“Everybody” began like any other play.
A painted galaxy adorned the floor of Pomona College’s Seaver Theater and red and blue lights reflected off hanging swathes of fabric and the stage’s multicolored platforms. An unassuming usher proceeded to the center of the theater and reminded the audience to fully turn off any cell phones.
“Also, fun fact … if someone were to call you twice … your phone would … override the ‘Do Not Disturb’ function and actually, well, disturb,” the usher said. “This is one of many features that make our ‘smartphones’ so smart.”
Although this may have seemed to be an introduction by a particularly funny usher, this monologue meant that “Everybody” had already discreetly started; the dramatic illusion had already been cast.
“Everybody” ran for six shows from Feb. 29 to March 3.
Zalia Maya SC ’24 played the roles of Usher, God and Understanding. Using strategic ad-libs and an impressive range of accents, Maya’s monologue captivated the audience.
The premise of the play is that God, angry that humanity had forsaken them, commanded Death to collect everybody and report back to God with a presentation of their evil choices.
The term “everybody” serves a dual purpose, referring both to the common “everybody,” all of humanity, and to the single character “Everybody,” who symbolizes the concept of common “everybody.”
Death, portrayed by Jeffrey Pendo PO ’24, functions as God’s put-upon yet glamorous assistant. Death’s all-white celestial gown belied his approachable attitude as he searched the audience for a representative Everybody to fulfill God’s assignment.
Several fourth wall break-downs, utilized throughout the show, created a sense that any audience member could be dragged into the production at any moment.
“I think college theater is so fun because you’re so connected to the community here,” cast member Addy Ball PO ’24 said. “I like anything that makes people feel nervous that they might get pulled up on stage with me.”
Although the students that Death pulled to the stage were pre-planned and scripted, “Everybody’s” cast and roles were not fixed. The play is founded on a lottery system: In every performance, five of the actors draw their roles live on stage.
This was an impressive feat. Addy Ball PO ’24, Harold Fuson PZ ’26, Petey Graham CM ’25, Matilda Kirk PO ’25 and Fai Tangkaravakoon CM ’25, collectively called “Somebodies,” were required to memorize five different parts — Everybody, Friendship, Kinship, Cousin and Stuff — and be ready to play any of them for each show.
Though challenging, the show’s unpredictable framework enhanced the experience for the actors.
“There are certain monologues where we have to lip-sync each other’s voices,” Kirk said. “I’ve never before had to relinquish such control … I think it made me a better performer … Probably a better person.”
Everybody — the character — remained on stage following the lottery. Under the dim flickering light of assorted hanging lamps, Everybody spoke to disembodied voices about the scene that had just unfolded.
Director Fran de Leon interpreted the events of the play as occurring in the last moments before death.
“[The] whole play really happens within a character’s mind and the synapses and the firings that go on in the last moments of death,” de Leon said. “I wanted to see what could I do to draw out more fantastical, more of a vibrant imagery.”
The play had two modes. Under dim lighting, Everybody was an individual on their deathbed, trying to process their fate with the voices; within Everybody’s subconscious, scenes adhered to the original, fantastical premise and Everybody met symbols of universal concepts played by the five Somebodies in whimsical costumes.
First up, Everybody encountered Friendship, who was swathed in colorful attire. Friendship attempted to cheer Everybody up through rapid-fire questions comically familiar to any college student.
However, when Everybody explained their upcoming journey, Friendship became obnoxiously self-centered and refused to accompany them.
Attendee Caleb Brunman PO ’23 was surprised by the depiction of such a foundational relationship.
“It does add an extra layer of existential dread,” Brunman said. “It forces you as the audience to look into yourself and ask what you can bring [to death], without anybody else.”
“[The] whole play really happens within a character’s mind and the synapses and the firings that go on in the last moments of death. I wanted to see what could I do to draw out more fantastical, more of a vibrant imagery.”
Following their unsuccessful exchange with Kinship and Cousin, Everybody begged to bring Stuff, the personification of material belongings. Stuff rebuffed them, smugly apologizing for accidentally enchanting and exploiting them. Stuff explained that once Everybody died, Stuff would move on to someone else.
Stuff’s characterization, inspired by the Barbie movie’s Ken after he discovers patriarchy, playfully highlighted how materialistic attachments can border on unreciprocated infatuation.
Following Stuff’s rejection, it seemed that Everybody would ultimately have to face death alone. Until the play was interrupted.
Upset from being misrepresented and ignored, Love, played by Olivia Deligan PO ’24, tried to leave the theater. When Everybody begged Love to stay and accompany them on their journey, the price Love demanded was humiliation: that Everybody strip naked.
After spending the duration of the play alternating between Everybody’s existential confusion and comedic interactions with vibrant representational characters, Love’s invasive demand was jarring.
Everybody reluctantly complied. In one of Kirk’s performances, Everybody defiantly hurried out of her clothes while Fuson’s Everybody threw his shirt at Love as if to provoke her. As tension increased, unease filled the theater.
The preceding scenes had an underlying mounting fear that was expressed as existential confusion and slight desperation. The audience was shocked to see Love force this fear to the surface and render Everybody so vulnerable.
Once Everybody was naked (the actors wore tan spandex that said “NAKED”), Love told them to run around the stage reciting confessions: “I have no control!” “This body is just meat!” and “I surrender!”
As Everybody ran, yelling louder and louder, they finally grasped that they were going to die. Surrendering their illusion of control, they collapsed on the stage.
“That scene is, at least one of, if not the, tipping point,” Deligan said. “It has to be a slight breakdown, to be able to come to … acceptance and realization. Experiencing love … can be really difficult at times … It almost makes it even more worth it when you come out on the other end.”
In the end, Everybody, with Love by their side, entered a trap door representing a grave.
The usher returned to summarize the moral of the story: Death will come for everybody and you can’t take people or possessions with you when it does.
“I loved the fluidity of it and how the actors were really able to integrate themselves into the audience,” Kirby Kimball CM ’25 said. “I think that’s the intention, to make everyone feel like they can be the subject in the play.”
The show featured absurd humor, with quips about global warming, an accusation of cryptoracism and a skeleton dance number, but “Everybody” was ultimately a play about death.
“I don’t know if [death] is something we could ask people to come to terms with right now at this point in their life,” Fuson said. “That’s something I hope to come to terms with over the course of my life … By the end of it, Everybody has come to terms with it.”
The show’s lottery and audience engagement underscore the uncertainty of death. While everybody dies, there’s an unknown regarding when or how.
For Deligan, a graduating senior, “Everybody” was her last show at the 5Cs. She said that the show’s message hit close to home.
“It’s easy for people to forget the fact that college is such a wonderful time when you’re in the midst of midterms,” Deligan said. “‘Everybody’ is a lot about not taking for granted the time that you have … There’s a lot … to take away … I haven’t even fully internalized them all yet. But to quote Stuff, ‘[Life] is a process of self-discovery for everyone.’”
Harold Fuson PZ ’26 is a multimedia contributor at TSL.
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