Quantum Dragon Theatre Presents Mac Rogers' UNIVERSAL ROBOTS

Quantum Dragon Theatre, the San Francisco Bay Area's premiere science-fiction/fantasy theatre company, continues its second season with the West Coast premiere of award-winning playwright Mac Rogers' Universal Robots, inspired by the classic work of science fiction theatre R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel ?apek. Directed by QDT Artistic Director Sam Tillis, the production will open at The Phoenix Theatre- located at 414 Mason Street, San Francisco- on Friday, June 29th at 8pm.

The plot of Universal Robots is both an homage to and an update of the circumstances surrounding and the original text of the play R.U.R. At the start of Universal Robots, the Great War has just ended, and the fledgling Republic of Czechoslovakia, under its first elected President, boasts a thriving artistic and intellectual community. At the center of that community is the celebrated playwright Karel ?apek, a passionate advocate for all his newborn nation can achieve. But the brave new world arrives faster than Karel could have ever expected when a young woman walks into his life with a strange mannequin in a wheelchair... a mannequin that gets up and moves all by itself. Universal Robots offers a compelling, alternate history of the twentieth century, imagining the invention of the robot in 1921 and chronicling the shocking consequences of that invention right up to the present day.

Universal Robots features seasoned QDT veterans and new faces alike in its ten-member ensemble. Longtime QDT audiences will recognize Marisa Darabi (SPELL ETERNITY; SPEED OF LIGHT), Matt Gunnison (SPELL ETERNITY), Louel Senores (CIVIL), and Kitty Torres (SPELL ETERNITY). These actors are joined by Bay Area mainstay Paul Loper and BATCC-Award nominee Michaela Greeley (Principle Actress, House with less than 100 seats 2014) as well Cindy Head, Dean Koya, Ava Maag, and Ellie MacBride.

Universal Robots runs June 29th (8pm) and 30th (8pm), and July 1st (2pm), 5th (8pm), 6th (8pm), 7th (8pm), 8th (2pm), 12th (8pm), 13th (8pm), and 14th (8pm). Tickets are online starting at www.quantumdragon.org and will be available at the door for performances which are not sold out. All tickets are pay-what-you-want, with a suggested donation of $25.

About Sam Tillis
Quantum Dragon Theatre Artistic Director Sam Tillis is an actor/director/writer native to the SF Bay Area. Directing credits for QDT include SPELL ETERNITY (rumpus.net weekly theatre recommendation), SPEED OF LIGHT (a KQED Arts recommendation), and CIVIL (TBA Awards Recommended Production). He has also directed for the stage at the SF Olympians Festival (PEGASUS: THE MOVIE [THE PLAY]) and SF Theatre Pub (PINT SIZED PLAYS V) and for the screen with Way Up There Productions (OBSESSION, HENCHMEN). He has acted for local companies including Shotgun Players (THE COAST OF UTOPIA trilogy), Custom Made Theatre Co. (SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5), Wily West Productions (EVERYBODY HERE SAYS HELLO!), and The Breadbox ('TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE and OH DAD...). When not involved in theatrics, he writes articles for Edible East Bay magazine.

About Mac Rogers
Mac Rogers is an award-winning playwright based in New York City. His plays include Sovereign (New York Times and Backstage Critic's Pick), Blast Radius (New York Times Critic's Pick), Advance Man (Backstage Critic's Pick and winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Premiere Production), Frankenstein Upstairs (featured in the New York Magazine Approval Matrix and nominated for the NYIT Award for Best Premiere Production), Ligature Marks (CityBeat Critic's Pick), Asymmetric (produced by Philadelphia's acclaimed New City Stage Company), Viral (winner of Outstanding Play at FringeNYC 2009 and Best Off-Off Broadway Play from the New York Independent Theater Bloggers), Universal Robots (nominated for four New York Innovative Theatre awards and winner of Best Off-Off Broadway Play from the New York Independent Theater Bloggers), Hail Satan(Outstanding Playwriting Winner at FringeNYC 2007), and Fleet Week: The Musical (co-written with Sean and Jordana Williams; winner of Outstanding Musical at FringeNYC 2005). Mac's plays have earned acclaim from The New York Times, Backstage, The Wall Street Journal, Time Out New York, New York Post, Flavorpill, io9.com (Gawker Media's science fiction site), Tor.com, Show Business Weekly, New York Press, BroadwayWorld.com, nytheatre.com, ShowShowdown, and many others. As a professional writer, Mac has contributed columns to Slate.com and New York Magazine's Vulture site. His science fiction short story "Miss Emily's Voyage" appears on At Length. Mac currently writes online content for a number of global brands in his role as a Copywriter/Producer with the Brooklyn-based community-building and management firm StellarEngine.

About Quantum Dragon Theatre
Quantum Dragon Theatre is a theatre company dedicated to bringing new and classic works of science-fiction and fantasy to the SF stage, along with works in any other genre appealing to the Bay's 'nerdy' subculture. Following the successes of our first season- three plays ranging from high fantasy to space opera plus our new works development program The Forge- and a sold-out run of our season-two opener Ageless, we're proud to be able to present the second play of our three-play second season. For more information visit www.quantumdragon.org, 'like' us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or send us an e-mail at info@quantumdragon.org.

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