Scena Theatre to Present THE TIME MACHINE Beginning This Month

The Directors of Scena Theatre will continue their 34th Season in Washington, DC with THE TIME MACHINE, an original stage adaptation of the landmark H.G. Wells novel, which influenced generations of science fiction writers. Scena Theatre's Artistic Director Robert McNamara is directing this one-man play featuring DC's Ron Litman (AEA).

Performances of THE TIME MACHINE run from Oct. 20 - Nov. 13, 2022 at the ATLAS Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Opening night is Friday, October 28, 2022 at 7:30 pm.

As DC's premier international theatre company, Scena Theatre always aims to reflect current social and political developments in its plays. THE TIME MACHINE is especially poignant now, given the Russian war against Ukraine. Once again, the people of planet Earth find themselves on the brink of a possible world war-with potential nuclear weapons being used to dominate part of the European continent. This play is a social commentary on the escalating conflicts between the Russians and Ukrainians-as well as the harsh divisions that now exist between liberals and conservatives here in the US. Never before in American history have our citizens been so divided and at odds.

Scena has a history of producing plays based on the work of H.G. Wells. The company previously staged an original adaptation of the 1938 radio play, War of the Worlds! in 2010 and 2016 - as well as its European tour. Artistic Director Robert McNamara has always loved and admired the incrediblewriting and imagination of H.G. Wells. "Wells' is very theatrical in his writing, and his stories are larger than life. They encompass the possibilities of what might be-in both positive and negative future scenarios," said McNamara. "So, his intelligent, heartfelt stories are ideal for Scena to adapt for the stage. Now, more people in Washington can experience his fascinating tales presented in a highly dramatic way."

Our adaptation of THE TIME MACHINE begins in 1919 where an inventor has created a time machine in NYC. He travels to several different eras in the future only to make the ultimate shocking discovery: in year 800,000, all of humanity is divided and dying. There's a tribe called the Eloi, "exquisite, fragile things" who enjoy a life of mindless abandon. And there's the Morlocks, conniving "human spiders" who occupy the Underworld. The ultimate clash of these two cohorts puts civilization on the brink of destruction. Is this future adventure a prophecy? Or a nightmare? See our spellbinding, one-man play to find out.

Shows: Oct. 20 - Nov. 13, 2022 (Thurs - Sat. 7:30 pm + Sun. at 3:00 pm)

Tickets: AtlasArts.org/thetimemachine

Prices: $25 - $35 Adults

Venue: ATLAS Performing Arts Center
1333 H St. NE, Washington, DC 20002 {LAB I}

Designers

Robert McNamara (Director), Carl Gudenius (Set Designer), Alisa Mandel (Costume Designer), Marianne Meadows (Lighting Designer), Tom Pile (Videos / Visuals), Denise Rose (Sound Design), Anne Nottage (Assistant Director), TBA (Stage Manager) and Gabriele Jakobi (Dramaturg & Resident Director).

H.G. Wells, Novelist / Story (1866-1946) was an English novelist, journalist, teacher, sociologist and historian. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. He is best known for his science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds as well as such comic novels as Tono-Bungay and The History of Mr. Polly. He has been called the "father of science fiction." Beyond his fame as a writer, he was prominent in his lifetime as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web. His science fiction stories imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility and biological engineering. Brian Aldiss referred to Wells as the "Shakespeare of science fiction", while Charles Fort called him a "wild talent".

ABOUT SCENA THEATRE

SCENA Theatre brings the best international theatre to Washington, DC and stimulates cultural exchange between theatre artists, locally and worldwide. Founded in 1987 under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert McNamara and Managing Director Amy Schmidt, SCENA produces an annual season of plays, seasonally staged readings, as well as a Workshop Series aimed at developing new works from around the globe.

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