![Jason, Anapela and Lucie (Stage Manager) hold a keyboard during rehearsal](https://silo.imgix.net/Silo_EveryBrilliantThingRehearsal_1340_ZDS_1362_Ana_Keyboard.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&px=4000&q=60&w=2000)
With a Little Help From Your Friends: Getting Every Brilliant Thing Onstage
With a Little Help From Your Friends: Getting Every Brilliant Thing Onstage
Kate Prior – The Pantograph Punch
04.11.2020
![Anapela and Jason are directed by Danielle over Zoom](https://silo.imgix.net/Silo_EveryBrilliantThingRehearsal_1315_ZDS_1148_Dani_Laptop_2020-12-04-055945.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&px=4000&q=60&w=1100)
![Jason sits and Anapela rocks out on a keyboard](https://silo.imgix.net/Silo_EveryBrilliantThingRehearsal_1338_ZDS_1308_Ana_Keyboard.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&px=4000&q=60&w=1100)
![Danielle Cormack is talking from a laptop screen](https://silo.imgix.net/Silo_EveryBrilliantThingRehearsal_1324_ZDS_1194_Dani_CU.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&px=4000&q=60&w=1100)
“I remember there was probably about three or four days where we literally just sat. I felt like I just sat watching my screen, completely frozen, almost debilitated in this limbo state where I just did not know what to do.” Jess Smith, Silo Theatre’s Executive Director, recalls what it was like to run a theatre company when, in late March, live performance was outlawed overnight. “I didn't know what the right decision was."
I didn't know how we were going to even approach the idea of having to postpone a bunch of stuff or cancel shows, and how audiences were going to react.
It’s now November, and here you are, together with a bunch of strangers, sitting in Samoa House in Tāmaki Makaurau, about to watch a show. After the year we’ve had, it’s a wee bit of a miracle. So here’s a small glimpse into running a theatre during a pandemic, and the story of how Silo Theatre’s Every Brilliant Thing finally made it to the stage, after all...
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