the adding machine

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * 7/10/2006*

ELMER RICE’S

THE ADDING MACHINE

A Kid Ornery Production

In association with the Federal Entertainment Authority

Under special arrangement with the Samuel French Company

http://www.myspace.com/theaddingmachine

call 832-725-4109 for reservations or more information.

 

WHEN: 8pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 21,22,28,29, 2006, with a special ‘pay what you will’ performance Monday July 24.

WHERE: FrenetiCore Theater, located at 5102 Navigation, in Houston’s hyperfunky East End.

HOW MUCH: $10 all seats, all shows, except for Monday July 24, when your conscience decides the price.

AND WHY: Because producer and director Mike Switzer did a lot of unassigned reading at his university…

 

THE PLAY

Serendipity and Switzer's habit of browsing obscure play scripts at the University of Houston library yielded pay dirt when his fingers brushed across an old edition of Elmer Rice's THE ADDING MACHINE.

"I fell in love with its language, its humor and its

bleakness," says Switzer. A graduate of the school of philosophy, Switzer's lack of drama major acquaintances (back then, anyway) meant that he had "no idea it was a produced or even a known play," let alone one of the premiere examples of U.S. expressionism and a deep influence on all following American theatre. (It was for instance a known and deep influence on Tennessee Williams’ Stairs to the Roof.)

IN 1923, when Elmer Rice was writing THE ADDING MACHINE, a computer was not a machine but a person, tabulating columns of figures – one human cell in a preelectronic spreadsheet program.

The play’s antihero is one such nullity – Mr. Zero, twenty-five years a cog in the financial machinery at a massive department store. Zero snaps when he’s suddenly fired and replaced by a machine –"Does the work in half the time and a high school girl can operate them," says the Boss.

Mechanization, isolation, the grim logic of an efficient market, anomie compressed until blazing out into homicidal rage – THE ADDING MACHINE addressed issues already making headlines in the Jazz Age and even more relevant now.

WHO’S DOING THIS

THE ADDING MACHINE is the first ride out of the chute for Kid Ornery Productions but it’s far from the first time at the rodeo for producer/director Mike Switzer.

Most recently seen in Infernal Bridegroom Production’s Speeding Motorcycle, Switzer has acted with Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theater, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, Dos Chicas Theater Commune, SLUMP, the Brazosport Little Players and, under the nom de horn Kid Ornery, blew a mean trombone in the Federal Entertainment Authority’s series of cabarets. His double life as a musician in Houston’s avant-noise scene includes long stints in The Defenestration Unit and in his decade-long, two-man project with Charlie Naked, the Last Bastions, whose installation/performance Houston – A Meditation premiered at DiverseWorks in 2005.

Naked is music director for TAM and will be working from both musical and extra-musical themes and ideas to create a highly improvisational score for the show, different each performance.

The band includes members of The Linus Pauling Quartet,

Free Radicals, Friendship Bracelets, The Defenestration Unit, and Infant Mortality Rate. Featuring the sounds

of the theremin, cello, saxophone, in addition to your

more typical bass, guitar, and drums they have created

a beautiful, tension-filled, and at times disturbing score.

The cast is a mix of grizzled veterans and naifs and include members of the Dos Chicas, Theatre Illuminata, Mildred’s Umbrella, and other Houston theater outfits.

 

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS, MR SWITZER?

 

Why, yes. THE ADDING MACHINE's reputation as a challenging

play to produce has led to what Switzer describes as an

unsettling phenomenon. "I have hated how many people have

come up to me and said, 'wow, you're taking on a really…

ambitious project,'" he says.

Ambitious it is, but well worth your time and attention. Oh, and money.

ONCE AGAIN:

ELMER RICE’S

THE ADDING MACHINE

A Kid Ornery Production

In association with the Federal Entertainment Authority

Under special arrangement with the Samuel French Company

WHEN: 8pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 21,22,28,29, 2006. ‘Pay what you will’ performance Monday July 24.

WHERE: FrenetiCore Theater, 5102 Navigation.

HOW MUCH: $10 all seats, all shows. July 24, pay what you will.

Thank you for your attention. If you’re still reading all the way to this point, you are either very, very dedicated or really ought to get that OCD checked out. Thanks again.

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