Everybody
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Antaeus Theatre Company
Through October 17
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has been one of the most promising new playwrights of the past decade. His plays are widely produced and he’s been a Pulitzer finalist twice. I’ve loved about half (Neighbors and Gloria) of the five shows of his I’ve seen, was mildly entertained by another (Appropriate) and underwhelmed by the other half, one of which was An Octoroon and the other of which unfortunately is Everybody. This rewriting of the 15th-century morality play Everyman feels more like an academic exercise than actual drama. The talented cast of Antaeus Theatre Company’s new production of the show can’t quite give it the desired emotional resonance that isn’t present in Jacobs-Jenkins’ prose.
God (Cherish Monique Duke), vexed by the actions of humankind, requests that Death (Anne Gee Byrd) round up everyone to make a presentation about their experiences of life. Death does so and informs Everybody (Nicole Erb) that she’ll need to get her presentation ready shortly, because she’s about to die. Everybody begs Death for the chance to convince someone to come with her into the afterlife, and Death grudgingly gives her some time to try and find a companion. Everybody approaches possible companions, from Friendship (Lisa Sanaye Dring) and Cousin (Antonio Jaramillo) to Beauty (Gerard Joseph) and Stuff (Harry Groener), but unsurprisingly, nobody wants to die with her.
It should be noted that the roles of five of the ensemble are determined at the beginning of each show by lottery, so this review only covers this specific evening. Erb gives a game and sympathetic performance as the titular personage, providing the emotional connection for the play. Dring is lively and funny as both Friendship and Strength, and Jaramillo is charming as the honest Cousin. Groener, resplendent in a shiny golden jacket, is sharply amusing as the shallow Stuff, and Joseph acquits himself well as Kinship and Beauty. In the fixed roles, Duke is quite good as the friendly Usher and Understanding, but her choice to perform God in several different voices is more perplexing than effective. Byrd is good as the low-key Death, but one wishes she had more to do in the show. Finally, Dawn Didawick makes a welcome appearance as Time, and Alberto Isaac is appropriately both endearing and a cruel taskmaster as Love.
Director Jennifer Chang gets good work from her cast, but the staging seems somewhat bland. An idea that has voices speaking to Everybody displayed as flashing lights on a screen isn’t compelling as a visual element, although Nicholas Ponting’s Glendale-inspired red brick wall set does convey the Galleria neighborhood well. There are several things in Jacobs-Jenkins’ play that succeed (humorous dialogue, the opening “turn off your cellphones” announcement being built into the show itself) and several stylistic choices that don’t (various actors lip-synching Everybody’s dialogue, or half the cast starting seated in the audience – in Antaeus’ small space, it felt like a quarter of the audience was in the show), but the main problem is that Jacobs-Jenkins doesn’t seem to have anything of great import to say. In a show where the characters are all symbols and deliberately not fleshed-out, in a message play, the message is important. And here that message basically is, “Be nice.” Which is fine and all, but it’s not especially interesting or satisfying as the motivating basis of a play.
Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 East Broadway, Glendale; Mon. 8 p.m.; Thurs. 8 p.m. (Oct 6. & 13); Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m.; through October 17. https://Antaeus.org. Running time: approximately one hour and thirty minutes.
