Eric Conway: The Theatre Morgan Production Entitled "Everybody" by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Very Thoughtful Play About Life and Death

Eric Conway writes:

Hello Everybody!

I just attended another fine Theatre Morgan production entitled EVERYBODY by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.  This is a very thoughtful play about Life and Death exploring questions such as:  

1) What happens after our time on this earth?

2) Is there a God? 

3) How should I live my life on this earth?  

Quite interestedly, the nine actors in this ninety minute play, do not play traditional characters, but ideas or abstractions.  The play begins with a character who gives an entertaining soliloquy-like request to silence our cellphones, who within a matter of moments plays the character of God!  God quickly meets her helper Death whose job it is to identify the roles of the nine actors. In true experimental theatre fashion, all actors previously learned all roles and via the process of picking out of hat on stage during the show,  learned their roles to be played on real-time.  In theory, every night, out of possible 120 possibilities, could be another character, with the exception of God and Death who will be constant.  After their roles are selected, the play is on.

The primary role’s name is Everybody, who really could represent any one of us.  As actors' names are picked out of a hat, this somewhat depicts the random nature of the timing of the end of our lives.   Death meets Everybody and tells her that her time is up.  Everybody, not being ready negotiates and asks if someone could come with her to this thing called death.  After trying to cajole characters like Friendship, Cousinship, Stuff, to go with her, at the end of the day, no one wants to or is able to go with her.

Quite symbolically, the only character that was willing to go along for the ride to Death with Everybody was the character Love.  In the end, although we might want to have someone with us during the process, Everybody dies alone.

Again, this is a great play about life and death — which is more about life, as we all still do not definitively know about the hereafter.

I strongly encourage you to attend this very entertaining play.  You will leave the theatre reexamining your meaning of your life.  Again, Theatre at its finest asks us all to re-examine ourselves.

Guest director Thembi Duncan does a masterful job in assisting our Morgan students in this production.  Our Theatre Morgan students also convincingly played their abstract roles.

Everybody only runs this weekend, over this Sunday, February 25, 2018.  Please attend if you are able.

EC

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Eric Conway, D.M.A.

Fine and Performing Arts Department, Chair

Morgan State University