Everybody: The show that asks THOSE questions

The play Everybody, directed by Vanessa Severo and playing at the Kansas City Actors Theatre, is different from most shows from the 21st century for a multitude of reasons. The first is the most familiar in the world of plays—this modern show is based on a 15th century morality play, written by a guy named Petrus Dorlandus (the fancy version of Peter). A morality play is simply a play that has a moral. The second and more unique reason is that the show is never the same. Every night the five main actors draw from a sort of lottery. Four of them will play a side character and one gets the main character representing “Everybody” to thematize the randomness of Death. This means the night you attend is one of the potential 120 different versions of the show.

The actors did such a wonderful job. The five “Somebodys” (Dri Hernaez, Elaine Elizabeth Clifford, R. H. Willhoit, Mateo Moreno, and Julie Shaw) managed to not only memorize the entire script but give each character all the emotion, feeling, and heart this play deserves. I did not manage to see every one of these actors play “Everybody.” However, I was able to see two shows, each with a different “Everybody.”  I was also able to see a preview and compare it to a show in which they were more practiced. These minor differences were no match for how well executed this show was. Each actor gave their take on the character without changing a single line. This play is one of the most impressive feats of theater I have seen in a smaller venue.  But no matter how impressive the main actor(s) were, there would be no show without the great performances of Love (Teisha M. Bankston), Death (Cinnamon Schulz), Time (Bellamy Kelly/Edelweiss Etherton) and the excellent John Rensenhouse (who manages to play the omniscient Usher, the omnipotent God, and the awkward Understanding). The effortless way these actors asked the deep questions this play gives us, with just the right amount of comic relief, makes this play one of the most unique I’ve seen.  

I must talk about the set and the lighting. You would think that with such a simple set there wouldn't be such a mood change, but the lighting was everything. The lighting design was able to create the perfect stark white room for a simple background but also able to use the colored lights for a perfect spooky scene change while the “Everybody's” thoughts rang out as if we really were in their mind; or when we need a plain background with no distractions for some of the deeper scenes.  Scenic Designer, Kelli Harrod and Lighting Designer, Zoe Spangler did a wonderful job setting the show. 

The Usher summary of this ancient quote gives us the moral of this performance perfectly "Ye hearer, take this of worth, old and young: All things upon this earth are but vanity— Beauty, Strength, Mind, Senses, do humans forsake, just as their foolish friends and kinsmens who to them fair spake: All fleeth save their Love which beyond he doth take: For after Death may no person make, for then mercy and pity doth they forsake.”

The ending quote of Everyman is also Everybody's moral: that you have to leave all behind but Love.

I think the Kansas City Actors Theatre is woefully underrated. The cushy seats, beautiful set design, and wonderful actors that make up this theater give it a movie theater feel with every twist and turn. I hope you can see the show before it closes as I feel it is quite one of a kind.