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Moffat County theater program gets serious in ‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’

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Andy Bockelman
  

The cast and crew of Moffat County High School's "Rossum's Universal Robots"
Andy Bockelman/Craig Press

What makes a machine? What makes a human? Can the two entities co-exist peacefully?

Those questions and more will be up for discussion in Moffat County High School’s latest theater production.

The curtain goes up this week for MCHS drama’s “Rossum’s Universal Robots,” a science-fiction play that delves deeply into the philosophical side of the genre.

Shows will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday. Admission is $8.

The story stems from a 1921 show by Czech playwright Karel Čapek — adapted and updated by Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair — that originated the term “robot,” though the idea of a mechanical person has evolved greatly in the century since, and “Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti” features characters that are closer to the androids of “Blade Runner” or “Westworld” than the Jetsons’ maid, Rosie.

“Rossum’s Universal Robots,” by Karel Čapek
English version by Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair
Cast:
Harry Domin:Gabriel Klingbeil/Ronin Miller
Sulla: Kambria Reinolds
Marius: Teighan Vaughan
Helena Glory: Marie Roberts/Guadalupe Lopez
Dr. Gall: Hannah Kilpatrick/Cynae Montoya
Mr. Fabry: Alana McIntyre/Olivia Cordova
Dr. Hallemeier: Taya Told/Isabella Guerra
Mr. Alquist: MaryAnn Booker/Cheyenne Grivy
Consul Busman: Jaxom Gunderson
Nana: Cynae Montoya/Hannah Kilpatrick
Radius: Cheyenne Grivy|MaryAnn Booker
Helena Robot: Olivia Cordova/Alana McIntyre
Primus: Teighan Vaughan
Servant: Natalie Womble
Stage Crew: Sam McIntyre, Clay Estrada, Lexington Bergstrom, Aida Harrell
Tech Crew:
Hailey Collins, Director; Jackson Petree, Zachary Crookston, Mason Atkin, Kaidin Anthony
Director: Juliann Matheson
Assistant Director: Melissa Davis
Costume Design: Isabella Guerra
Sound Design: Hailey Collins, Zachary Crookston
Lighting Design: Jackson Petree, Mason Atkin
Marketing Design: Ronin Miller

“RUR” centers around a factory on an island that manufactures mechanical workers. While Harry, the manager of the facility, does not question the process, a newcomer to his factory brings up the ethical problems of building artificial people.

Marie Roberts and Guadalupe Lopez share the role of Helena, who has many concerns about the robots’ subservience, which ultimately sets into motion significant social upheaval.

“She wants to shut down the robots, and everyone else wants to keep them going, and they just wind up taking over,” said Roberts, an MCHS sophomore.

The double-casting in most roles allows actors to play human characters in one performance before trading off to a robot role in another.

“I like the double cast because even though it’s more work, it lets people play different roles,” Roberts said. “It gave people a lot more opportunities.”

Sophomore Taya Told plays both a robot and Dr. Hallemeier, the psychological programmer for the factory. Oddly enough, her human character meets an unfortunate end at the hands of the robot character.

“I’m basically like the mind person who deals with how they act,” she said. “Hallemeier shows more of the humanity side of everything, because I affect the robots’ emotions. This is way different than anything we’ve done, because it’s way more serious and to-the-point, and it’s a social commentary, which I like.”

As the show comes up on its big night, rehearsals have gotten more intensive, though cast and crew are fine-tuning everything well.

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As part of the stage crew, freshman Lexington Bergstrom said he preferred not to have a spoken role but still enjoys serving a crucial part behind the scenes.

“I tell people when to go on, unplug stuff when I need to, move props on and off, just keep everything in line,” he said. “I’m not the best with memorization, so being in the cast would have been tough. It’s cool to see the improvisation of actors sometimes because I know what they’re supposed to saying, but it’s interesting to see how they recover when they do things differently.”

“RUR” is the second MCHS production directed by Juliann Mathison and one she feels is a shift in storytelling compared to recent shows like fall’s “James and the Giant Peach” and last spring’s “Alice in Wonderland.”

Mathison said unlike her fall musical, the cast will not be using stage microphones.

“We want to teach them how to project and use their voice without them, and we’ve been practicing really hard to be heard without them,” she said.

She added that while the show will be a shift in tone for people who are used to upbeat productions, it is one that is very topical as an older play that eerily predicted many things about the future.

“It has themes of ‘what is humanity?’ It talks about love, it talks about greed,” Mathison said. “The whole play is fascinating because it’s a great conversation piece. The acting isn’t a lot of big monologues but a lot of conversations, and that’s a useful skill for actors to be able to do that.”

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