Morality and Mortality

Life, death, existence, and everything in between - for everybody, and for specific individuals - are the subjects of the Actors' Mission's 76th production, "Morality and Mortality: an Evening of One-Act Plays."

The evening will have two separate but thematically connected one-act plays, starting with "Everybody" by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and ending with "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre.

"Everybody"

"This is not going to be what everybody's expecting, and I kind of enjoy that," Heather Pristash, the director of "Everybody," said of the production.

"Everybody" is a humorous modern adaptation of the fifteenth-century morality play "Everyman." It connects characters like Death and Love with the main character, Everybody, and the others close to them, like Kinship. Pristash explained that while it is still technically a morality play itself, it is an updated version that modernizes the story and adds comedic twists.

"This one is a very different play. And it is meant to be," Pristash explained. "It's kind of experimental. It's kind of doing some interesting stuff. It's kind of fourth-wall breaking."

While she is trying to find the balance between leaning in to the weirdness of the play and not going too far with it, Pristash is excited that the show connects to the black-box roots of Actors' Mission productions by being the type of show that wraps around the audience, which not every theater or production can do.

"That's one thing the Actors' Mission really does lean into doing some of the more interesting, some of the very different stuff that wouldn't necessarily fit with other groups' missions," she said.

This unique production has also provided unique challenges to the director and the actors, including working with the space by doing a black-box style production in a bigger theater, and memorizing long and tricky chunks of dialogue.

"This is a hard script," Pristash said, but she added that the cast has done "fabulously" working with the challenges.

The actors have also had to find ways to personify concepts and still make them into specific characters, which Pristash said they've done by finding real people who can serve as inspiration. At the same time, the characters have to be widely relatable since the show explores the human experience.

"I do love the fact that it really is about everybody, because I feel like everybody can see this and take something away from it," Pristash said. "There's some stuff in here that's very specific, but it's about very universal things."

"No Exit"

While "Everybody" is about people in general, "No Exit," on the other hand, is about very specific people.

"No Exit" is an existentialist classic by well-known French author Jean-Paul Sartre. It tells the story of three individuals who have recently died and found themselves in hell. As the very different characters are both attracted to and disgusted by each other, they learn about each other and discover what they have in common. They all talk while waiting for a torturer to arrive until it becomes clear that they are already tormenting each other.

"If you've ever heard that line 'hell is other people,' it comes from this play," Director Shane Westfall explained.

Producing a classic existential play also has its own challenges, according to Westfall. The subject matter is complicated and the dialogue is long and difficult. Also, being a one-act, the show doesn't have any breaks, and the three main characters are essentially on stage the entire time. The cast has also been working through difficulties like having a short production time and trying to coordinate schedules while some cast members have had to travel and couldn't always be together.

Despite the challenges and the "crunch time" of being busy the last week before opening night, Westfall was optimistic about how the show was coming together.

Two plays, one message

Where "Everybody" is more humorous and chaotic, "No Exit" is more serious and focused, the directors explained. Despite their differences, Westfall was exited for the way the story of "Everybody," focusing on the journey towards death, leads into "No Exit," which takes place in the afterlife.

"The first one does a really nice job of setting up the second," he said.

"They tie together. They've got some very common threads," Pristash explained.

She pointed out that the directors have even leaned into connecting some of those common threads, such as using the same symbolic door in both shows.

"But there's some real differences," she added. "It's not going to feel like you just watched the same play twice."

While both shows go well together, which is why the Actors' Mission made them into one production, the two directors and two casts and crews have had to work hard to make them both happen.

"Even though they're one acts, it's really like doing two shows at the same time," Westfall explained. But, he added, it gives the directors a chance to work together and help each other. "We're both bouncing ideas off each other." 

"It's been good to have somebody to collaborate with while also doing your own show," Pristash agreed.

"But yeah, it's in many ways twice the work," Westfall said.

"It's definitely huge amounts of work," Pristash admitted, explaining both shows are substantial and take a lot of effort to produce. She also said the two casts have had to figure out both sharing and using separate rehearsal spaces and haven't seen each others' shows.

Despite the challenge of putting two shows together, both directors are excited about the messages the plays share.

"Both of them are dealing in their own ways with both morality and the specter of mortality," Pristash said. "How do we live? How will we be remembered after we die? What might happen? What might not happen?" 

"I think both of them are good at promoting self-reflection," Westfall said of the plays. "Both touch on themes of mortality, they touch on themes of whether there are gods that exist or not, they touch on themes of what the afterlife might be like. And so I think it's a good opportunity for people to ponder those themes themselves."

"Morality and Mortality: An Evening of One-Act Plays" will be presented at 7 p.m. March 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18 at the Broadway Theater in Rock Springs, with a 2 p.m. matinee March 12. Admission is free, and a free meal will be served one hour before the show.