Will Locklin Elliott
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — The Winthrop University Theater Department hosted a performance of “Everybody” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, last weekend in the Johnson Hall Studio Theater, which explored the themes of life, death and its meaning.

The show was a 21st-century adaptation of the 15th-century morality play “Everyman,” as the main travels down a road toward life’s greatest mystery.

“The character named Everybody goes on this journey to find someone to accompany them on their journey to the afterlife and also to give their presentation to God…it’s just them trying to find someone to go with them the entire time,” said Eden Cook, a senior musical theatre major, who directed the production.

Eden Cook, who is also the treasurer of the theater honor society Alpha Psi Omega, was a guest on the Palmetto Report podcast.

The role of Everybody was chosen from amongst the cast by lottery at each performance, so each member of the cast had to memorize the entire script so they could play any role.

“The one thing that makes this show a lot different than any other play that I’ve seen done is the fact that there is a lottery system in the production. Every show, the cast is going to get shuffled around and it’s just all determined by lottery. So you’re going to see a different show every night,” Cook said.

As Everybody learns of their fast-approaching death and works to find someone who can join them on their final journey, the character beings to understand more about what it means to be alive.

“What I’m hoping people leave with is just a general acceptance of the idea of death and dying and just this overall feeling of acceptance and safety to have gone on this journey and been able to feel like this cathartic feeling and just be more open to the idea of death and dying and also grief and how grief affects other people,” Cook said.

“My faculty advisor, Rachel Dawson, she did this show for her acting class last spring and so I have her to help me out trying to figure out how to make this show work in a good way. And then I also just have done a lot of research when it comes to the idea of death, death in different religions, death and culture.”