The Helmerich School of Drama’s production of “Everybody” opens this weekend, featuring the adaptable and skillful work of senior costume design major Anwen Wenger.
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, “Everybody” debuted off-Broadway in 2017 and was a Pulitzer prize finalist for Drama in 2018. The show spotlights factors of human life that are predetermined and the ways people respond to scenarios beyond their control.
The casting of “Everybody” is also built on factors out of the actors’ control. The nine-person cast includes four actors who play specific characters, and the remainder, called the Somebodies, portray one of five characters each performance.
The Somebodies partake in a lottery system in which they draw at random the character they portray each night. Madison Niederhauser, acting instructor and show director, said the show requires more adaptability from the cast and crew than other productions.
“The lottery makes the play so that, on any given day, it could be one of 120 possible plays,” Niederhauser told OU Daily. “What I think that requires of a designer is how to keep all of that cohesive.”
Wenger previously worked as the costume designer for OU Musical Theatre’s “Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812” in the fall of 2022 and co-designed for OU Music’s opera “Susannah” in the spring of 2023. With two large-scale productions under her belt, the changing roles in “Everybody” provided a challenge that Wenger’s work had prepared her for.
Anwen Wenger's designs for the costumes in OU's production of "Everybody."
“I think part of the reason that Anwen got assigned to this play particularly is because the demand is so great,” Niederhauser said. “We needed someone who’s got a few runs under their belt. Everyone always has to be on their ‘A’ game because so many things are different all the time.”
The nature of the show demanded that Wenger’s designs include components that would make them easily interchangeable among the Somebodies. Wenger focused on the use of elastic bands, stretchy fabrics and looser-fitting clothing so the costumes can move from actor to actor.
“There’s so many twists and turns (in “Everybody”) that plays don’t normally take, and a lot of those twists and turns involve costuming,” Wenger told OU Daily. “It was definitely a lot of planning, replanning and remolding ideas to fit the show better.”
A costume student works to bring one of Anwen Wenger's designs to life for OU's production of “Everybody.”
Wenger began work on the design of “Everybody” in late February.
Because the Somebodies play everyday people, Wenger said that she wanted to keep the show grounded in reality with their costumes but wanted more “fantastical” and “surreal” elements with the permanently set characters.
The four predetermined characters play otherworldly elements, such as Death and Love, and showcase Wenger’s ability to draw from different styles.
“I looked at high fashion, street fashion and some kids fashion because we do have a young performer in the cast,” Wenger said. “It was such a mixed bag during the research, but it was so much fun getting to explore all these different areas of fashion.”
The cast list was released in May and gave Wenger faces to put behind her ideas.
Wenger began drawing up designs and played with styles that matched the characters as well as the actors portraying them.
“I wanted the characters to feel like they were real people because there’s so much real human emotion that comes from the show,” Wenger said. “I wanted it to feel like these other worldly crazy things were happening to real people, and that’s kind of where my design comes in.”
As Wenger’s final major design before her December graduation, “Everybody” is the culmination of years of hard work.
The back of one of the costume pieces for OU's production of “Everybody,” designed by Anwen Wenger.
Wenger said she hopes her designs reflect the play's story as well as the personal style of the actors.
“I really hope that audiences take away this sense that life is fleeting,” Wenger said. “I hope that, through my designs, I can show that real people experience major and minor life events that build up to this big cumulative event — death.”
“Everybody” opens at 8 p.m. this Friday in the A. Max Weitzenhoffer Theatre. Additional 8 p.m. performances will be on Sept. 23, 28 and 29. Matinées will be at 3 p.m. on Sept. 24 and Oct. 1.
Tickets are available in person at the Fine Arts Box Office, online and by calling the box office at (405) 325-4101.
This story was edited by Emma Blakley. Avery Avery and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
