Everybody PLAY - Play Information

eerie, riveting, intriguing Name of the creator is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The genre is a dark comedy/ tragedy because (death is a taboo subject and it the story it is trying to tell is complex and provokes thoughts) (has an sad, serious tone, ending sad) The protagonist of the play was Everybody and throughout the story, he had trouble accepting death. The climax or the central conflict was when Everybody and love were talking with each other and everybody was begging love to not leave him. Then, love made Everybody take off his clothes and run around in circles repeating that he has no control. The language was informal and conversational. It was effective because it really displayed Everybody’s inner mental struggles and his interaction with different aspects of life. One particular example would be when Everybody had internal dialogue and was questioning himself not being ready to accept death. The name of the director is Elizabeth Mozer. The stage was Zoom up until the last few scenes of skeleton dancing where it was a proscenium stage. The director was able to get them to work as an ensemble (seemed like they were responding well to each other, listening). Specifically although many of these scenes were on zoom, I remember one instance where the mind threw a trophy at everybody and it felt like they executed that well despite being on zoom. I was happy with casting choices across race and gender because it was super diverse and I felt like everybody fit their role. One actor that I really enjoyed watching was Everybody played by Patrick Saint Ange. I think Patrick portrayed a very desperate kind of character really well and his body language throughout the play such as his hand gestures and facial expressions really lined up well with his character. One specific acting moment that I appreciate would have to be the climax of the play. In my opinion love and everybody were talking and love made everybody take off his clothes and run around in circles repeating that he has no control. It seemed like he displayed his desperation perfectly. Patrick had a helpless facial expression where he really hammered his helplessness feeling. Also, he had his arms to the side and it really looked like he did not have any control whatsoever. My reaction to their performance was that they could not have casted a better “Everybody” in that show because it really felt like he WAS that character and it was just brilliant acting. Tim Thistleton designed the lights. The dark background made it eerie. One lighting moment was ^. The overall design made it seem like they were in the same darkish world because it felt like they were all coordinated although on zoom and their backdrops were of dark color. This gave a really eerie feeling throughout the play. One specific design choice I really liked was in the beginning of the play when Death was fed up with the other characters asking questions. He used his eerie and angry voice to display some angry body emotions and had a red light shine on his face to embody a demonic like figure. Also, the background was black so the red and black color on color comparison really helped move his message forward. My reaction was that those choices were really good because it really set the tone and mood of his character and that’s probably why the designer made this specific choice. Overall, I think that the Work of all the artists hung together and seemed like they had really good coordination just as if they were in the same world. And it really felt like those specific choices such as love’s and death’s costume and the smooth scene to scene music really brought the play together and enhanced some themes. I think the playmakers wanted us to feel reflective and think about the reason and our purpose for living. It also sort of pushed us to provoke thought about our own morals and ethics and what we value most as a person through the shoes of Everybody. My parting thought is that this play made me think more deeply about death and what we value most out of all the things we have as a person.