe and Mariska Hargitay, but she won’t be alone on stage.
The audience becomes an integral part of the narrative, with some members asked to read items from scraps of paper, while others might pretend to drive a car, craft a sock puppet, or even portray the narrator’s parent.
Ross herself will wander the aisles before the show, selecting and encouraging patrons to participate. She’ll be looking for kindness, but also a touch of reluctance.
“It is a sense of being of service to the material and a little bit of reluctance is actually a special quality in the roles that we need to cast,” she explains.
Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, “Every Brilliant Thing” is designed to be highly adaptable.
The narrator is encouraged to ad-lib, and the list of “brilliant things” is customized to reflect the performer’s background.
For instance, “wearing a cape” for Radcliffe might become “tutus” for Ross.
Macmillan notes, “The list has to feel authentic to them. What they would have found brilliant at different stages of their life, that’s changed from person to person.”
The play is rewritten for each new performer, adjusting details like a favorite cereal, cartoon, teenage crush, or memorable movies to align with their personal history.
Macmillan praises the performers, stating, “They have their own personal reasons for connecting with material, but they are also incredibly funny, open, generous, humble people that we root for.”
The 70-minute play is a demanding feat for Ross, who performs without a break, engages in crowd work, and memorizes a 40-page monologue in just three weeks.
“It felt like I was swallowing a whale and learning how to digest it through my fingers and through my body and through my voice and through my heart,” she recounts.
A graduate of Brown University and The William Esper Studio, Ross began her career auditioning for theater, film, and television. Broadway has always been on her bucket list, and she finds this particular play, with its hopeful connection to others, hits her “sweet spot.”
“It’s a story that is about something real that so much of us are struggling with, but yet it is told through the lens of the lifeline of what makes life worth living – just everything that could be on a bucket list for me,” she says.
“Sometimes hope can feel like a daunting idea in the face of feelings and also facts, but I do think that having the ability and the map to reach for other things can balance out those moments in a way that gives you an opening to the next.”
Ross deliberately avoided watching previous performances, explaining, “It’s hard for me once I get somebody else’s performance or idea in my head.”
When asked for one more personal brilliant thing, Ross, one of five children, quickly offers: “That moment when you and your siblings glance at each other because you know exactly what’s happening and only the five of us know but nobody else does.”