FORT WORTH — The recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have drawn fresh awareness about suicide in America. That makes the timing of Circle Theatre's Every Brilliant Thing, running through July 14, urgently apt.

Zak Reynolds stars as a man creating a list of reasons that make life worth living in the regional premiere of this 2014 off-Broadway show by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe.

Reynolds takes us through his unnamed character's life, starting in childhood, when his mother has made a suicide attempt. He creates the list, believing it will help her. What he gradually realizes with aching clarity, humor and tenderness is how the list helps him and others.

Circle Theatre is just one of a small and mighty coterie of companies that make the trip to Fort Worth a must for theater lovers. Dallas theatergoers will find a lot of familiar faces there, including Reynolds, who is making his Circle Theatre debut. He's known to Dallas audiences for performances at Dallas Theater Center, WaterTower Theatre and Dallas Children's Theater.

Quinn Moran plays Romeo and Carly Wheeler plays Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet,' which will be presented in repertory with Twelfth Night in Trinity Shakespeare Festival's 10th season on the Texas Christian University campus in Fort Worth June 19 to July 8. (Evan Michael Woods)

Harry Parker, theater department chair at Texas Christian University, directs Reynolds' compelling performance. Parker is a frequent director in Fort Worth, where TCU has a big footprint on the theater scene.

But Southern Methodist University is no stranger here. SMU professor and busy actor Blake Hackler helms Twelfth Night for Trinity Shakespeare Festival, alongside founding artistic director and TCU professor T.J. Walsh, who directs Romeo and Juliet. (Hackler's world premiere Enemies/People by Second Thought Theatre runs through July 7 in Dallas.)

The Shakespeare productions will run in repertory June 21 to July 8 on the TCU campus, performed by the same actors.

Stage West has become the boldest of the Fort Worth companies, pushing audiences to consider new perspectives as with its regional premiere of Hir, the tough tale of a transgender teen that closed June 17. But the company knows how to get goofy, too, with silliness on the menu for its upcoming Don't Dress for Dinner, written by Boeing-Boeing playwright Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon. This farce, about the comically ill-fated weekend trysting plans of a husband, wife and their secret lovers, runs July 12 to Aug. 12.

Don't Dress for Dinner features talent from both cities. Dallas' Christie Vela directs Stage West managing director Mark Shum and executive director Dana Schultes alongside Kitchen Dog company member Michael Federico and Allison Pistorius, a regular in both cities. (She's also performing in Enemies/People.)

Amphibian Stage Productions tackles challenges faced by women in sports in the 2015 off-Broadway play, King Liz, July 13 to Aug. 5. Fort Worth's Kenneisha Thompson, another performer in both cities, stars in Fernanda Coppel's play about a female sports agent who takes a risk on a high school basketball player with a troubled past.

Jubilee Theatre's mission is to create and produce theatrical works that give voice to the black experience. The company's next show, last produced in 2010, is the music-infused 1982 Tony Award-nominee Blues in the Night. Three women involved with the same man in 1938 Chicago tell their woes through 25 songs by Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, John Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter and more.

Torch songs and the blues — yet another good reason to seek a seat in Fort Worth.

Zak Reynolds performs in Every Brilliant Thing for Circle Theatre in Fort Worth. (Tim Long)

Details

Every Brilliant Thing through July 14 at Circle Theatre, 230 W. Fourth St., Fort Worth. $20-$38. circletheatre.com. Mental Health America of Greater Tarrant County will lead post-show discussions following the June 23, June 30 and July 7 matinees. Performance reviewed was Saturday night, June 16. Running time: 70 minutes.

Trinity Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night in repertory through July 8 on the Texas Christian University campus, 2800 S. University Drive, Fort Worth. $20-$30. trinityshakes.org

Don't Dress for Dinner runs July 12-Aug. 12 at Stage West, 821 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth. $17-$35. stagewest.org

King Liz runs July 13-Aug. 5 at Amphibian Stage Productions, 120 S. Main St., Fort Worth. $33: Pay what you want on July 12, $100 on July 13, $50 on July 14. amphibianstage.com

Blues in the Night runs July 27-Aug. 26 at Jubilee Theatre, 506 Main St., Fort Worth. $24-$34. jubileetheatre.org