ABOUT
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, presented by MIT CAST and Guerilla Opera, is a new opera by composer Elena Ruehr and Pulitzer-prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek with stage direction by Giselle Ty.
Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel by Sydney Padua, this is the first staging of the comedic new work. It centers on scientists Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, the real-life unsung inventors of the first computer, fighting crime in alternate universes with their new invention.
Ada Lovelace was a mathematician, gambler, and proto-programmer, whose writings contained the first-ever appearance of general computing theory. Lovelace was the first great genius to develop a programming language, and she is still not generally known. Charles Babbage was the eccentric inventor of the Difference Engine, an enormous clockwork calculating machine that would have been the first computer if he had ever finished it.
DATES/TIMES
Friday & Saturday, February 3 & 4, 2023, 7:30PM
Saturday & Sunday, February 4 & 5, 2023, 3:00PM
In addition to the scheduled performance, CAST and Guerilla Opera welcome members of the blind and visually impaired community to experience a tactile tour of The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage production at 2:00pm directly preceding the 3:00pm matinee performance on Saturday, February 4.
We also welcome audiences to stay for a post-show discussion directly following the 3:00pm matinee performance on Saturday, February 4.
Performances are sung in English and are approximately 70 min in duration. The theater is ADA Accessible.
LOCATION
W97 Black Box Theater, MIT Theater Arts Building, 345 Vassar St, Cambridge, MA 02139
ADMISSION
$1.00-$55.00 - Pay What You Will
Please contact the MIT box office at (617) 253-8089 or Susan Wilson at sbwilson@mit.edu with any questions or for assistance.
PERFORMING ENSEMBLE
Aliana de la Guardia, soprano as Ada Lovelace
Aaron Engebreth, baritone as Charles Babbage
Erin Matthews, soprano as Queen Victoria and various roles
Omar Najimi, tenor as Minion and various roles
Lilit Hartunian, Violin
Rane Moore, Clarinet
Stephen Marotto, Cello
Mike Williams, Percussion
CREATIVES AND PRODUCTION
Elena Ruehr, Composer
Royce Vavrek, Librettist
Sydney Padua, Novelist
Giselle Ty, Director
Alexa Cadete, Assistant Director
Keithlyn B Parkman, Lighting & Scenic Designer
Rebecca Shannon Butler, Costume Designer
Tláloc López-Watermann, Projections Designer
Jolie Frazer-Madge, Stage Manager
Mark A. DiGiovanni, Technical Director
Original illustrations created for Guerilla Opera by Sydney Padua.
SUPPORT AND AWARDS
This program is supported in part by a grant from Cambridge Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency and by a grant from the Center for Arts Science and Technology at MIT.
