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Auditions for the MACH 33 Festival
Theater Arts Caltech (TACIT) invites anyone from the Caltech/JPL community to audition for readings of two new plays that will premiere as part of the annual MACH 33 Festival (more information below). Please arrive ready to perform a text of your choice (monologue, poem, etc.). Come to the TACIT Scene Shop (275 S. Hill Ave. behind the house) on Saturday, March 29 from 10am-12pm. Come at 10am to audition; you may be asked to stay after your audition to read a scene. Think of it as a fun hangout with other theater folks, where you'll get a sneak peek at the new science-driven plays-in-progress! Fun for everyone, including first-time actors!
Rehearsals: April 21-May 1
Festival dates: May 2-3
Dementia Doula
by Tom Lavagnino
Synopsis:
An elderly woman suffers from escalating memory loss. But when her adult son formulates a technological means by which to address the problem (in general), installing an AI creation within her midst (in particular), her adult daughter violently pushes back on the idea – inadvertently igniting a future that bespeaks radical familial (and health-related) challenges for all concerned.
Characters:
DIANE KITROSSER: 76-year-old woman; hale and hearty, but suffering from memory loss / dementia / possible onset of Alzheimer's.
CARL BASTNAGLE: Diane's 37-year-old son; bespectacled, super-nerdy but hyperintelligent, in a wheelchair
PEG KITROSSER: Diane's 47-year-old daughter; nurturing but eternally agitated.
JOANIE: Twentyish-seeming robot.
The Null Test
by Ashley Quach
Synopsis:
A critical malfunction of a company's AI program leads to a number of consumer deaths, including the CFO of the company at an executive retreat. The engineer who created the program is charged with murder, and the court struggles to decipher malicious intent when it comes to artificial intelligence design.
Characters:
GLORIA CHANG: CFO of Manos.
REB CHANG: sister to Gloria.
PRESTON LANG: CEO of Manos.
MAXIM REUSS: Manos engineer, developed the NULL 780.
SEXTON KENNEDY: attorney for Manos.
KANSAS ZUCKERMAN: billboard attorney.
MERIT O'CONNOR: a judge.
BENJAMIN: a witness/cop/jury member
TEMPEST: a witness/cop/jury member
HIEP: a witness/cop/jury member
SHIRA: a witness/cop/jury member
NULL780: Manos's number one bestselling product, unseen but present with lights and sound.
Our fall musical was a new original work, inspired by real, emerging JPL climate research!
EARTH DATA / THE MUSICAL is an original science-driven show created by Theater Arts at Caltech and performed by a team of engineers, technologists, researchers, and local artists. Inspired by JPL's "Blended Worlds" for the Getty's PST ART: Art and Science Collide, EARTH DATA / THE MUSICAL is informed by the real-life research of NASA JPL climate scientists, Dr. Kimberley Rain Miner and Dr. Bradley Gay.
This musical follows a young postdoc, Mab, and her uncle, JJ: scientists working at the prestigious research lab, the Consilience Institute to understand the changing climate and its effects. As they pursue their research and learn to understand one another, they face off against the Balsurab Energy corporation. When Mab's groundbreaking research implicates Balsurab, Mab is called before Congress to testify about climate change and defend her laboratory's crucial work, testing her convictions. Will the team at Consilience risk their lab's funding to bring their research to the public's attention? Will they be able to communicate their discoveries to a fractured public, plagued by misinformation? Can they come together to fight for the earth's survival and celebrate science as a human endeavor?
Welcome! Theater Arts at Caltech (TACIT) is many things:
- It's a family of dedicated, creative, passionate individuals.
- It's a learning environment in both formal and informal ways, from both instructors, their peers, and JPLers.
- It's a showcase for playwrights, via MACH 33: The Festival of New Science-Driven Plays.
- It's a window into the lives of Caltech scholars and researchers. Participants in Storytelling for Scientists reveal their personal and research journeys, opening windows through which audience members see what makes a human a scientist...and are reminded that scientists are human.
- It's drama. It's comedy. It's an escape...for audience members and for the cast and crew.
Join us! Sign up for our email list, sign up to participate, attend our performances.
Watch the world premiere of Boldly Go!, an original musical based upon Star Trek that premiered with TACIT in 2016!
