Man: More than Machine

Man: More Than Machine asks a simple question and doesn't rush to answer it: how much of what we do is actually our own?

The show explores the line between human and automaton — the routines we run without thinking, the systems we build that start running us back, the moment where efficiency stops looking like progress and starts looking like something else. It's not a lecture. It's a mood, a tension, a question the show poses through sound and movement and lets the audience sit with.

Randall Standridge's music forms the backbone of the score — Deus Ex Machina, Wrath of the Mechanical Monsters, and Me (reAffirmation) all bring a distinct color to the concept, from mechanical and imposing to something more personal and resistant. Styx's Mr. Roboto shows up as the show's most recognizable moment — a needle-drop the audience knows instantly, repurposed to serve the bigger idea instead of just existing as a novelty. Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger brings the show's most explicitly electronic, machine-coded energy, reinforcing the concept without spelling it out.

Copyright clearances required:

• Deus Ex Machina (Randall Standridge)
• Wrath of the Mechanical Monsters (Randall Standridge)
• Me (reAffirmation) (Randall Standridge)
• Mr. Roboto (Styx / Dennis DeYoung)
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Daft Punk)