By Dipika Guha
Directed by Jessa Brie Moreno
World Premiere

A man who forgets everything falls in love with a ballerina who forgets nothing, that is until she falls in love with him. And his wife. And their mechanic. Characters frolic through life in this pirouette of a play–a wild romp about how we love, who we choose, and the cost of making sense of it all.

RUNS February 18 – March 12, 2016
All performances begin at 8pm

Fireside Chats after each performance! Moderated Chats on 2/27, 3/2 and 3/4

#MechanicsCFT

Featuring: Luisa Frasconi*, Carl Holvick, Damien Seperi, Lauren Spencer

Dramaturg: Laura Brueckner★
Stage Manager: Sohaa Smith
Assistant Stage Manager: Matthew Casey
Scenic Design: Deanna Zibello
Assistant Scenic Design: Adeline Smith
Costume Design: Keiko Carreiro
Lighting Design: Beth Hersh
Sound Design: Cliff Caruthers
Props Design: Miranda Herman

★ Crowded Fire Resident Artist
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association

Student Tickets are always $15! Please bring ID

SPECIAL FIRESIDE CHAT GUESTS
Saturday, 2/27 – “The Poetics and Mechanics of Quantum Physics” with Dr. Brandon Brown and playwright Dipika Guha, moderated by dramaturg Laura Brueckner

Brandon Brown pursued doctoral training in superconductivity and low-temperature physics, with postdoctoral work in science communication. Once at the University of San Francisco, he shifted his research focus to sensory biophysics. His laboratory, his research students, and various collaborators have explored the electric and magnetic sensory abilities of a variety of creatures. Currently, he is completing a book about the life and work of German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), to be published by Oxford University Press in 2015. From 2004-2008, Brandon served as Associate Dean for Sciences, and during this time the University completed planning stages for the new Center for Science and Innovation. http://www.brandonrbrown.net/

Dipika quotes Planck for her epigraph of MECHANICS OF LOVE:
“The physical world is not simply a sum of spatial and temporal single worlds running one besides the others, and many phenomena escape understanding when one does not consider a physical object as a whole” (Max Planck, Aus der neuen physik, 1929)

Wednesday, 3/2 – “A Playwright and Scientist Fall in Love” with playwright Dipika Guha and Matt Akamatsu, moderated by Mina Morita

We will be discussing Dipika’s work as a playwright and how Matt, as a scientist who studies molecular mechanisms, influenced the making of MECHANICS OF LOVE.

Friday, 3/4 – “Memory and Forgetting: Who Are We Really?” Dr. Ben Levy in conversation with Mina Morita

We will be discussing the differences (and resonances) between memory loss as medical condition and as poetic device. Personal identity and how little of what we consider our “selves” can exist without it.

Dr. Ben Levy is a cognitive neuroscientist who received his PhD from the University of Oregon. His research focuses on memory and cognitive control, with a particular interest in understanding why we forget. He teaches biological psychology, research design, and learning, memory and cognition at the University of San Francisco.

Crowded Fire Theater Company:
Artistic Director: Mina Morita
Managing Director: Tiffany Cothran
Production Manager: Stephanie Alyson Henderson