Directed by Bree Bridger
OVERRIDE
by Elizabeth A.M. Keel
September 5-29, 2019
DRAMATURGY:
GETTING UP TO SPEED ON OVERRIDE
New works always have an excitement about them. And at the Landing we have such an impressive team working on every aspect of the play to help the playwright achieve the vision of the work. We want to include our audiences in this process as well. So we're creating these articles to help you come into the experience in a knowledgeable and informed way, so that you can have greater investment in the work being created.
OVERRIDE takes place in one telling hour of Louise and Grav's lives. To give you some background on the story, Dramaturg and UH Professor Matt Chapman created a timeline of important events that have led to the moment the play starts.
Matthieu Chapman
Dramaturg
TO REVIEW: THE SYNOPSIS
Louise is a student at the prestigious Academy of Invention, attempting to construct a machine that can emulate human touch. But when her prototype goes haywire, she has to turn to her biggest competition for help: her competitor Grav, who works on popular, commercial, food-based inventions. As the night evaporates around them, they race to solve the bugs in Louise's machine. Override is a sweet, sci-fi romantic comedy is a reminder about the power of contact through the body, heart, and mind.
GETTING UP TO SPEED
​30 years before the play:​
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Dr. Graverford II’s work with robotics and automation earns him acceptance into the prestigious Academy of Invention. He goes on to graduate at the top of his class and grow a global empire.
20 years before the play:
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Dr. Graverford II and his wife Elena give birth to a baby boy, Graverford III (Grav).
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Louise is born to a working-class family. She is the youngest of four children and the only girl.
15 years before the play:
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Grav falls in love with cooking.
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Louise fall in love with gadgets.
6 years before the play:
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Grav is admitted to the Academy of Invention as a chemical engineer focused on food sciences as well as a legacy admission. His peculiar upbringing has made him a socially isolated but brilliant inventor.
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Louise is admitted to the Academy of Invention due to her unusual experience inventing gadgets. She is a precocious rebel and a stubborn inventor.
1 week before the play:
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Grav has to be relocated from his dorm after a fire ravishes the building.
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Louise allows Grav to be relocated to her apartment.
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Grav’s practical, straight-forward, socially awkward nature combines with Louise’s impulsive, warm, rebelliousness to create a modern-day Odd Couple.
Immediately before the play:
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Grav completes his project for the next morning’s final presentations, the culmination of six years of study. He returns to the apartment to sleep.
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Louise, believing herself alone, works feverishly to finalize her project before dawn.
What follows is an encounter between Louise and Grav that examines the intersections of privilege and knowledge and the power of human touch.
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Matt Chapman is a playwright, dramaturg, scholor and currently an Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Head of the Theatre Studies MA in the University of Houston Department of Theatre and Dance.