The Upper School Theatre program worked overtime this past spring to successfully envision and create a unique production of “Everybody” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. “Everybody” is an inventive, provocative and humorous adaptation of a 15th century morality play, originally written during a time of pandemic. While it’s a comedy, the work addresses issues of race, white fragility, social media, friendship, family obligations, materialism, mortality, and what makes for a life well-lived. Technical Director Seth Schmitt-Hall, stage managers Catherine Gingrich ’21, Camille MacKenzie ’23 and Katie Chrzanowski ’24, and other crew members designed and constructed the outdoor set for “Everybody”. The team built three stages in front of AFS, which enabled actors to follow pandemic protocols and to be adequately spaced while unmasked when acting during the shows and rehearsals. The audience moved and changed their perspectives during the play with the help of ushers to guide them through the story with the parallel performances of no more than two actors at a time happening on the three stages. 

One of the most exciting aspects of the play was that the main role is chosen at random between four members of the cast at each performance – the actors did not know whether they were playing the role until the show actually started. The actors cast in the lead role of Everybody were Isabella Aguilar ’21, Isaiah Kirkland ’22, Silas Lloyd ’21, and Youyang (Sophie) Qin ’23.

Read thoughtful Q&A’s with some of the “Everybody” lead actors on the AFS website. The students reflected upon the unique opportunity to play this complex role in the production.

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