Student Blog: My Process of Working on Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' EVERYBODY

For Winter Quarter 2022, my main project has been working on Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with UC San Diego's Department of Theatre and Dance. Based on the 15th century English morality play The Somonyng of Everyman, this version attempts to modernize and translate the themes and story to appeal to more contemporary audiences while still keeping the core messages of the original play. With COVID-19 guidelines constantly changing, we had to temporarily move our rehearsals online and the whole process has been about adaptation and learning. Now, our in-person rehearsals are able to happen with required KN95/ N95 masks as well as with a strict and effective testing policy. We also postponed our tech and show dates by about two weeks. We are set to open the first weekend of March with a total of three performances.

With this extra time, we have been able to dive even deeper into character work and explore what this play means to each person. One of the most beautiful things about this show is that it is universal and it can appeal to a wide range of audiences. So, the whole cast and production team are aimed to make this version applicable to our present-day and resonating with as many people as possible.

At first, I was brought on as an Assistant Director where I mostly handle dramaturgical tasks such as research and I act as a resource for actors if there are questions. Aside from this, our director Daniel often checks in with me and the other Assistant Director to ask about our observations, discoveries, and perspectives. This experience has allowed me to solely focus on the role of the director and most of the knowledge I've gained has been watching and observing. I never thought that just merely being a fly on the wall that occasionally poses a thought or question would be as effective as it is in learning the role of a director. Sometimes, I like to come up with "what ifs?" for each scene to get my mind thinking about the countless ways to stage or interpret a scene. This way, I think about the script from multiple perspectives and I'm training myself to think from a director's point of view.

In addition to being an Assistant Director, I was also asked to understudy the role of Evil. Due to some shifting with the cast list, I have now fully taken on the role in addition to my Assistant Director responsibilities. This process has challenged me a lot because it's allowed me to see the show from a big picture point of view by being a director and also has been an immersive experience from being in the cast. Both roles have prompted me to have a thoroughly informed and comprehensive view of the production.