R.U.R.
The initials stand for Rossum’s Universal Robots. Karel Capek’s 1920 play introduced the word “robot” to the world, based on the Czech word for laborer (a fun fact you can use to annoy your friends over dinner).
Forget clunky metal boxes, these robots are genetically engineered humans with the troublesome parts, like needs and desires, omitted. The men of R.U.R. live alongside their constructs on a remote island, closely guarding their secret formula while supplying the world with all the cheap labor it can stand. It runs like clockwork until a beautiful young robot rights activist arrives via her father’s private boat.
“Strawdog’s R.U.R. is a major revival … at once horrifying, entertaining and—forgive the cliché—genuinely thought-provoking … everything about this production is right.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“The ensemble works together like, well, clockwork--particularly the quintet of socially maladjusted scientists whose reactions to the lovely Helena (Michaela Petro), a human advocate of robot rights, echo the academics smitten by Barbara Stanwyck in Howard Hawks’s Ball of Fire. Miles Polaski’s intricate array of sound and music cues (co-designed with Mikhail Fiksel) adds chilling aural texture; Dan Stratton’s Constructivist-inspired set and Alison Greaves’s period costumes give a deluxe feel to the cramped environment.”
— Chicago Reader
Cast
Ryan Bollettino
as Harry Domin
Brennan Buhl
as Busman
Zachary Clark
as Marius
Andrew Gebhart
as Radius
Joe Goldammer
as Primus
Sara Gorsky
as Helena
Carmine Grisolia*
as Hallemeier
Jocelyn Kelvin
as Sulla
Nick Lake
as Damon
Anderson Lawfer*
as Fabry
Michaela Petro*
as Helena Glory
Henry Riggs
as Robot Ensemble
John Henry Roberts*
as Gall
Noah Simon
as Alquist
Rebekah Ward-Hays
as Nanna
Creative Team
Karel Capek
Author
Shade Murray
Director
Adil Mansoor
Assistant Director
Dan Stratton
Set Design
Sam Szigeti
Light Design
Aly Renee Amidei*
Costume Design
Sarah Elizabeth Miller
Props Design
Lily Bartenstein
Ass't Props Design
Mikhail Fiksel
Sound Design
Miles Polaski
Sound Design
Matt Hawkins
Fight Choreographer
Tim Borntrager
Technical Direction
Amber Bel'cher
Dramaturge
Erin Carlson
Stage Manager
Connery MacCrae
Master Electrician
Cortney Hurley
Production Manager
* Strawdog Theatre ensemble member