Everybody

In the dark, the voice from Scene 6 accuses Everybody of misunderstanding their earlier commentary about AAVE. The voice gets upset at the suggestion that the comment had anything to do with race. Everybody replies, “Okay, this is exactly the problem. Just because you don’t want to recognize it as a ‘race thing’ doesn’t mean it wasn’t one” (34). Everybody and the voice argue, while the other voices intervene, urging Everybody to continue the story.

Everybody holds the ugly trophy and berates themself for the way they’ve lived their life. Everybody laments that their last minutes of life are so desperate and unhappy. They think sadly about all of the belongings that they will have to leave behind. Suddenly, Everybody realizes that their possessions might help them in their presentation. They call excitedly for Stuff.

Stuff, an anthropomorphic, human-sized version of the ugly trophy, enters. Everybody greets Stuff with excitement—Stuff is the literal representation of Everybody’s labor and therefore a large chunk of their life. However, Stuff points out that Everybody can’t bring possessions into death, suggesting that perhaps Everybody’s pursuit of belongings distracted them from preparing for their presentation in the first place. After all, Everybody doesn’t really own their things—Everybody only used them while alive. Stuff admits that it has a tendency to ruin people. When Everybody gets upset, Stuff yells that it’s working on itself, but that Everybody is just blaming their issues on “a collection of inanimate objects” (39). Everybody realizes that Stuff is telling the truth and starts to sob, grabbing frantically at Stuff and begging. Stuff shouts at Everybody to back off.

Everybody tells the voices in the dark that the dream ends with Stuff shouting and asks what the voices think. Ignoring this, the earlier voice exclaims, “You know what? Fuck you, Everybody. […] You know I’m not a fucking racist!” (39) As they argue about whiteness and white fragility, Everybody accuses the voice of refusing to self-reflect. Angrily, the voice storms out. Everybody lets them leave because they’re tired of explaining that people can have different lived experiences. The voices wonder why Everybody is asking them to interpret their dream: “I think the meaning is pretty obvious. […] You’re dying. And you’re dying alone” (41).

Lights rise and Everybody wakes up. An audience member conspicuously stands and begins to leave the theatre. When Everybody confronts them, the audience member declares, “For the record, this is all pretty offensive” (41). The audience member had been excited to go on this journey with Everybody, but they are insulted by being left out of the narrative. Annoyed that Everybody doesn’t recognize them, the audience member identifies themselves as Love and leaves. Everybody chases after them, begs Love to come back, and Love agrees under the condition that Everybody humiliate themself by taking off their clothes and repeating after Love, “I HAVE NO CONTROL! […] THIS BODY IS JUST MEAT! […] I SURRENDER!” over and over until “Everybody—naked, exhausted—achieves something. Catharsis?” (46).

After a blackout, “Skeletons dance macabre in a landscape of pure light and sound” (46). The Danse Macabre, or the Dance of Death, is a medieval allegory that stresses that death is inevitable for all.

Lights come up. Love and Everybody are naked. Death enters, dressed for travel. Love announcing to Death that they and Everybody are ready to go. Death replies, “You actually found someone? Weird” (47). The Usher enters to ask if they need anything, introducing themself as Understanding. Understanding’s team, four virtues—Strength, Beauty, Mind, and Five Senses—enter. Strength holds a large sword, Beauty wears a wig, Mind carries a book, and Five Senses drinks from a bottle of wine. When Death explains, “I’m escorting Everybody to a plane of existence beyond this one and from whence there is no return” (48), the virtues eagerly ask to go along. Death hesitantly agrees.

But when Death shows the party a realistic-looking grave, the four virtues are immediately reluctant. Beauty makes a quick excuse and runs off. Understanding explains, “Beauty has a tendency to fade” (49) as Everybody is suddenly less attractive. Then Strength leaves too and Everybody grows weaker. Everybody is dismayed to learn Mind typically leaves shortly after Strength. Everybody begs Mind to at least look describe what is inside the grave, but Mind hurries off. Everybody becomes less coherent. Five Senses tells Everybody that they need to leave too, and Everybody becomes blind. Love holds their hand and comforts them by asserting that they are still with them. Understanding can’t go into the grave—they have to supervise the virtues.

As Love escorts Everybody into the grave, Evil conspicuously enters the theatre, whispering to an audience member. Love greets Evil companionably and beckons them to the stage. Evil apologizes for being so late, and Love reassures them that their expedition has only just started. Disconcerted, Everybody asks who has entered, and Evil explains cheerfully, “I’m all the shitty evil things you’ve done to the world and other people!” (51). Everybody is shocked, crying out as Love and Evil drag them into the grave. Death follows. From the edge of the grave, Understanding watches. When it ends, Death re-emerges, startling Understanding. Understanding asks why what happens after death needs to be kept a secret: “What would be so wrong with just… knowing a few more details beforehand? […] Wouldn’t that make me a better person?” (52). Death responds, “I don’t know. Would it?” (52).

Time enters, played by the young girl who was kidnapped from the audience earlier in the play. She urges them to finish the play as the space is needed for another event. Death notes that she looks familiar; they realize that Death once dated Time’s brother, Space, whom Death met at a party thrown by History—a party Time came to accompanied by Grief. Death introduces Time to Understanding, who admits bashfully that they are a huge fan. Affably, Time and Death decide to go look at the stars together. They invite Understanding, who regretfully declines. They would love to talk to Time, but they need to end the play. Time warns them to finish before Nature arrives to clean up. Death and Time exit.

Understanding muses that they don’t entirely understand everything that just happened and paraphrase the moral from at the end of Everyman: Everything that is valued as a virtue in life will depart at death except for Love and Evil. Plays about death only want to teach the audience about life. Understanding reminds the audience that after death, there will be no more opportunity to make amends, so it’s important to listen to each other instead of passing judgment, to admit mistakes, and to keeping the mind open. Understanding concludes, “Lead with our Understanding. You know: just being nice to each other. For once. And I’m talking about Everybody” (54).