USC Upstate Theatre department is gearing up to open their production of Everybody, a play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The show runs Nov. 13th-16th with a total of five performances.
Everybody is based on the play Everyman, a morality play in which the character Everyman is told he is dying and must gather virtues and ideas to take to his grave.
Everybody is a modern adaptation of that same play, with its first performance in 2017. This play has a similar concept of Everyman but provides a modern lens.
Lee Neibert, Professor of Theatre and director of Everybody, says, “The play is more of a reflection on what life is in a very humorous and very exaggerated way.”
The show takes place in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center (HPAC) mainstage. What separates this production from others is the audience is in an arena style seating on stage, putting show goers on four sides of the action.
This seating provides a more intimate and unique experience, in comparison to proscenium seating.
Each performance is unique; at the start of the play, actors find out their role for the night in a lottery system by drawing from a gumball machine.
Neibert talks about what he hopes audiences take away from the show, he says “That’s what the play is all about, is to appreciate what you have, not what you don’t have… It’s about grace and patience and being kind, because we don’t know when our time is up.”
All Upstate Theatre performances are open to the public; students, faculty and staff can get discounted tickets. Each performance is approximately 90 minutes, with only 100 tickets being sold for each show.
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