The Adding Machine
St. Clement's Episcopal Church & Theatre | April 4, 2026
When the math ain’t mathing…
The Adding Machine is a 103 year old expressionist play first released in 1923 about a man, Mr. Zero, who is laid off and replaced by an adding machine after 25 years on the job. After murdering his boss, he has to break the news to his nagging, loquacious wife. Once he is convicted of murder, and faces the electric chair, he embarks on a journey into the afterlife searching for meaning.
The play is a timeless critique on the cutthroat corporate culture of capitalism due to technological advancement and automation, and how it leaves the dedicated working class unemployed and uncertain, stripped of their dignity, and questioning their purpose and spirituality.
Whew! Some things never change…
The Adding Machine is a 103 year old expressionist play first released in 1923 about a man, Mr. Zero, who is laid off and replaced by an adding machine after 25 years on the job. After murdering his boss, he has to break the news to his nagging, loquacious wife. Once he is convicted of murder, and faces the electric chair, he embarks on a journey into the afterlife searching for meaning.
The play is a timeless critique on the cutthroat corporate culture of capitalism due to technological advancement and automation, and how it leaves the dedicated working class unemployed and uncertain, stripped of their dignity, and questioning their purpose and spirituality.
Whew! Some things never change…
Jennifer D. Laws attends The Adding Machine at St. Clement's Episcopal Church & Theatre on April 4, 2026.
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