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One-Man Show Draws Theatre Audiences to Campus

November 22, 2021 - 5 minute read


Kai Parham during Every Brilliant Thing

Concordia Irvine's theatre program kicked off in-person shows by tackling a tough topic -- suicide -- through the use of humor.

“Comedy is a tremendous healer,” says professor Tony Vezner, director of CUI’s theatre program. “When I told people that this was a comedy about suicide and mental illness, they would look at me as if that couldn’t be possible. But the writing is so strong — it balances the pain and the honest human comedy perfectly.”

Carrying the one-man show was student Kai Parham, a young man of many talents and a budding actor who says being at CUI is “truly a gift from God.”

“Every experience God puts in my way is because he knows I can handle it, and I have no one to rely on but him,” Parham says.

He comes from a large, tight-knit family in Chicago, where his father is an assistant coach of men’s basketball at DePaul University. Kai’s family moved around a lot when he was a kid.

“I was always excited to see what the next school would look like,” he says. “I was quick to make friends and enjoy the space I was at.” He played basketball in his first year at CUI, until time commitments forced a choice between the court and the stage. But even as an ambitious actor, he never expected his third show, Every Brilliant Thing, to be a one-man tour de force.

“I was terrified, absolutely terrified when they offered me this,” Parham says. “I had never done anything like that in my life. If it went bad, I would have no one to blame but myself. But God won’t give you anything you can’t handle.”

He approached rehearsals like a disciplined athlete, integrating his lines with blocking and gestures.

“Through rehearsal and repetitive motions, you begin to trust yourself, and through that I found comfort on the stage,” he says. “You practice the same move over and over until you’re ready to do it. Then you hit that move and you score, and it seems easy but no one knows how much work you’ve put in on that one move.”

Kai Parham

Parham says his strong personal foundation comes from his faith and his family bonds.

“My family is big on the Lord,” he says. “When moving we always find ourselves grounded in church. We are also really big on family and grounded by tradition. We meet for holidays and birthdays. We are blessed to have a matriarch, my dad’s grandma, who is 93. I got to grow up in the mix of this huge family. We are very big on respect and working to your fullest capability, simply because of our acknowledgment of the blessings we do have.”

Vezner says it’s been wonderful to see Kai’s family fly out for each of his plays. “He is deeply attached to his family and they are very supportive,” says Vezner. “He talks about them all the time and it was fun to see them at the performances of Every Brilliant Thing.”

What they, and every audience member, saw at the one-man show was what Vezner calls “a very natural actor. Kai has a number of qualities that you just can’t teach — ease, quiet confidence and a grounded approach to the character. I think he’s just discovering what he is capable of as an actor.”

At every performance, Kai had to select someone from the audience to play his character’s father. That led to a moving moment between the real father and son.

“I will never forget the day Kai’s dad, Paris Parham, was there and Kai selected him to be his fictional dad,” Vezner says. “Towards the end of the play, the audience-member-father has to get up and give an impromptu wedding toast to Kai and an audience member who plays Kai’s bride. Watching Kai receive that love directly from his real dad in front of a full audience was a moment of theatre I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

A number of opportunities have opened up for Kai since coming to Southern California. He recently had a speaking role in a national-level biographical movie. “It felt amazing to be on set, to be in that atmosphere and see what things are like,” he says.

His graphic design career is also taking off. For years, Parham painted custom designs on his friends’ shoes and clothing. A friend who owns a shoe brand invited him to paint original designs on shoes and t-shirts which are now sold in Footlocker.

“It was an amazing experience to be 19 years old and see your designs in Footlocker,” Kai says. “It was surreal seeing people walking around the mall with your shirts on.”

I was terrified, absolutely terrified when they offered me this. I had never done anything like that in my life. If it went bad, I would have no one to blame but myself. But God won’t give you anything you can’t handle.

As for Every Brilliant Thing, Kai believes the play has a much larger purpose.

“It gave us the chance to minister to people who needed to hear that conversation and needed to talk,” he says. “It made me feel like I was helping somebody out. When you hear the topic of the show, you think of the sad reality of suicide, but the play finds a great balance between entertainment and information. The up note is to cherish life. It gives you tools to take home if you are dealing with someone who is dealing with that.

People are left thinking, what can I look out for in terms of suicide prevention?”

There were question and answer times after each of the six performances. Volunteers from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention attended every show as well and “they all shared in the laughter and the tears, and I think they felt that we had found the right tone to tell this story honestly and with dignity,” says Vezner.

For Parham, it’s all about “staying level and trying everything at the highest level you can,” he says. “You never know what you’re good at until you try it. Stay optimistic and acknowledge the blessings you have.”

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