Everybody

Everybody is playing at the Signature Theatre located at 480 West 42nd Street. It runs one hour twenty minutes with no intermission. The play closes on March 12, 2017.

Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins is the play wright. He won the 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play for his plays Appropriate and An Octoroon. His play Gloria was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Marylouise Burke won a Drama Desk Award for Fuddy Meers (2000) and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Kimberly Akimbo (2003).

The Usher (Jocelyn Bioh) makes announcements about what not to do in theatre like talk on the phone. She then becomes God. She says Death Fears No Man. God then talks to death (Marylouise Burle)

Death picks five people in the audience; she says I am coming for you. Everybody will die. The five line up for pick a ball out of the bingo canister on stage. Each ping pong ball has the name of the character they will play that night. Each night the role will change.

At this performance Everybody was Patrick Kelly, Friendship/Strength was Latisha Michelle May, Kinship/Mind was Brooke Bloom, Cousin/ Beauty/ All the Shitty Evil was Michael Braun, Stuff/Senses was Louis Cancelmi.

Death said she will be back when she changes her outfit.

Everybody does not want to die. He asks if he can bring someone with him. He has to produce an account of his life, what he has done. He’s on a journey he will never return. The light goes off everbody is talking he is wondering if he his dreaming his thoughts orif he is awake. The lights go off each time he thinks of who might go with him. Friendship turns him down, Kindship says she has to leave with girl (Lilyana Tiare Cornell), Stuff says no because he will be someone else’s property and Cousinship refuses him too.

The only person who will go with him is love (Christopher Fetti). Love makes him take off almost all of his clothes. He makes him run around screaming things.

Two large skeletons appear dancing around.

Death returns. Everyone follows him to his grave. Strength, Mind, All Shitty Evil Things and Senses are there but refuse to go into the grave. Each one fades away. Just Everybody and Love go into the grave.

Time (Lilyana Tiare Cornell) talks to death. They leave together.

Understanding (Jocelyn Bioh) is the last to leave. She leaves us with death is going to happen no matter what!

This is a really different play. A person who was in the audience saw the show before came back to see how it was with different actors in the different roles.

Considering five out of the nine actors may be doing a different role the night you see it. The five actors did a great job. Jocelyn Bioh is fantastic as the usher and a little like the exorcists as God. Even the ghosts were good.

Go have a night out with death. But do come back.

Review by Rozanna Radalovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll on down to the left for recent photos. Click on a photo, then click back to album and finally click back to gallery for this and other shows.