The Blue Mountain Theatre Department held the production of Everyman 2.0 on September 30th – October 2nd in Garett Hall Auditorium, based off the play Everyman with the actors giving it a more modernized vibe.
This adaptation awarded Chloe Harris the lead role of Everyman. I asked her how she obtained the lead role. She answered, “Truthfully, I didn’t audition for the lead role. I am in BMC’s drama team, IMPACT, and all its members are required to audition. I would have been satisfied with any part, though I was very flattered to have been offered the lead.”
Chloe portrayed this part just as the original play described the male role. When she first made her appearance on stage, she was taking selfies with a cellphone. This showed the pride that Everyman let control his life. Everyman was only concerned with things that benefited him.
The original play also included a doctor as the messenger, when in this play an Angel portrays that character.
Everyman’s journey to his reckoning isn’t easy. He had to find a way to be forgiven for all of the bad that he had done in his life, and he had to do it quick. Everyman 2.0 explained this to the audience by using a book. This book was described as “the reckoning journal”. It kept track of all the good and bad that happened in someone’s life, and Everyman’s was full of red. Red represented bad and green represented good. There was not a single green line in Everyman’s reckoning book.
The original play, along with the 2.0 version, informs its audience on Everyman’s love for worldly things such as riches and fellowship, but they changed one aspect of worldly desires. When Everyman was portrayed originally as a male role, he also had a love for goods—material things of the world. Everyman 2.0 uses the character Riches in the place of Goods.
There are also changes to the family roles. Instead of “Kindred” and “Cousin,” there is “Auntie.” Shiloh Rose Mauney plays the role of “Auntie”. She is shown enjoying her cat, and talking about the many others she had. She also liked to bake for Everyman, and told her she would always be there for her. However, when Everyman reaches out to her Auntie, she is devastated when she informs her she will not assist her on her journey. This goes hand and hand with the original version. There are times when people think family is all they have, but sometimes family isn’t what one needs and they won’t be there.
Christi Mitchell mentioned after the play that one of our faculty members stepped into a role the Monday prior to opening night. Dr. Greg Long, Chair of the Department of Fine Arts and professor of music at Blue Mountain College, filled the role of “Son” or the “understudy for God”. He was present in many important scenes in the play. Dr. Long voiced his script clearly and thoroughly as if he had been there from the first rehearsal. I asked him how he managed to memorize his lines and present them so formally and he replied, “I was running the lines in my head while driving, during any breaks in my daily schedule, while taking walks on campus and at home before going to bed.”
Everyman 2.0 was a success. This adaptation took a new path of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the goal of a morality play.
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