Everybody

Everybody is a deeply conflicted play. It is about death, which makes it about life. It is funny, only to invite us into the vulnerability at its core. It could be about anybody, which means it is about Everybody (roll end credits). To hammer this idea home, it also has a lottery-based cast- inviting each performance to have different meanings, eliciting different emotions and ideas. Each role is informed by the experiences and identity of the actor playing that role that night. It was this central core of duality and identity that sparked what would become my design concept. These themes drew me to the surrealist movement, and, particularly, the work of Yves Tanguy. It was the mixed emotions of whimsy and doom that I felt while looking at his art that let me know I was on an exciting design path. Finally, I came across the painting that would inform the costume design’s color story: Tanguy’s The Hostages.  Leaning into the nature of the lottery-based cast, I conducted interviews with each actor, getting to understand and know them better, and did my best to include the ideas and emotions they relayed during these interviews in their costume. Reflecting that, these designs find whimsy in the mundane. Delightful details dancing from costume to costume, person to person.  I felt deeply understood as I took in that painting by Yves Tanguy, and I made it my goal to invite each audience member to connect with that same feeling, and to connect with the piece in a way that makes them feel understood.