Arts and Culture 6 Everybody Examines What’s Most Important in Our Lives

fate, they were grateful that they did not have to be alone and immediately started looking for the perfect companion.

The Davidson College Theatre Department recently brought the show Everybody to campus. The show is a retelling of the 1400s morality play Everyman , and, like its predecessor, it attempts to teach its audience moral lessons. More precisely, the play remarks on the inevitability of death, encouraging viewers to reflect on themselves and what matters most in their lives.

Everybody has a powerful message, and its production was unique from the start. Rather than beginning onstage, cast members Uday Ahuja ‘26, Laura Lillian Baggett ‘26, D’Mycal Foreman ‘25 David Kilde ‘25, and Mahrle Siddall ‘25 were interspersed throughout the audience. They came onstage only once they had been summoned by Death (Sarah Catalano ‘26), and they reached the stage with understandably mortal panic.

Before learning their fate, cast members were assigned to their roles through a lottery. The casting of Everybody depended on chance, thus reflecting the uncertainty of life and death. This randomness meant that each performance of Everybody looked different — Ahuja, Baggett, Foreman, Kilde, and Siddall had equal chances of playing the roles of Everybody, Friendship, Kinship, and Stuff at each show. The cast members had to memorize multiple sets of lines, an impressive and challenging task.

Once roles had been assigned, the plot unfolded. Everybody had been sentenced to death by God and had to compile a presentation of their life. However, they were given the chance to bring someone on their journey for support, comfort, and company. While Everybody was anxious about their

Everybody began their search by turning to Friendship. When Everybody and Friendship first connected onstage, it seemed like there could be hope for Everybody. The two talked as if no time had passed, and they appeared to care about each other. In fact, Friendship even declared that they would die for Everybody. However, other parts of their conversation were superficial — the two talked about generic topics, gossiped about irrelevant people, and avoided connecting on a deeper level. Friendship was shallow, and when Everybody asked for a companion on their journey to death, they refused to join. Instead, Friendship gave Everybody a quick hug, offered a perfunctory “I’ll miss you,” and turned to find their other friends, thus suggesting that Friendship is in fact fragile.

After Friendship failed to support Everybody on their journey to death, Everybody looked to Kinship, two cousins, believing that family would always be by their side. While it seemed like Everybody and their cousins loved each other at first, it eventually became clear that Kinship was just as superficial as Friendship. Both cousins shied away from accompanying Everybody on their journey to death, explaining that they had other things to do and that they were not willing to sacrifice themselves for their family.

Everybody grew disillusioned with humanity after their interactions with Friendship and Kinship and even wished that they had spent more time on self-reflection than their relationships. They also wondered if the material world could accompany them on their journey, which caused them to call Stuff to the stage. Everybody was overjoyed to see Stuff at first and believed that, since they owned Stuff, they could absolutely bring Stuff on their journey. However, their optimism was soon shattered. Stuff felt no attachment to Everybody and refused to join them. Stuff’s rejection alluded to the dangers of materialism, and it also left Everybody completely helpless. After consulting Friendship, Kinship, and Stuff, Everybody believed that they had exhausted their options for companionship.

While Everybody thought that they would have to undergo their journey alone, a twist at the end of the play brought them hope. They reconnected with Love (Malavika Kalani ‘24), suggesting that they do not have to be alone. However, Love still had some unsustainable demands. For example, Love asked Everybody to strip and run around the theatre several times, which indicated that even love might be conditional.

As Everybody prepared to die, it was unclear who would accompany them. They encountered several qualities, like Beauty, Strength, and Understanding. Still, none of these qualities were willing to follow them beyond the grave. Yet ultimately, Love prevailed — they stayed with Everybody as they headed towards death. Love recognized that their relationship with Everybody extended beyond their body and was instead about their emotional connection, driving them to support Everybody during their journey.

The play’s conclusion offers powerful commentary on what truly matters. Everybody suggests that Love is the only genuine thing in our lives and the only thing that will support us even in death. In doing so, it offers guidance on how we should view our lives and reveals that we should prioritize Love above all else.

Madeline Richard ‘26 (she/her) is an English major from Baltimore, MD. She can be reached for comment at marichard@davidson.edu.