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Grad Fest’s ‘Dream Big Bash’ celebrates graduates

Jose Rivera
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Grad Fest’s ‘Dream Big Bash’ celebrates graduates

LBCC’s Grad Fest recently celebrated graduating students and offered them final support and resource opportunities at the Dream Big Bash at the Liberal Arts Campus. 

The event lasted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and included music by DJ Mr. Quick, lawn games like volleyball and cornhole, and booths.

Booths hosted by university partners, such as UCLA, Arizona State University, CSULA, CSU Dominguez Hills, and CSU Fullerton, made up one half of the resource fair.

The resources fair booths offered graduating students opportunities beyond LBCC, such as programs to join on new campuses. 

Campus partners that ran booths include the UMOJA program, the EOPS program, the Male Success Initiative hosted by James Ceja, and ASB hosted by ASB President Priince Bass. 

ASB also had Olle Tauanuu in a Viking costume, representing the school mascot for the event. Tauanuu posed for pictures as well. 

At noon, Superintendent-President Mike Munoz attended the event and hosted the “Paletas with the President” booth, where he and other faculty members handed out paletas (popsicles) to attendees. 

Students also had the chance to meet with Munoz and take a photo. 

“[Paletas with the President] is an event I try to do multiple times a year to connect with students and our campus community. So we’re leveraging the power of all of these opportunities to celebrate the graduating class this semester. Really just creating synergy in celebrating our students,” said Munoz. 

LBCC President Mike Munoz talks and hands out paletas to students during the Dream Big Bash, for the “Paletas with the President” booth May 8. (Kay Pham-Nguyen)

The campus bookstore also hosted multiple booths, with one booth for merchandise and regalia, and another booth for graduation photos.

The event provided breakfast and lunch for attendees, with boxed breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and orange juice for breakfast and hot dogs, veggie burgers, chips, and pink lemonade for lunch. 

The event was organized by director of Student Health Services, Sergio Grimaldi, who revealed that the event was moved out from the A-building quad, where the event had been previously held years prior, to the LAC main lawn. 

“The resource fair is a new component. It would’ve been too big for the quad over at A-building, so we moved it right outside so it’d still be close,” Grimaldi said. 

Soon after “Paletas with the President,” infrequent gusts of wind started interfering with the event and paperwork in the booths were getting blown over.

However, this did very little to affect the festivities, as attendees continued dancing to the DJ’s music along the main aisle of booths.

“It’s a good turnout, and a good energy. I’d say it’s like a family barbecue, because we’re all family here,” Bass said. 

If you go, go for ‘Love’: A review of LBCC’s ‘Everybody’

Jose Rivera
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If you go, go for ‘Love’: A review of LBCC’s ‘Everybody’

CORRECTION: The lede has been rewritten to include words that were previously missing.

Starting as what can only be described as a teen girl’s midlife crisis, LBCC’s production of the play “Everybody” slowly turns into a down-to-earth depiction of what humans bring to death.

While each performance may vary depending on the lottery scene where five cast members pick their roles, there are still many stationary characters, some of which I consider the best in the show, but remember to use the bathroom before, because this is a performance of 90 minutes with no intermission.

The thrust, a theater term for a stage which has an audience on three sides of it, makes the experience immersive as characters come to life from the stage to the next to you and right in front of you.

The first thing you are greeted by is a skit that serves as a precursor to the performance while the audience members take their seats. This offers small comedic moments for characters that don’t appear again until the end of the performance, which I consider slightly disappointing. 

Nancy Tran played the Usher and truly set the bar for the show as she guided the characters off stage and entered with her witty remarks and audience interactions that are contrasted with deep comments on mortality. 

Velbert Reed appeared with a loud and thunderous voice, perfect for his role as the character “God.” He was paired with David Hillinger, the socially awkward yet charming depiction of the character, “Death.” 

On the May 15 performance, the lottery chose Leya Froehlich as the protagonist “Everybody,” Nicholas Rout-Vazquez as “Cousin,” Paola Ovalle as “Stuff,” David Chom as “Friendship,” and Qowlayah Peters as “Kinship.” 

The awkward comedy is laced with the slight feeling of existential dread that doesn’t quite hit you until the impactful performance of “Love” played by Luna Navarro, a vulnerable scene which hits the same with any cast member playing “Everybody.” 

Navarro’s nasty and persuasive depiction of “Love” is something that was jaw-dropping, making Froehlich simply bend to her will with the promise of accompanying her to the afterlife.

From there on, “Everybody” goes through the stages of death, leading to a masterful dialogue once again by Tran.

In the wonderful summary by Tran, one by one, beauty has a tendency to fade, strength runs out, the mind goes, and the senses get lost, which is something viewers understand by the end of the show.  

LBCC student balances jazz trumpet studies with life as a rock drummer

Jose Rivera
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LBCC student balances jazz trumpet studies with life as a rock drummer

LBCC student Kyla Foster claimed to accidentally be living a double life when she referred to her pursuits in music as a touring rock drummer while also studying music, with an emphasis on jazz trumpet.

Foster is currently the drummer for Long Beach band The Anti Groupies, an all-girl rock band who have recently become a familiar face in the Long Beach rock music scene.

She was introduced to music at a very young age, with her first vivid memory of music being listening to the “Rubber Soul” album by The Beatles.

“I remember hearing that album in third grade and realizing (music) was something I could follow and understand, and I don’t understand much, so I kept pursuing it,” Foster said. 

Foster began taking music electives in fifth grade and pursued trumpet and keys. 

She has continued to study jazz trumpet through her days at LBCC with professor Patrick Sheng. 

Foster joked about her double life being a result of her forgetfulness.

“I kind of just don’t realize that I don’t tell people that I play drums,” Foster said.

Sheng wasn’t surprised when he found out about Foster’s personal endeavors, but he seems to jokingly pester her about letting him see her perform. 

“She won’t let me come see her perform because she always forgets to give me a flyer, and I forget the dates when she tells me,” Sheng said. 

Despite not seeing her drumming capabilities, he chimed in on her trumpet skills. 

“Jumping out of high school she was a really strong player, which not a lot of people are, and she’s a great feature soloist, so I always try to feature her when I can,” Sheng said. 

Foster claimed to be a self-taught drummer and revealed that she chose to play trumpet when she was younger due to being able to read the sheet music more easily. 

“I felt like I didn’t really have the chops to read the sheet music for drums properly and so I went with trumpet instead when I had to choose my instrument,” Foster said.

As a self-taught drummer, being unable to read sheet music didn’t stop her bandmate Isabella Broersma from sharing that Foster was a key part of the band. 

“She makes a whole difference with the way she adds drums and harmonies to everything we write is special. If she were to ever be replaced, we would be a completely different band,” Broersma said. 

The feeling was mutual as Foster shared that being in the band was a great experience for her. 

“We all come from different musical backgrounds, even though they all went to the School of Rock, and so they all just make me want to become a better musician,” Foster said. 

LBCC student Kyla Foster plays drums in her home studio where the band writes all of their music April 29. (Kay Pham-Nguyen)

Foster’s time in The Anti Groupies also created memorable moments for Broersma, such as Foster forgetting her drum kit for a live session performance.

“Kyla didn’t read the email and she forgot to bring her drums, and the entire music department was gone by this point so we had to make a makeshift drum kit out of random buckets we found around,” Broersma said.

Whether it’s playing trumpet or drums, being a drummer doesn’t stop Foster from being in the spotlight.

“They love letting me sing in every song. I’m not too big on being in the spotlight but they always give me my time to shine,” Foster said, regarding playing with The Anti-Groupies.

Foster will be performing with The Anti Groupies  in Los Angeles on May 23 at 9 p.m. at The Viper Room.

LBCC’s new mural includes handprints of over 400 Long Beach community members

Jose Rivera
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LBCC’s new mural includes handprints of over 400 Long Beach community members

Over 400 Long Beach community members’ handprints were added to the latest project in the “Love My Neighbor” series created by artist Alexey Steele at the TTC campus on May 7. 

The California Creative Corps program granted $50,000 to Steele and partnered with local non-profit Care Closet to create murals of community heroes with a touch of community involvement, the center mural of this piece being LBCC Hall of Fame inductee and community advocate Duke Givens.

The portrait of Givens was surrounded by two fully orange canvases that had the words “love my neighbor” and “pluribus unum” painted across them.

“Being an artist, I’m very focused on people, human nature, how unique they are and I found myself fascinated most by people who possess a sort of code. They do things which are outside of reason, driven by heart and that’s what people respond to. These are the people that I define as great neighbors, and that’s Duke. That’s my neighbor,” Steele said.

Community members, mostly LBCC students and staff, picked from seven colors to have either one or both hands coated with acrylic paint in any combination or pattern, and were instructed by Steele in terms of placement on the orange panels.

These same seven colors made up the color palette used by Steele for the text on the piece.

Steele had elected Givens as the centerpiece after they had become art studio neighbors with a shared emphasis on the importance of community, and also elaborated that the choice of using hand prints was because of their historical significance as one of the first ways humans creatively expressed themselves. 

Steele also clarified that the lack of an “e” before “pluribus enum” as seen in the Great Seal of the United States on the leftmost canvas is a modern reiteration of the phrase “Out of many, one.”

“A historic buff or Latin speaker might look at it and say ‘ah, there is a mistake’. (The ‘e’) is the preposition that makes ‘one’ of many. So the question is where is it? There it is, right above it, in the word ‘love’… So without ‘love’, there is no ‘one’ we can make,” Steele said.

TTC Associate Vice President Alisia Kirkwood appeared early in the event to leave her mark on the mural and show support for events that foster community.

“When people feel welcomed, they’re more likely to be engaged with what we have to offer (on campus). What I love about Alexey is that he makes you feel welcome, you feel like you know him, so I think how appropriate is it that we’re working with an artist that shares the value of community? ‘Love my neighbor’ essentially means you belong here,” Kirkwood said.

The event ran for three hours and had consistent foot traffic, ranging from students, admins, parents, children, and even a small English as a second language class (ESL).

Students Yuri Orrego and Jerry Jerry along with their ESL accent reduction class happened to be on break while the event was ongoing, and were led by their professor and head of the ESL Department, Maureen Mason, to participate.

“We are international students. We felt like we were able to integrate (with this event). I liked it, it’s a passionate and creative project,” Orrego said.

Jerry also praised the inclusive nature of the event.

“This is very meaningful to me because this gave… my friends, my classmates and my professor… a chance to (partake) in an event like this together,” Jerry said.

The murals are planned to be installed on TTC’s GG building, but the exact date has not yet been determined.

‘Everybody’ balances dealing with death in a comedic and serious way on opening night

Jose Rivera
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‘Everybody’ balances dealing with death in a comedic and serious way on opening night

Given the lottery component of the play “Everybody,” where one of five actors gets randomly chosen to be the lead for every performance, the biggest anticipation of the opening night was who would be the lead.

The Usher, actor Nancy Tran who’s in charge of the lottery and chooses who “Everybody” will be, gives Paola Ovalle, one of the possible lead characters, an egg which will tell her the character she”ll play for that performance during the dress rehearsal on May 13. (Paloma Maciel)

During the first performance on May 15, Leya Froehlich was chosen, and her performance coupled with the comedic, yet deep play, to create an impactful experience that led the audience to wonder what the meaning of life is. 

“It was definitely exciting because I didn’t expect it. The chances were there but yeah it feels good, I had a great time on stage and I feel great, I feel amazing,” said Froehlich after the performance. 

Leya Froehlich, sits in the audience as she’s about to be chosen by the character “Death” to be one of the possible characters to die, during the dress rehearsal for the play “Everybody” on May 13. (Paloma Maciel)

Froehlich’s boyfriend, Jason Becker, came to support her and recalled the moment when she was chosen. 

“I was really happy for her because all of her hard work really paid off, yeah she’s been rehearsing like every night and not just during rehearsal, she’s always doing her lines and practicing even when she’s not at rehearsal, so yeah she really tried hard for this. I’m really proud of her,” Becker said. 

The designers of the play set up the performance to be interactive and intimate as audience members were seated on stage and surrounded three sides of the square built in set. 

The play started with the character “God” played by Velbert Reed, who had an assertive and deep voice, along with a strong presence. 

Velbert Reed extends his arm as the character “God” in the play “Everybody” during the dress rehearsal on May 13. (Paloma Maciel)

It is then “God” who commanded the character “Death” to bring him one of his creations to die, give a presentation of their life to him, and explain their choices.

The five lead actors who initially blended in with the crowd due to their casual clothing were chosen by “Death” to come on stage. 

Once on stage, Death introduced himself to the characters, and they all were mortified at the idea of being selected because it would mean that they would be chosen to die. 

In one scene, the actors huddled together on the floor staying as far away from the character “Death” as they could. 

Comedically, when “Death” came near some actors they hurriedly scooted away while others got up and ran. 

After this segment, the lottery was conducted by the Usher as they gave each of the five actors a random egg from a bingo cage that said their role inside. 

Only the lead character is chosen at random, while the other lead candidates know which roles they are going to play based on who is the lead. 

Much of the plot after the lottery was the main character “Everybody” coping with the fact that they are going to be dying soon and being terrified and questioning the meaning of their life while begging those close to her to come on the journey of death with her. 

A highlight towards the end of the show was when three dancers in skeleton bodysuits slowly danced to the song “I Shall Be Released” by Nina Simone.

This scene came as a surprise because it put the image of death, the skeletons, right in the audience’s face, whereas before death was mentioned mostly in a comedic way.

Dancers, Brycee Remigio, left, and Asandra Tyler, right, dance during the love scene in the production of LBCC’s “Everybody” during dress rehearsal May, 13. (Sam Villa)

The ending of the play is exactly what is said at the beginning, “Everybody” dies, but the play ends there. 

The viewer is not shown what happens after death, because as mentioned by the Usher, who adds commentary throughout the play, nobody knows what happens after death. 

David Hillinger playing the character “Death” leads the lead character “Everybody” played by Leya Froehlich into doors with smoke which represent death, at the dress rehearsal for the production of “Everybody” on May 13. (Paloma Maciel)

The play will continue this weekend with show times taking place May 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Daytime performances will also occur on May 17 and 18 at 2:00 pm. with all performances taking place at the The Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium located in the J Building on the LAC Campus. 

“It’s like okay, what’s it going to be tomorrow, what’s it going to be the next day? It’s nerve racking every night because you don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what role you’re going to get. So it’s nerve racking but it was really exciting,” said Qowlayah Peters, one of the possible leads.  

Tickets can be purchased online at www.lbcc.edu/performingarts under the section “Purchase Tickets,” or at the box office before each performance. 

General Admission is $15, while student, senior and staff stickers are $10. 

Students with ASB CSC stickers are free, but these tickets are only available in person at the box office. 

The cast clap in celebration on their last dress rehearsal during the production of LBCC’s “Everybody” (Sam Villa)

LBCC hosts annual APID Cultural Graduation Celebration

Jose Rivera
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LBCC hosts annual APID Cultural Graduation Celebration

Graduating Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi (APID) students can expect cultural performances, student speakers and a sense of belonging at LBCC’s APID cultural graduation celebration on Saturday 9:30-11 a.m. in room T1200 at LAC. 

The event is a celebration of the culture and is not a commencement ceremony.

Students and leaders in the APID club have expressed their excitement about the celebration. 

“I think (the event) definitely helps with feeling like all of my hard work is being seen and celebrated. As a minority, (graduating) is very rewarding in a different sense,” Raevan Althea Ramos, Co-President of LBCC APID Club and graduating student, said.

The event has been planned with Employee Resource Groups, the APID student club and Director of Student Equity Eric Becerra. 

Event organizers have collaborated on many levels to ensure that diversity and inclusion were at the forefront of the conversation.

“I think that we have a very diverse population within APID. That is the beauty of our group because we have a lot of strength in honoring all of our different cultures, ancestries, traditions and things of that nature,” Alex Luong, APID club supervisor, said. 

The decorations planned for the event were decided by asking students what their families did as they celebrated their life milestones or accomplishments.

Students were able to select which of the cultural celebrations they’d like to attend during the registration process for the general commencement ceremony.

“We thought this process was important to have because students are self-identifying,” Becerra said.

This was the first year that the school streamlined the RSVP process for the cultural graduations, allowing the engagement with the event to grow. 

The attendance of the event grows every year, with it ranging from 20-30 people. It was expressed that organizers are expecting similar numbers, but hoping for 40-50 people. 

2024’s student speaker Ryan Nguyen joined the APID club as a student who immigrated from Vietnam with the intention of building a community for himself at school.

“For me, I like to be involved because of friendship. It’s kind of hard to make friends during CC (community college) time and there’s not many active clubs at CC, so cultural clubs are a great way to be involved,” Nguyen said. 

Luong emphasized Nguyen’s experience and improvement throughout his time at LBCC. 

“In his speech he talked about how he immigrated to the United States and barely spoke any English and it was because of his experiences with the APID student club that really empowered him, not only on the professional and practical side but on a side of acceptance and belonging…stories about wanting to fit in so bad but not even knowing how to express that in literal words,” Luong said. 

Luong also expressed that these celebrations are places where students can connect with each other, as they may have similar experiences but don’t necessarily identify with the same ethnic backgrounds.

Students, their family, friends and faculty are encouraged to attend and RSVPs are open until Friday. 

Althea Ramos added that her family was very excited for the event as well.

“My family felt very welcomed because there’s no limit to how many people can come, and as APID we have very big families we have very big families so it feels good that they can all come with no limits on people to come,” Ramos said. 

Defensive coordinator to head coach, Cooper takes the lead

Isabel Murty
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Defensive coordinator to head coach, Cooper takes the lead

LBCC football announced that defensive coordinator Marques Cooper is now Acting Director of Football and Head Coach, replacing Brett Peabody. 

Cooper was previously the defensive coordinator and the defensive backs coach and was made head coach on March 21.

Football is something that Cooper has loved since a young age, it started at the age of nine.

“My mom wanted to keep me busy at a young age, so she put me in football,” said Cooper. 

Cooper has been coaching for 15 years and has been at El Camino College, Santa Monica College, Azusa Pacific, where he graduated from. He’s been at LBCC for the last four years as a part of the coaching staff under previous head coach Brett Peabody. 

While Cooper was at El Camino, they won the Beach Bowl games in 2017 and 2021, and made it to playoffs in 2018 but lost game one. 

“It’s really cool to have someone whose had such experiences at the D2 level and at other JUCOs and high school level to come in and lead and gives us a different kind of look at the program and just kinda build off the success that we’ve had in the past few years and just build,” Jericho Silvernail, the associate head coach and special teams coordinator, said. 

He has coached many students who have gotten All-state and All-Conference honors, a small group of the best athletes in their respective sport in the state and conference. 

There have also been athletes with Division 1 scholarships and ESPN Top 50 prospects that Cooper has taught. 

“Coach Coop done a lot for me. One thing about Coach Coop always checks on the mental aspect. He knows us as young men, especially growing up out here, we go through a lot,” said corner, Thaddeus Dixon, an LBCC alum who now plays at North Carolina. 

Cooper has been a role model for the players he’s coached. 

“Just having an older figure like that, almost like an uncle. He’s been through it and he has so much knowledge about it he can just steer you through the way,” Dixon said.  

Cooper said his goal is not only to win games and championships, but to create good players and students who can be good people off campus. 

“I would say building champions while pursuing championships,” said Cooper, about a motto that he has for every season. 

While we don’t know what happened to Brett Peabody or why he is gone, Cooper said Peabody was a mentor to him. 

“Over the last year, I learned how to run a program from him, academically and with football. I would consider him a mentor,” Cooper said. 

Even though it is the offseason, the team is practicing, getting faster and stronger and the athletes are proud and excited for Cooper and this upcoming season. 

“Coach Coops been a big step up. He’s been a big step up for me. I know he’s gonna do the right job here… I feel like Long Beach City College gonna be good behind him,” said Khalil Warren, running back for LBCC.   

Not only are the students excited, but other members of the coaching staff are happy for Cooper. 

“I know how much he cares about this program, how much he cares about these kids and his coaches.. I’m excited to see where it goes,” Silvernail said. 

LBCC hosts Native American Graduation celebration with cultural performances 

Enrique Martinez
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LBCC hosts Native American Graduation celebration with cultural performances 

LBCC’s second annual Native American Cultural Graduation Celebration will be held on Friday from 5-9 p.m. at LAC in room W201.

“I feel that it’s a great opportunity to accept one more step to show the LBCC community we are here and this is who I am and getting the support of LBCC and the recognition for the students,” Interclub Council President Samuel Perez said. 

The event is planned to run differently than the other cultural celebrations, omitting row seating and allowing students to give thanks to their support systems. 

It will also include performances such as prayer, singing, and drum circles.

“Students are able to address people in the room and someone in their community who supported them, as well as sitting in circles not rows. Circles are a sacred shape in the culture, there is no start or finish, everyone is equal,” Director of Student Equity Eric Becerra said. 

Event organizers included Employee Resource Groups, as well as the involvement of student clubs. 

Becerra wanted to focus on listening to Native voices regarding how the event was planned. 

This will be the second year that an official Native American cultural graduation celebration has been held, but the school had organized an event during the solstice in 2022. 

Native American California State University, Long Beach graduate and leader Rue Cepeda attended a cultural graduation and expressed the importance of why she participated. 

“I think the cultural graduation was so much more important to me than the regular ceremony. I was a leader in the community and I was recognized in a space where I was with my peers and professors, which wouldn’t be something I’d get in a normal ceremony,” Cepeda said. 

Students were able to sign up for the event through a streamlined process of selecting which cultural celebrations they’d like to attend, when applying for graduation. 

RSVPs for the celebration are available through Friday.

“If you don’t show up as a culture, they don’t know you exist in LBCC,” Perez said.

LBCC’s Lavender Grad Celebration invites students to celebrate their accomplishments with friends and family

Enrique Martinez
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LBCC’s Lavender Grad Celebration invites students to celebrate their accomplishments with friends and family

Long Beach City College hosted its fifth annual Lavender Grad celebration on May 9, which celebrated LGBTQIA+ students who are graduating this spring. 

The tradition of Lavender Grad, or pride graduations, started at the University of Michigan in 1995, where only three people attended. Since then, Lavender Grads have become something that is celebrated at most colleges, attendance numbers increase every year. 

This year, LBCC’s celebration had a record high of 50 RSVP’s. 

The event was hosted to give LGBTQIA+ students the opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments in a more intimate environment, allowing them to invite friends and family who have supported them in their journey. 

Students and faculty conversing at the Long Beach City College Cultural Grad Celebration, Lavender Grad. This celebration was designed to honor LGBTQIA+ students and their academic achievements and took place on May 9, 2025. (Addison Farris)

Jerome Hunt, a LBCC professor and organizer of the event, spoke on why this was such an important event to hold. 

“We work in conjunction with the other cultural grad celebrations, but this one very important to me because it’s something that we need to do to make sure that our LGBTQIA+ students feel welcomed, seen and valued here on campus,” Hunt said.  

At LBCC, Hunt has been heavily involved in LGBTQIA+ studies, events, and organizations, as well as teaches African American LGBTQIA+ Politics, and is also openly part of the LGBTQIA+ community himself. 

The event included a land acknowledgement to the Gabrielino and Tongva people and their connection to the land that LBCC sits on.

The program included speeches given by Hunt, Superintendent-President Mike Munoz, student speaker Kyshia Hearns, and keynote speaker Sydney Rogers. 

As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Munoz has been a strong advocate on campus for various pride events and opportunities for students. 

“These Cultural Graduation Celebrations give us the opportunity to really amplify the success of our students, really drilling down at the individual student level, and honoring them and their decision to continue their education despite many of the obstacles in front of them and to celebrate their accomplishment,” Munoz said. 

For many LGBTQIA+ students, the coming out process can be a difficult experience, and the fear of not being accepted by friends and family can make it hard to focus on school. 

For other queer students, they might not yet be out to their families. It is extra important that LBCC creates a space, like the Lavender Grad, for LGBTQIA+ students to come together and celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

Student speaker, Kyshia Hearns, was invited to this event based on her accomplishments at Long Beach City College as a queer student. 

“I skipped a semester going to school, then I came back because I just felt this pull towards education, and I wanted to share my story to let folks know that it’s not impossible, and if you think you can’t do it, you can. I’m not the first person to experience what I’m experiencing, so I can either succumb to it or I can walk through the fire and conquer it,” Hearns said.  

After the speakers finished sharing, graduating students were then recognized. 

Each student gets their name individually called out and is handed a graduation gift bag and a rainbow cord to wear at the official graduation. 

Each student was also given the chance to speak on the mic, to thank any family members or support systems that helped them in their academic journey.

LBCC’s play ‘Everybody’ debuts May 15 with lead actor drawn by chance

Jose Rivera
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LBCC’s play ‘Everybody’ debuts May 15 with lead actor drawn by chance

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. 

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