Requiem for Tesla
created by Rude Mechs
“You will come away from the experience with a deep appreciation for Tesla’s work and an equally deep appreciation for the Rude Mechs, who consistently prove themselves to be one of the theatrical jewels in Austin’s arts scene.” – Lynn Mikeska, Austin Chronicle Review of Requiem for Tesla, 2016
“the Rude Mechanicals create compelling connections — to their work, to their audience — with their own brilliant and daring leaps.” – Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle Review of Requiem for Tesla, 2003
Requiem for Tesla is a semi-biographical, sci-fi homage to Nikola Tesla, a genius inventor who loved pigeons, hated spherical objects and was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of all time. Requiem for Tesla is an ecstatic and evocative tribute to the man who gave us alternating current and dreamed of spaceships in a time when even electricity was dangerous magic. Tesla’s impassioned efforts to improve the quality of life for humankind left him straddling a line between genius and insanity. Rude Mechs’ high-voltage stage-collage honoring the genius/madman fuses electrical magic, subconscious desire, and a real message from Mars. A hallucinatory Mark Twain, featuring live music, and a spine-tingling Tesla coil all combust in this sci-fi electromagnetic polyphase dynamo play. Requiem for Tesla was conceived and premiered in 2001, and then “reinvented” in 2003 featuring a revamped script and a new production design. Because a Rude’s work is never done and we grab at any chance we have to work on a production, this 2016 iteration will combine the 2001 production design with the 2003 script. 2016 production credits written by Kirk Lynn directed by Shawn Sides Matt Frazier as Nikola Tesla Costume Design: Leslie Bonnell Lighting Design: Zachariah Murphy Scenic Design: Stephen Pruitt Sound Design: Buzz Moran Original Music: Graham Reynolds Video Design: Michael Mergen Coil Design and Operation: Pete Whitfill Properties Design: Brianna Smith Production Manager: Dallas Tate Creation Support: The creation and first two productions of Tesla were funded entirely by ticket sales and patron donations, much like this one. “Indeed it’s that willingness on the part of the Rudes to run with disparate sensibilities — or sometime ridiculous impulses (half-friend, half-enemy in one actor? really?) — that’s resulted in such compelling, daring, original theater.” – Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin American-Statesman Review, 2016 “Requiem for Tesla is a brilliant cerebral journey into the mind of Nikola Tesla (played with fastidious precision and handsome flair by Matthew Frasier) done only in the way that Austin’s Rude Mechanicals can.” – Joni Lorraine, Broadway World Review, 2016 “You will come away from the experience with a deep appreciation for Tesla’s work and an equally deep appreciation for the Rude Mechs, who consistently prove themselves to be one of the theatrical jewels in Austin’s arts scene.” – Lynn Mikeska, Austin Chronicle Review of Requiem for Tesla, 2016 “This is the second time the company has staged Requiem for Tesla, and it reveals how the Rude Mechs have grown in two years and how valuable it can be for them to revisit earlier material, but mostly it reveals how the Rude Mechanicals create compelling connections — to their work, to their audience — with their own brilliant and daring leaps.” – Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle Review 2003 University of Texas Fresh Terrain Feature 2003 “Lynn’s script is an impressive, cleverly woven fabric of monologue, dialogue, and sound bites until the final scene; then the writing — Tesla’s deathbed fears about his long-dead brother — is simply, heartbreakingly gorgeous.” – Austin Chronicle Review 2001 “Requiem is a dream.” – Daily Texan Review 2001 “Rude Mechanicals’ ‘Tesla’ flashes with inspiration.” – Jamie Smith Cantara, Austin American-Statesman Review 2001 Austin American-Statesman Article 2001 – Jeanne Claire van Ryzin “All About Tesla” – Documentary by Michael Krause featuring Lana Lesley & Shawn Sides January 16 – February 15, 2003 The Off Center, Austin, TX Playwright – Kirk Lynn Director – Shawn Sides Ensemble: Robert Newell (Tesla), Robert Fisher (Twain/Edison), Lana Lesley (Katherine/Westinghouse), Jason Liebrecht (Czito), Sarah Richardson (Alien/Morgan), Graham Reynolds (Musician), Blair Bovbjerg (Musician) Lighting Design: Brian Scott Scenic Design: Michael Raiford Sound Design: Buzz Moran Costume Design: Leslie Bonnell Costume Coordinator: Catherine McMillen Original Music: Graham Reynolds Props Designer: Leilah Stewart Production Manager: Tamara Klindt Technical Director: Madge Darlington Stage Manager: José Angel Hernandez Asst. Stage Manager: Jenny Slattery Coil Owner/Operator: Pete Whitfill Sound Engineer/Operator: Bethany Tucker Front of House Manager: Eirik Ott February 15 – March 10, 2001 The Off Center, Austin, TX written by – Kirk Lynn | conceived and directed by – Shawn Sides Ensemble: Michael Miller (Nikola Tesla), Robert Fisher (Twain/Edison), Lana Lesley (Katherine Johnson), Barry Miller (Morgan), Michael Kranes (Westinghouse / Czito), Sarah Richardson (Johanna/Freudian), Graham Reynolds (Musician), Blair Bovbjerg (Musician) Lighting Design: Zach Murphy Scenic Design: Stephen Pruitt Sound Design: Buzz Moran Video Design: Michael Mergen Costume Design: Leslie Bonnell Original Music: Graham Reynolds Stage Manager: Tammy Whitehead Production Manager / Technical Director: Christopher Meister Assistant Director / Dramaturg: Shana Gold Music recorded by The Golden Arm Trio: Chris Black, Valerie Klatt, Sean Crapo, Adam Sultan, Bruce Colson, Graham Reynolds Sound Operator: Chris Loveless Master Electrician / Light Operator: Chris Crews Sound Engineer: Greg Janacek Electrician: Karen Banks Coil Owner/Operator: Pete Whitfill Propmaster: Maureen Cross Propmaker: Allison Defrees Crew Chief: Robert Pierson Asst Video Design / Asst Propmaster: Beth Gosnell Costume Assistant: Erin Harrell Box Office Manager: Georgia Menides Scenic Construction: Ron Berry, Wayne Alan Brenner, Madge Darlington, Robert S. Fisher, Erin Harrell, José Hernández, Joey Hood, Diane Johnson, D.W. Jones, Noah Kern, Tamara Klindt, Morgan Knicely, Lana Lesley, Kirk Lynn, Georgia Menides, Steve Moore, Robert Pierson, Dave Reed, Sarah Richardson, Shawn Sides Sound Installation: Gordon, Gunn, Noah Kern, Jeff Runnels Costume Construction: Andy Blackwood, Suzee Brooks, Erin Harrell, Melissa Livingston, Rich Malley, Kathy McTee, Kim Whatley Special Thanks: Adam Callaway • Keith Palumbo • Ann Ciccolella • Andy Blackwood • Don Colbreath • Paul Drown • Katz’s Deli • Dan Gillotte • Tamara Klindt • Mark Mergen • Steve Moore • The State Theatre Company • John Walch • Larry Lehew • Jeff Ellinger • Jen at Lovejoys • Chip at Live Oak • Blaze and Esteban at AwareHouse • Ron Berry and Thinkwell • Gordon & Jimmy Gunn • Ron Marks • Dave Nordyke at Music Makers • Family Thrift • Zachary Scott Theatre • Scott • Limbo Vintage • The Neon Plant • Angela Mirabella • Bon Davis • Mark Novick • Brenda Pyles • Laurie Enslen at Cigar Express • Laura, Corey and the dirigo group • Alex Alford • Mark at AVW International • Fritz Schwentker • Eldridge Goins • Walter Olden and Ted at Olden Lighting • Shannon Richey • Liman and his fatshaker • Kevin Whitley at Action Figure • Terry at Battery Wholesale Distributors • Viet Nguyen • JC Shakespeare • Gonzo Gonzalez • La Dolce Vita • Robert Whyburn • Tony Tucci • Ben Wolfe • Jason Amato • Frank at St. Arnold’s Brewing • Jon Watson • Tammy Fotinos • Dominic Welhouse • Jeff Johnston • Diane Johnson • Jason and Dan at Salvage Vanguard Theatre • Sonia, Tom, and Don at the Robot group • and a huge oh-my-gawdwe-could-never-have-done-it-without-you thanks to Tim Deagan and Pete Whitfill Nikola Tesla was born at midnight between July 9th and 10th, 1856, in a small Croatian village. The son of a clergyman of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Tesla was expected to follow in his Father’s footsteps. Tesla’s sympathies, however, lay with his Mother, who, though illiterate, was a skillful inventor of multiple farm and kitchen implements. Nikola Tesla was the fourth of five children with three younger sisters and an older brother, Daniel. Daniel died at the age of twelve. His death is clouded in mystery, due to multiple accounts of the incident. One biography suggests Daniel lay sick with a fever for months. Tesla’s own autobiography has Daniel trampled by a horse, and then later recounts the death as a fall down a flight of stairs. But all sources agree that Tesla was deeply scarred by the loss. The young Tesla was rigorously tutored by his father and was soon discovered to possess a rare gift, eidetic memory. Popularly, though incorrectly, referred to as “photographic memory,” eidetic memory is not simply the ability to remember sights with a camera’s precision. An eidetiker can create images in her head, both from memory and from whimsy, which have the full force of conventional vision. Yet these visions do not lack the normal flexibility of thought. So, for instance, with only a single glance an eidetiker could “memorize” a street map of Austin, but further, if she desired, she could instantly rotate the map to match her orientation, she could simultaneously trace multiple routes to the Texas Chili Parlor noting which one passes fewer police stations, or she could color all the streets beginning with the letter “B” blue. Generally this ability begins to wane in adolescence, perhaps due to chemical changes in the body. This was not the case for Nikola Tesla. For much of his life Tesla invented without blueprints, and never made a test model. Tesla created and tested machines in his head, adapting them as he imagined them, so that when it came time to build, the machines worked on the first try. Tesla’s study of engineering was hampered by his poverty. Although briefly enrolled in the Austrian Polytechnic, most of Tesla’s knowledge came from his own reading. Seeing a dynamo for the first time, Tesla commented that the design could be improved by doing away with the commutator and by switching to alternating current. A German engineer replied to Tesla’s comment, “You may do many great things, but you will never do that.” Nikola Tesla did not know how it might be done, but he felt instinctually that he was right and began obsessively pursuing his idea. Studying night and day, Tesla stopped eating and sleeping. A worried friend convinced Tesla to take a walk with him to get him out of the house. On this walk a view of the sunset reminded Tesla of a passage from Faust, and as he recited it, Tesla suddenly fell to his knees and began frantically drawing in the dirt. He was diagramming the first alternating current motor, powered by rotating magnetic fields, thus making a commutator unnecessary. Soon after his discovery Tesla left for America. He was penniless, and brought only his notebooks, a collection of Serbian folk ballads, and a letter of introduction to Thomas Edison. Tesla worked for Edison for only a short time, resigning over a breach of contract, or a misunderstood joke, depending on who you believe. Jobless, Tesla had to work as a ditch digger for some months before meeting George Westinghouse. George Westinghouse was a rare financier in that he understood a great deal of the science being investigated and utilized by the engineers he employed. Westinghouse was impressed by Tesla’s alternating current scheme and quickly offered to fund him. Thus began the War of the Currents. Edison backed by J. P. Morgan had a further advanced but technically flawed direct current plan. Tesla backed by Westinghouse had only sketches of a far superior alternating current plan. Both plans were in competition for only a handful of contracts, notably the first generator at Niagara Falls and lighting the Columbia Exposition. As the two inventors worked feverishly to make their ideas workable, they also attempted to gain the upper hand in the press. Edison held weekly demonstrations at his Menlo Park laboratory, using alternating current to electrocute dogs and cats (for which he paid boys in the neighborhood a quarter a piece) to show the dangers of Tesla’s alternating current. Tesla frequently invited journalists to his labs where he held a wire live with alternating current in one hand and various light bulbs in the other in order to show his alternating current was safe. The War of the Currents reached its pitch when some of Edison’s engineers secretly purchased a license to Tesla’s patents in order to build an electric chair. In 1890, William Kimmler became the first man to be executed with electricity. The War of the Currents was in some sense won by Tesla. Westinghouse underbid on the Niagara Falls and Columbia Exposition contracts, at great personal loss, and Tesla won the contracts. This began a period of immense personal and professional success for Nikola Tesla; he built his own lab, he lived in the finest hotel in New York, and he became a major figure in New York’s high society. It was during this period that Tesla created the majority of the inventions which were to occupy the rest of his life: robotics, wireless communication, remote control, X-ray, the cyclotron, the point electron microscope, and the radio vacuum tube. It was also at this time in his life Tesla met two lifelong friends, Mark Twain, a frequent guest in Tesla’s laboratory, and Katherine Johnson, a “family friend” who may or may not have been Tesla’s lover. But the long series of successes and joys ended when Tesla’s NY lab burnt down, and Westinghouse and Tesla parted ways. Rumor has it that Tesla and Westinghouse had agreed on royalties of $2.50 for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced by one of Tesla’s generators. Electricity’s use not only as the engine of industry but as a regular household convenience made Tesla’s royalties worth more than Westinghouse’s entire holdings. Confronted with this fact, it is said that Tesla tore up the contracts. Whatever happened, Tesla and Westinghouse did dissolve their partnership and Tesla moved to Colorado Springs, CO. There Tesla began implementing his ideas about wireless electricity, building a great tower which was to send electricity through the earth. In the course of his experimentation, Tesla recorded a series of pulses in repeating numerical patterns. Some believe Tesla was listening to a Pulsar, some that he was receiving an unintended transmission from Marconi, Tesla’s rival in radio transmission. Tesla believed he had received a message from Mars. Unfortunately another side effect of the great receiver was that its use blacked out much of Colorado and the pan-handle of Texas. Tesla’s power was shut off and further experimentation was impossible. Tesla moved back to New York. Ridiculed by the scientific community for his hypothesis that he had received a message from Mars, Tesla became the inspiration for the mad scientist in Max Fleischer’s Superman cartoons, which in turn was used as a model for the first motion picture representation of Dr. Frankenstein in 1931. Tesla still desired to work but had trouble financing his experiments. J. P. Morgan, Edison’s old ally, agreed to enter into a silent partnership with Tesla. Tesla built a giant tower in Wardenclyffe, Long Island. Morgan believed the tower would be used to broadcast yacht races, but Tesla had other ideas. In an attempt to increase Morgan’s funding for the project Tesla claimed the Wardenclyffe Tower when finished would be able to transmit wireless electricity to all of New York City. Morgan replied, “If it’s wireless, where do I put the meter?” And with that the partnership was finished. Tesla then retreated to his NY York hotel, where he lived off the good will of the Westinghouse Co. and the Yugoslavian government, both of whom sent Tesla small stipends. Tesla attended few society gatherings, or scientific conferences, but spent all his time feeding pigeons in the park and in his hotel room. It was at this time in his life that he conceived of a “death ray” which reinforced his reputation as a mad scientist, but nevertheless laid the groundwork for modern missile defense systems. In 1943, Tesla died, penniless and alone. Tesla was without question a great inventor, but his achievements are little noted in scientific textbooks or American history. The Smithsonian Institution’s Hall of Inventions lacks a single reference to Nikola Tesla. Knowledge of Tesla’s achievements seems limited to those with intense scientific and electrical training, or conspiracy buffs who believe that Martians took Tesla to the Andes, or to Mars, his talents being too great for human understanding. Yet, as scientist, B. A. Behrend notes, “were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla’s work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle. Yes, so far reaching is his work that it has become the warp and woof of industry.” TESLA’S PHOBIAS AND OBSESSIONS Columbiphilia – Pigeon Love Kakiphobia – Fear of Dirt Achluophobia – Fear of the Dark Pathophobia – Fear of Germs Spherophobia – Fear of Round Objects Triphilia – Obsession with the number three, as well as Visual and Auditory hallucinations SPECIAL HONORS: The international unit for magnetic flux density is now called the Tesla, symbolized with a “T.” It is equivalent to 10,000 Gauss or 1 Weber per square meter. MORE INFO ABOUT NIKOLA TESLA http://www.parascope.com/en/0996/tesindex.htm http://www.yurope.com/org/tesla/ http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/ BOOKS ON NIKOLA TESLA In Search of Nikola Tesla by Peat, F. David, List Price $10.95 A pioneer in electricity and rival of Thomas Edison, Tesla invented the modern induction motor and built the Niagara Falls Power Project. Yet he died a recluse, claiming to have discovered an inexhaustible source of energy whose power could be tapped and transmitted around the world without loss. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, by Seifer, Marc J., List Price $19.95 Nikola Tesla, credited by many as the inspiration for radios, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. ‘Wizard’ is the definitive biography of this founding father of modern technology. 1570……WILLIAM GILBERT (1540-1603) demonstrates attractive and repulsive force from rubbing many substances together (electrostatic charge); calls them “electrics,” and suggests the earth itself is a magnet. 1660’s ….OTTO VON GUERICKE (1602-86) constructs first friction machine to generate static charge, using a revolving ball of sulphur. 1729 ……..STEPHEN GRAY (1696-1736) conducts experiments that show electricity moves. 1740’s….BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-90) proposes the notion of positive and negative charge, conserving a balance except when a deficit is brought about by some means. His famous kite experiments, identifying lightning as a form of electrical discharge, take place in 1752. 1745 ……..GEORG VON KLEIST (c.1700-48) and Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) invent the Leyden jar, the first condenser (capacitor). 1759 ……FRANZ MARIA AEPINUS (1724-1802) presents the first mathematical treatment of electrical forces and constructs first condenser with parallel plates. 1770’s ..HENRY CAVENDISH (1731-1810) anticipates later work of Coulomb and Ohm, but shuns publication. The concepts of potential difference and a zero reference point, a ground, are his. 1785 ……CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE COULOMB (1736-1806) works out reciprocal law of electrical force (varying inversely as the square of distance between two charges). 1791 ……LUIGI GALVANI (1737-98) demonstrates electrical activity in living tissue, as in muscle and nerve. 1800 ……ALESSANDRO VOLTA (1745-1827) invents an electric battery, the first source of DC current. 1819 ……..HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED (1777-1851) finds that current in a wire can deflect a nearby magnetic needle. 1820 ……ANDRE AMPERE (1775-1836) discovers that two wires carrying currents act as magnets to attract or repel each other; he describes the relation between current direction and magnetic field orientation. 1826 ……GEORG SIMON OHM (1789-1854) mathematically unites current, voltage, and resistance in the famous “law” bearing his name: V=IR. 1829 ……..JOSEPH HENRY (1797-1878) constructs an electromagnet that can lift in excess of a ton. Demonstrates a telegraph in 1831. Independently he works out principles of magnetic induction at about the same time as Faraday, but publishes slightly later. 1830……..MICHAEL FARADAY (1791-1867) experimentally characterizes magnetic induction. The most thorough of early electrical investigators, he formulates the quantitative laws of electolysis, the principles of electric motors and transformers, investigates diamagnetic materials, and posits a physical reality for the indirectly observed magnetic and electrical lines of force. 1833……..WILHELM WEBER (1804-1891) and Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1851) successfully operate a telegraph between two distant buildings. They devise the first system of consistent units for electrical measurement. Gauss organizes a European network of observers to record strength and direction of the geomagnetic field. 1834……..HEINRICH LENZ (1804-65) discovers, at about the same time as Henry and Faraday, that an induced current flows in a direction to oppose the change that induced it–Lenz’s law. 1845……..GUSTAV ROBERT KIRCHHOFF (1824-87) publishes “circuit rules” for calculating electrical quantities in loop and junction configurations–the sum of all potential drops is always zero. 1851 ……..HEINRICH RUHMKORFF (1803-77) invents doublywound induction coil; some models produce arcs a foot or more in length. This leads to development of AC transformers. 1864……JAMES CLERK MAXWELL (1831-79) describes electromagnetic field in four classic equations, which allow also calculation of the speed of light. Their solution predicts waves within the field. 1869 ……WILLIAM CROOKES (1832-1914) and Johann Wilhelm Hittorf (1824-1914) independently discover “cathode rays,” working with currents in glass tubes of improved vacuum quality. 1888 ……HEINRICH HERTZ (1857-94) discovers and measures the waves, radio waves, predicted by Faraday and Maxwell. 1888 ……NIKOLA TESLA (1867-1943) invents the first practicable AC motor and polyphase power transmission system, which revolutionizes industry and commerce. 1900’s CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ (1865-1923) contributes mathematical analysis of more complex nature of AC circuits. 1831 ……..Discovery and theory of induction by MICHAEL FARADAY and JOSEPH HENRY. 1888……..Radio waves detected and measured by HEINRICH HERTZ. 1890 ……..EDOUARD BRANLY (1844-1940) invents a device, a “coherer,” that becomes conducting in the presence of natural electric disturbances, such as lightning. (Powdered metal particles that attract one another as a field induces minute currents in them). 1891 ……..WILLIAM PREECE (1834-1913), using loops of wire several hundred feet long, detects current interruptions in one with the other. 1894 ……..OLIVER LODGE (1851-1940) is first to employ the Branly coherer to sense “Hertzian waves” (radio waves). 1895 ……NIKOLA TESLA is listening around New York to signals produced by high-frequency alternators at his Fifth Avenue laboratory. By tuning several sources at slightly separated frequencies, he is able to monitor the transmission at an audible beat frequency. In 1897, the year of his basic radio patent (U.S. No. 645,576), he is able to pick up a signal at West Point, 30 miles from his transmitter. (Tesla coils are in general use to power everyone’s radio transmitters through the early years of the twentieth century.) He demonstrates a radio-controlled boat at Madison Square Garden in 1898. 1896 ……..ALEKSANDR POPOV (1859-1906) transmits radio signals between buildings at the University of St. Petersburg. 1897 ……..GUGLIELMO MARCONI (1874-1937) sends a radio signal nine miles across the Bristol Channel. In 1901, after weeks of effort, he sends a recognizable signal from England to Newfoundland, the first transatlantic wireless communication. 1898……..FERDINAND BRAUN (1850-1918) contributes a “sparkless” antenna to the Marconi system, and shares with Marconi the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. 1902 ……..REGINALD FESSENDEN (1866-1932) conceives of “heterodyning” to simplify and improve radio receivers, though the principle wasn’t of real use until De Forest’s invention of the triode. (Two radio frequencies are beat together to give a single “intermediate” frequency.) He is first to broadcast speech and music, in 1906. 1903 ……..JOHN FLEMING (1849-1945) produces the first vacuum-tube “diode detector,” then known as the “thermionic valve.” 1906 ……LEE DE FOREST (1873-1961) invents the three element vacuum tube, or triode, making better signal processing and amplification possible. He called it an “audion.” JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN (1837-1913) Capitalist and Industrialist, main financier of Thomas Alva Edison. Later in life a secret partner of Nikola Tesla’s. Morgan dissolved his contract with Tesla when he discovered Tesla’s intention to transmit wireless electricity. GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE (1846-1914) Capitalist and Industrialist, main financier of Nikola Tesla. Tesla dissolved his contract with Westinghouse when he discovered that enforcement of the terms would bankrupt Westinghouse. After Westinghouse’s death, the Westinghouse corporation awarded Tesla a small monthly stipend. THOMAS ALVA EDISON (1847-1931) Inventor and Engineer. Also Dog Catcher and Electrocutor. Edison was Tesla’s employer for a short time. But Edison’s aversion to foreigners and Tesla’s insistence on payment for his work caused the two to part ways angrily. Edison, in an attempt to frighten the public away from alternating current, began electrocuting dogs and cats. Ultimately Edison’s designs for direct current delivery of electricity failed. Direct current travels inefficiently across long distances; Edison’s plan called for a power plant on each city block. Direct current was unsuited to industry’s needs. KATHERINE JOHNSON (?-1925) Tesla’s special friend. The two spent quite a lot of time together at social events, fancy restaurants, and Tesla’s private apartment. When not able to be in each other’s company the two engaged in a spirited correspondence. The nature of this friendship remains unknown. SAMUEL CLEMENS (1835-1910) Known to most as the great American author, Mark Twain. Mr. Clemens was also a sometime investor, usually losing his investment when the companies or inventions failed. While Mr. Clemens never invested in Tesla’s inventions, Tesla frequently loaned Mr. Clemens money. KOLMAN CZITO (dates unknown) Tesla’s cousin and sometime assistant. Czito in this play stands in as all of Tesla’s assistants, most of whom stayed with Tesla his entire life. Czito continued to work for Tesla and care for him long after Tesla was able to pay him. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) Born the same year as Tesla, Sigmund Freud pioneered psychiatry. Freud’s theories focused as much on art and creativity as they did on sexuality and pathology. Freud’s theories gave rise to modern psychoanalysis and method acting.
Robert S. Fisher as Mark Twain and Thomas Edison
Hayley Armstrong as Johanna and JP Morgan
Michael Kranes as Czito
Lana Lesley as Katharine Johnson and George Westinghouse
Graham Reynolds on percussion and keyboards
Blair Bovbjerg on theramin
Costume Supervisor and Additional Design: Aaron Flynn
Light Table Design: Brian H Scott
Flat Suit Design: Michael Raiford
Video Supervisor and Additional Design: Lowell Bartholomee
Stage Manager: Lowell Bartholomee
Technical Director: Oliver Freeman
Master Electrician: David Higgins
Box Office Manager: Tammy Whitehead
Front of House Manager: Rachel Gilbert
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Rude Mechs is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department, and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.Reviews:
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