CORRECTION: A previous version of the story spelled Paola Ovalle‘s name incorrectly.
In a typical play, each performance is the same in the way that each actor has an assigned character and will play that character for every performance, however, that is not the case for the upcoming play “Everybody.”
The play consists of five actors who have rehearsed and memorized the lines for the main character, but only one will be chosen at random through a draw during the play to be the lead.
The play “Everybody” is set to debut this Thursday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium, located in the J building on the LAC Campus, and will play the following days May 16, and May 17 at the same time.
Another aspect of the play that is unique is that it brings awareness and acknowledgement to the phenomenon of death.
In the play, the main character named Everybody is suddenly faced with death, as a character playing the archetype of death comes to them to explain that God has ordered for them to die and to give a presentation on their life, having to explain their choices and the way they lived.
The character Everybody is terrified and tormented with the fact that they are going to die soon, and therefore begs death to let them bring a friend along.
Actors in the play “Everybody” scream after finding out that one of them will be chosen to die during the dress rehearsal on May 13. (Paloma Maciel)
Death agrees, and Everybody is left with the challenge to convince someone to accompany them on the unknown journey of death.
The randomized selection of the character is representative of the unpredictability of death, and the name Everybody refers to the fact that every human will experience death.
Since only one actor will play the main character, the other possible leads will play backup characters who represent archetypes like “Friendship” and “Stuff” which represent material objects.
The rest of the cast also plays fixed archetypal characters like “Strength” and “Beauty” to name a few.
David Hillinger, the actor who plays the archetype of Death, spoke about the effort that goes into the lead actors having to learn multiple characters.
“These parts are not small they’re either the main character which is very large or the other characters which are medium large, so they have a massive amount to learn. It’s not just the lead, you have to do the lead, and where you go on the stage, and you have to create the character, and you have to know the movement, but you have to do that for all the other characters,” Hillinger said.
All the actors in the play have been rehearsing for two months, attending four hour rehearsals for four days a week.
Given that the play will run for five performances and that there are five main characters to choose from, there is a slight possibility that every actor will have the chance to play the lead once.
However, taking into account this low possibility, it is likely that one or a couple of the actors who have prepared for the main character will not get to perform as the lead.
One of the possible lead characters, Leya Froehlich, explained how she would feel if she didn’t get picked to play the lead in any of the performances.
“It would suck a little bit because you know we memorized it all and we kind of want to have the chance to do it, but I think that it will be destiny. I like playing friendship too so it will be fine, and the other Everybody’s are great so we’ll see what happens,” Leya said.
The director of the play, Adam Navarro, a theater professor at LBCC, explained one of the inspirations for choosing this play about death.
“The theme of memento mori comes up a lot in some of the productions I do. People used to put a skull on their desk in the old days, and it was a way to remind them that one day they’re going to die, and it wasn’t supposed to be like a scary or like, gross thing. It was a way to motivate them to go out and live, to seize the day, to live for today because there might not be another tomorrow,” Navarro said.
Navarro hopes that his iteration of the play “Everybody” inspires others to live for today in the same way as the concept of “memento mori,” which was a movement to embrace death and translates as a reminder to “remember that you die.”
“This is really aimed at people who are dying, which is everybody. Everybody lives, borns, dies, and this is for all the people in that category,” Hillinger said.
David Hillinger, left, who plays “Death” whispers into David Chom’s ear as he sits in the audience waiting to get pulled into the production of LBCC’s “Everybody.” (Sam Villa)
Aside from the 7:30 p.m. shows on May 15, 16, and 17, additional day time performances will occur on May 17 and May 18 at 2:00 p.m at The Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium.
General Admission is $15, while student, senior, and staff stickers are $10.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.lbcc.edu/performingarts under the section “Purchase Tickets.”
Students with ASB CSC stickers are free, but these tickets are only available in person at the Box Office.