Your Story. Your Stage: Carlton Mackey

Carlton Mackey, Director of the Ethics & The Arts Program at Emory University, reflects on how the script of Everybody distills years of theology school in less than two hours, connects him to his recently deceased father, and encourages us all to find common ground. 

As a young seminary student, I can recall many days in the (no longer standing) Bishop Hall of the Candler School of Theology waxing poetic about the meaning of biblical texts. I can remember debating not only varying interpretations of some of the most commonly recited scripture but also the validity, scarcity, and origins of the texts themselves.

Though we had varying beliefs of the words on those pages, essentially what drove our discussions and ultimately our very presence at this place of higher learning was our quest to understand not only the meaning of these words but the implications of these words on our lived experience and the implications of these words in the afterlife.

In this funny, witty, surprising, sobering, and thought-provoking play, it feels that the playwright has distilled the entire three years I spent pursuing a Master of Divinity degree into less than two hours and, considering the price of a theatre ticket, did so for tens of thousands of dollars less!

In such a divisive world, where we struggle to find common ground on much of anything, it is refreshing to come together for an amazing ride exploring one of the very few things we all share in common... the inevitably of death.

Those big questions that I explored as a student and that are creatively presented in this play spilled into the work that I do to this day. In fact, it was in part my preoccupation with these very questions that attracted me to the position at the Emory University Center for Ethics where today, 15 years later in a building shared with (believe it or not) the Candler School of Theology, I direct the Ethics & the Arts Program. The Ethics & the Arts Program is centered on the belief that the production of art, its role in public conversation, its preservation, and its presentation all provoke us to confront ethical challenges, sometimes in startling new ways. We are committed to inspiring innovative thought by using creative expression to elevate moral discourse. Since the inception of the Ethics & the Art Program our longstanding partnership with the Alliance Theatre to create space for deeper engagement with the audience has always been central to our work within the program.

On a more personal note, this play is coming right on the heels of the one year anniversary of the passing of my father. It is without doubt that reflections about life and death have been very present on my mind. What this play helped me explore was not only what might happen after we die but more importantly what ways do we want to live. It challenges us to question not just what we want to do for a living, but who do we want to be while we are yet living.

My dad provided a great model for me to personally grapple with and strive to live into these big questions. My work in the community, at the Center for Ethics, and in partnership with the Alliance allow me to feel like I may in fact be carrying that out. And this play invites us ALL an opportunity to step outside of ourselves into the shared world of Everybody and begin the process of exploring those questions for ourselves... together.

Learn more about the upcoming production of Everybody.

Carlton Mackey is the Director of the Ethics & the Arts Program at the Emory University Center for Ethics and the Co-creator/Co-Director of the Emory University Arts and Social Justice Fellows Program and the creator of Black Men Smile, a resistance, and empowerment movement for Black men.