R.U.R.

By Karel Chapek
Directed by Leo Lion

R.U.R. is the play that first coined the word ‘robot.’ Written in 1921 and set sometime after the year 2000, it depicts a secluded island factory that produces the most valued product around the world: artificial people. The human inhabitants of the island, employees of Rossum’s Universal Robots, are there to keep the factory running and maintain the secret of the robots’ creation. But something is beginning to change about the robots – something the humans aren’t quite able to control...

Now, not long after the real year 2000, R.U.R. serves as an eerie reflection of the fascination mankind has with replicating itself. Why, so long after the term was coined, do we continue to love robots, to fear robots, to be perplexed by robots? What is it about building something ‘almost human’ that so appeals to us? Why does the fantasy persist of handing our work off to virtual, digital assistants - to Siri, to Cortana, to Alexa? And what happens when two such machines can speak with each other - when they begin to realize that they don’t need us anymore?

R.U.R. performed July 13th-15th, 2018, at the Alchemical Theatre Laboratory in NYC.
The production marked the premiere of a newly adapted script by Leo Lion.

R.U.R. received a National Youth Arts Award in 2018 for Outstanding Lead Performance by Max Kropf (Harry Domin/Primus).