A Note From Our Artistic Director

Hi. How’s it going? I’m Kristi Szczepanek. Artistic Director of Brown Paper Box Co. and resident Mama to all our company members. Before you settle in for this performance of EVERYBODY, have you gotten yourself a drink? Gone to the bathroom? (And washed your hands?) Great job!
 
If this is the first show you’re seeing with us, welcome to our corner of the theatre world! And if you’ve been here before, welcome back. It’s great to see you.
 
From the minute we started reading this play, we knew wanted to produce it. Not only does it deal with huge, universal themes like death and what it means to live a full life (and honestly, who isn’t thinking about those right now?), five of the actors have no idea what character they’ll be playing from night to night. The mystery! The intrigue!
 
I’m told honesty is important in leadership so if I’m being honest, those aren’t the only reasons we picked this show. We picked it for all of the above reasons of course, but also because times are tough for a non-profit theatre company and we knew it would be relatively inexpensive to produce. Part of our mission at Brown Paper Box includes smart, simple design because we believe that the story is the thing that should stand out. But even smart, simple design costs money.
 
If you enjoy the show today, I hope you’ll consider tossing a few bucks in the donation bin on the way out. No donation is too small (and none is too large…) We appreciate each and every penny given to us.
 
If you’re interested in becoming a season donor, please talk to the Box Office staff or visit our website at www.BrownPaperBox.org. We have some super secret perks that are only available to season donors and I promise they won’t disappoint!
 
Above all, I hope this performance will spark great conversation for you in the coming days. Whether it’s with the person you came with or the friends you’ll tell to see the show (please tell your friends!) We could all use a little more conversation with each other and I think this show has some pretty big ideas to unpack.
 
Thank you for coming. We appreciate you. Enjoy the show!
- Kristi Szczepanek

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