Every Living Thing

by Leroy Hood

NITYA, a young Jain nun, has taken the vow of Sallekhana, renouncing all food and drink until her final breath. She is found dying on the streets of Chicago by WHITNEY, a nursing resident and enthusiastic astrologer. Whitney becomes convinced she is meant to save Nitya, but Nitya does not want to be saved. This conflict forces both of them to extremes they never thought possible, challenging the beliefs they...

NITYA, a young Jain nun, has taken the vow of Sallekhana, renouncing all food and drink until her final breath. She is found dying on the streets of Chicago by WHITNEY, a nursing resident and enthusiastic astrologer. Whitney becomes convinced she is meant to save Nitya, but Nitya does not want to be saved. This conflict forces both of them to extremes they never thought possible, challenging the beliefs they hold most dear.

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Every Living Thing

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  • Karen Jean Martinson: Every Living Thing by Leroy Hood
    “

    A funny, moving play built around a lead character who is oddly likeable despite all of her annoying traits! Whitney is just SO Whitney, and she undertakes a terrible act in order to "save" Nitya. And yet she also tries to learn from her, even if she cannot accept Nitya's vow. Like many of Leroy's plays, ELT grapples with the beliefs we hold, the traumas we carry, the friendships we foster, and the way we seek to find meaning in our lives.

    A funny, moving play built around a lead character who is oddly likeable despite all of her annoying traits! Whitney is just SO Whitney, and she undertakes a terrible act in order to "save" Nitya. And yet she also tries to learn from her, even if she cannot accept Nitya's vow. Like many of Leroy's plays, ELT grapples with the beliefs we hold, the traumas we carry, the friendships we foster, and the way we seek to find meaning in our lives.

    ”
  • Straton Rushing: Every Living Thing by Leroy Hood
    “

    Perhaps it is a bit cliche to say well-written characters "feel like real people". But in the case of Hood's play, there really is not a more succinct way to describe this story's greatest strength. All three of these characters have fascinating layers that are slowly peeled back as the story progresses. This play asks hard questions of its audience about life, death, and the responsibility we have to one another.

    Perhaps it is a bit cliche to say well-written characters "feel like real people". But in the case of Hood's play, there really is not a more succinct way to describe this story's greatest strength. All three of these characters have fascinating layers that are slowly peeled back as the story progresses. This play asks hard questions of its audience about life, death, and the responsibility we have to one another.

    ”
  • Parker Davis Gray: Every Living Thing by Leroy Hood
    “

    There’s an impossible question at the center of this play that forces you to stay engaged and wrestle with it - which makes for an exciting moment of theatre. Every Living Thing is an affecting and touching play about the sanctity of life and the addictions and pains that stop us from actually living it. Leroy’s play also has three great characters that actors of those types rarely get to play.

    There’s an impossible question at the center of this play that forces you to stay engaged and wrestle with it - which makes for an exciting moment of theatre. Every Living Thing is an affecting and touching play about the sanctity of life and the addictions and pains that stop us from actually living it. Leroy’s play also has three great characters that actors of those types rarely get to play.

    ”