All Machines of Loving Grace
A Collectively Created Production
Directed by Søren Olsen
What happens in a world where the content we create starts to create us?
Please be advised that his production will include loud sounds, strong language, flashing lights, theatrical atmosphere (haze, fog), and stage violence.
Performances:
Friday, March 22 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 24 at 8 p.m.
Special Thanks
Mary Beth Easley, Bryon Winn, Rachel Duncan, Rob Durham, and Toby Ramaswamy
Director's Note
This process started from nothing—an intentional mission to create a theatre piece from the unknown. What emerged between the creative team of performers and designers is this production of ALL MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE.
Conversations among the collective often orbited around the content we consume in our technological lives and its effects on us, the creators of it. The collective spirit kept being pulled towards investigating how the images we consume and create strive toward sensationalism. Something that starts as mundane is only made viral by its ability to distract, divide, or addict us to its entertaining character.
In some ways, this piece is simple: it explores what grabs our attention and what doesn’t. In its abstract, this piece is about the repercussions of a world where our actions become designed for reactions and the internal struggles that goal places on the connections between a community of people.
The poem the piece’s name derives from paints a technological utopia where the digital and organic reach harmony. Humanity rejoined with its ecology because of its technology becoming more like us. Using the content we produce of ourselves in these technological spaces as a mirror of our progress, ALL MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE explores what happens when people disagree on the direction our technological ecology is heading.
ALL WATCHED OVER BY MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE
I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.
- Richard Brautigan
CAST/ENSEMBLE
| Ethan Hooten* |
| Aleesa Lavrenko* |
| Savannah Mazas* |
| Colin Payan* |
| Alyssa Santoleri* |
| Charlie Thomas* |
CREATIVE TEAM
| TITLE | NAME |
|---|---|
| Director/Co-Lighting/Scenic, Media + Sound Designer | Søren Olsen |
| Fight Choreographer | Josh Turner |
| Dramaturg | Margaret Smith |
| Stage Manager | Nat Payan* |
| Co- Scenic Designer/Props | CJ Johnson |
| Costume Designer | Abby Garraty |
| Costume Support | I.M Fortunato |
| Co-Lighting Designer | Nicole Blodig* |
| Movement Coach | Mikey Rioux |
| Sound + Media Technician | Tyler Salow |
*Undergraduate student. UI Theatre is dedicated to providing hands-on theatre experience for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Tickets for workshops are free of charge; however, you must obtain a ticket at the door and seating is limited.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the Department of Theatre Arts in advance at 319-335-2700.