OU Theatre brings ‘The Machine Stops’ to the stage, turning a timeless warning into live human connection

What happens when a society builds its world around technology and loses sight of what it means to be human along the way? Oakland University’s Theatre Department is inviting audiences into a world where technology evolves from a tool to enhance human life to a supreme authority that shapes it. In the upcoming production of The Machine Stops, students bring to life a story that asks increasingly relevant questions about the relationship between human and machine.

Adapted from E.M. Forster’s 1909 short story, The Machine Stops imagines a future where people live underground and rely on a vast technological system called the Machine. The Machine was invented to sustain human survival, yet over time dependence evolves into idolatry.

Composer Matthew Nassida describes The Machine Stops as “an absurd retro-futurist view of modern day questions that examine our relationship with technology and with each other through technology.”

That theme is woven in the score. From the beginning, the composer’s intention has been for the music to represent the Machine itself, with a sense of calculated precision in its flow. But the score also works to support the expressions of the characters. Importantly, he notes that the Machine in this story is not a villainous artificial intelligence. “The exact opposite actually,” he explained. “It’s whole purpose is to provide and care for humanity.” The danger is not hatred, but dependence, and the slow surrender of human nature.

Over the course of the show, that relationship is reflected in how the music evolves. As the narrative progresses toward collapse, the composer says the score begins to “break” and decompose, mirroring the Machine’s struggle to keep supporting the world it controls. “I’d love for people to observe how the tension in the music makes them feel over the course of the piece,” he said.

For OU students, the production is an opportunity to perform demanding material while contributing to a developing work. “This is the first time that about half of these songs will be performed live,” the composer shared. “I am thrilled to finally hear it in other people’s voices instead of just my own. It’s not every day that a composer can hear their piece sung by 18 people. It’s a huge honor.”

The Machine Stops will send audiences home talking about “people’s relationships with technology, their family, our society, and the structures that keep us complicit within our comfort.” OU’s production brings these ideas to life through one of the most distinctly human acts: making art together. Turning a cautionary tale about technological worship into a live musical is, in itself, a statement.

Performance Information
“The Machine Stops” 
Varner Studio Theatre, Oakland University

- Friday, February 20 at 8 p.m.
- Saturday, February 21 at 2 p.m.
- Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.