R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots

Strawdog Theatre Company kicks off their 21st season with Karel Capek’s science fiction drama R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), directed by Strawdog Artistic Associate Shade Murray. Set in the 1920s at the island factory of Rossum’s Universal Robots, R.U.R. follows a team of scientists who have created the model to factory-produce the world’s first robotic workforce. When an idealistic young woman arrives on a quest to free the “souls” of the robots (and discovers there is no such thing), she manipulates the scientists to biologically remedy that fact. Soon after these “improved” and extremely humanlike robots have been shipped all over the world, the inevitable robot revolution explodes, leaving questions about the survival of humanity and what actually makes a human. R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) runs about two hours with one intermission, with free admittance to Strawdog Late Night following the Friday and Saturday shows.

Capek was the first person to introduce the term robot to the world, though the term was actually invented by his brother Josef. ?apek’s famous utopian fantasy novel War with the Newts has been adapted into a play by Jason Loewith and Justin D.M. Palmer, and will premiere at Evanston’s Next Theatre. Murray returns after directing Strawdog’s award-winning productions of Detective Story (2003 Jeff Awards for Production, Director, and Ensemble), and Marathon ’33 (2006 Jeff Award for Ensemble).