Photo Coverage: University School of Nashville's THE ADDING MACHINE

Elmer Rice's play The Adding Machine premiered on Broadway in 1923, yet it speaks to the issues of the day: mechanization, corporation, immigration, sexism and bigotry--all at the expense of the individual human being. Fast foward: 2015. Nearly 100 years later, we're still there. So says Catherine Coke, director of The Adding Machine at University School of Nashville.

"Some plays are topical and lose to the test of time," Coke contends, "The Adding Machine is not one of them. It speaks to the universality of all humans dealing with the daily struggles - those who hope, those who dream, those who fantasize, and those who shut themselves down into their own boxes or jobs or institutions, just to keep surviving, just to keep some control over their own existence."

Rice wrote with humor and darkness, Coke maintains. "This play, truly unconventional for its time and considered Experimental, resonates today. It asks of us: where do we stand with the "Machine," whatever that machine may be."

The Adding Machine opened Wednesday, February 11, and continues this weekend Friday, February 13 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, February 14 at 2 p.m. and 7p.m. Tickets are free for students, faculty, staff, and TAP members. For the general public, tickets are $5.

The Adding Machine incorporates the largest USN cast for a winter production in years: Jessica Awh '16, Shayna Beyer '18, Alex Bahner '17, Elise Blackburn '15, Nathan Bollen '17, Izzy Creavin '15, Hope Eidam '15, Elizabeth Flatt '16, Isaiah Frank '17, Denee Stewart Freeman '18, Marco Gutierrez '16, McKenna Harrington '16, Emaun Irani '17, Henry Hicks '17, Megan Kasselberg '16, Luke Kirpatrick '15, George LaBour '17, Alice May '17, Shaan Merchant '15, Molly Pennington '16, Mark Pierce '16, Tom Shaw '16, Aidan Watt '15, and Blair Webber '16.

The production crew for building the set, hanging and focusing the lights, and actually running the show: another 30+ people.

"Twenty-seven individual human beings will actually be involved in the run of the show - actors and technicians. A very large collaboration, and well worth it for everyone involved, including the audience," Coke says.

Nashville photographer Rick Malkin offers his take on the show through the lens of his camera...

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