1830. Britain’s Industrial Revolution has dawned. The fiery, brilliant Ada Byron Lovelace, is the author of the first computer program and daughter of Lord Byron (yes, that Lord Byron). At 17 she befriends Charles Babbage, salon host and inventor of the first mechanical computer. What follows is a tempestuous collaboration wherein they envision a future where a “thinking engine” completes complex calculations. Filled with the music of Ada’s imagination, Lauren Gunderson’s (Emilie La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, The Half-Life of Marie Curie) play is what the Cincinnati Enquirer calls “inspiring and absorbing”.
Ada and the Engine is The Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Production.
A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production.
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Reviews
“It only took a couple of minutes of Friday’s opening performance of “Ada and the Engine” at the Know Theatre to remind me of why Lauren Gunderson has become the most produced playwright in America's professional theaters.”— David Lyman, Cincinnati.com
“The romantic liaison that Gunderson has crafted...delivers one of the loveliest and mature romantic moments I’ve seen on stage”— Christine Deitner, The Theatre Times
“…wise and witty… [a] very smart and skillful Victorian parlor drama.”— SF Weekly
Writer
- Lauren Gunderson playwright
Director
Cast
- Mishy Jacobson Ada Lovelace
- Kortney Adams Annabella Byron & Mary Somerville
- Diego Arciniegas* Charles Babbage
- John Hardin Lord Lovelace & Lord Byron
- Lee Mikeska Gardner* Understudy: Annabella Byron & Mary Somerville
Production
- Cristina Todesco+ Scenic Design
- Leslie Held Costume Design
- John R. Malinowski Lighting Design
- Judith Chaffee Choreographer
- Arielle Greenspan Props Designer
- Jesse Timm Sound Designer
- Joseph Stallone Dramaturg
- Rafi Levavy Stage Manager
- Zachary Jacobson Assistant to the Director