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\u201cIt is vital that we talk about mental health,\u201d says Daniel Radcliffe\u2019s character in Every Brilliant Thing,<\/em> halfway through the dynamic one-man, one-act Broadway show.\u00a0An hour later, shortly after his Thursday evening performance, the Tony-winning English actor\u2014who is again a nominee<\/a> this year\u2014walked a stone\u2019s throw across the street from the Hudson Theatre to The Lamb\u2019s Club. Along with Mariska Hargitay, who will succeed him in the show later this month, and director Jeremy Herrin, Radcliffe was celebrated at an intimate apr\u00e8s-theater supper organized by patrons and supporters of the Center for Youth Mental Health at NewYork-Presbyterian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr. Zandy Forbes, Ayesha Shand, Dr. Charlie Shaffer, Elizabeth Shaffer, and Anna Wintour served as co-hosts for the evening. The guest list included familiar faces from New York\u2019s art, theater, and fashion circles, as well as NewYork-Presbyterian physicians. Post-show, Louisa Jacobson, Derek Blasberg, Adam Baidawi, Bee Carrozzini, Robert Denning, Natalie Massenet, Greg Nobile, and Billy Norwich gathered in the Art Deco-style crimson and black dining room, where they discussed the play\u2019s themes over cocktails and canap\u00e9s ahead of the seated dinner.<\/p>\n Shortly before enjoying their entr\u00e9es, Dr. Shaffer, a psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, greeted guests with warm remarks.\u00a0\u201cAs a psychiatrist, it\u2019s very difficult to watch a play or a film about mental illness,\u201d he began. \u201cOne of the great merits of this play is that there’s no psychiatry in it, and I think that it speaks to a real point about our world right now. Everybody knows we have a mental health crisis in this country right now, and certainly there are things that psychiatrists can do and treatments that we can offer that can make a real difference. But I think many of the solutions are actually going to come from outside the medical model. And that\u2019s why it\u2019s so captivating to see this play, where it\u2019s the creative resilience of those directly affected that pulls the characters through. It\u2019s the same resilience we see with our own patients and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n In the critically acclaimed Broadway production, Radcliffe\u2019s character tells the story of how he built a list of \u201ceverything brilliant about the world\u201d\u2014a list, effectively, of reasons to live. He creates it as a coping mechanism during childhood to help himself and his suicidal mother. As he re-enacts pivotal moments from his life and reflects on the list, which he adds to throughout adulthood\u2014with the help of volunteers from the show\u2019s jovial audience\u2014he discovers the essence of joy while shedding light on the importance of support and community for those struggling with their mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt that the play was exactly what I needed. A real-life, shared communal human experience. It was theater with a capital T, and a really wonderful reminder of the beauty of life,\u201d Jacobson told Vogue<\/em> after the performance. \u201cIt\u2019s such serious subject matter, but it is handled with so much grace and humor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the heart of the play is a story of loss, and an unsuccessful endeavor to keep someone alive,\u201d Peter Hermann, who attended the dinner with Hargitay, his wife, told Vogue<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s always extraordinary to have one person telling a story, and then a group that bears witness. It is the most ancient storytelling format that we\u2019ve got. There\u2019s another level of beauty because the play, in its format, explicitly says, \u2018I cannot tell this story alone.\u2019 It’s about community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n