THE ADDING MACHINE Extends Through 8/18 at GTC Burbank

Originally set to close August 11, Grove Theater Center's production of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine has been extended through Saturday, August 18, 2012, at GTC Burbank.

The Adding Machine is a darkly comic, expressionistic voyage through the life, execution, and rebirth of Mr. Zero, a low-level accountant whose life is forever altered when, after 35 years at the same company, he discovers he's being replaced by a mechanical adding machine.

The theme of being pushed aside in favor of a more economical machine to maximize profits is as relevant today as when Elmer Rice first wrote the play in 1923. Rice went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his 1929 play, Street Scene, which was later turned into an opera with music by Kurt Weill. The Adding Machine was made into a movie in 1969, and turned into a musical that premiered Off-Broadway in 2008.

Two Broadway veterans head up the cast of The Adding Machine: David Allen Jones as Mr. Zero, the hapless employee, and Jane Macfie as Daisy Diana Dorothea Devore, his co-worker and unrequited love interest. Mr. Jones performed the same role in a 1998 production by GTC in their Orange County theater which won a Best Production award at the OC Weekly Awards.

The show is produced by the same GTC production team that created Eternal Equinox (premiered at GTC Burbank in 2009 and re-staged in an acclaimed Off-Broadway production at the 59e59 Theater earlier this year), Blake…da Musical! (Ovation Award for Best New Musical), and Film Chinois (Ovation Award for Best New Play).

The Adding Machine is directed by GTC’s Award-winning Artistic Director, Kevin Cochran, with set and costumes by three time Ovation Award nominee Leonard Ogden and lighting by David Darwin.

In addition to David Allen Jones and Jane Macfie, the cast includes Karen Kalensky as Zero’s long insufferable wife, Mrs. Zero; Skip Pipo as the contrite matricidal murderer Shrdlu; Frank Simons as the other worldly Lt. Charles; Kate Danley as the cheerful prostitute; Joe Langer as the ominous Fixer; and David Ghilardi as the heartless boss.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 seniors and Burbank residents, and $15 students.

All performances are at GTC Burbank, 1111-B West Olive Avenue. To purchase tickets and for more information, go to www.gtc.org or call 818.528.6622.

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