''Heddatron'' is a 2006 play by

Elizabeth Meriwether Elizabeth Hughes Meriwether (born October 11, 1981) is an American writer, producer and television showrunner. She is known for creating the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'', and for writing the play ''Oliver Parker!'' (2010) and the romantic comedy film ...

. The play is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's ''

Hedda Gabbler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...

''. It premiered at the HERE Arts Centre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as directed by

Alex Timbers Alex Timbers (born August 7, 1978) is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He is the recipie ...

and starred Carolyn Baeumler as Jane.

Characters

Humans: * Jane Gordon * Nugget Gordon, Jane's 10-year-old daughter and the play's narrator * Rick Gordon, Jane's husband * Cubby Gordon, Rick's brother *

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

* Mrs. Ibsen *

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

* Else, a maid * Strindberg's Monkey * Film student * Engineer Robots: * Hans, plays Eilert Lovborg * Billy, plays George Tesman (Hedda's husband) * Brack-Bot, plays Judge Brack * Aunt Julie-Bot * Berta-Bot

Plot

In 2006 in

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, and ...

, Nugget Gordon, a precocious ten-year-old girl, gives a presentation to her class about Henrik Ibsen. Her presentation is interspersed with scenes of Ibsen, his wife, their maid, and Ibsen's rival, August Strindberg. There are also scenes of Nugget's family as her father and uncle attempt to make a documentary. As the first act progresses, it becomes clear that Nugget's pregnant mother, Jane, has been kidnapped by robots and taken to the rainforest. In the second act of the play, the robots force Jane to play the role of Hedda Gabler in their performance of the play of the same name. Cubby and Rick attempt to rescue Jane from the robots and Jane tries to commit suicide by shooting herself in the head. In the third act, the family has returned to Michigan and must deal with the aftermath of Jane's suicide attempt. Nugget finishes her presentation on Ibsen.

Production history

The play premiered in 2006, marking the centenary of Ibsen's death, with

Les Freres Corbusier Les Freres Corbusier is a New York based theatre company, founded in 2003 by three then-recent Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-ol ...

. It was directed by

at the

HERE Arts Center HERE Arts Center is a New York City off-off-Broadway presenting house, founded in 1993. Their location includes two stages specializing in hybrid performance, dance, theater, multi-media and puppetry in addition to art exhibition space and a cafe ...

. Carolyn Baeumler starred as Jane. The robots for the premiere were designed by Botmatrix's Cindy Jeffers and Meredith Finkelstein. Salvage Vanguard Theater in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

performed ''Heddatron'' in 2011. In 2012, Ion Theatre in San Diego performed ''Heddatron'' starring Monique Gaffney as Jane and directed by Claudio Raygoza. In 2017, the

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Department of Theatre Arts performed ''Heddatron'' under the direction of Michael Baltzell. In the spring of 2022, the Skidmore College Department of Theater staged "Heddatron" in the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater, directed by Dennis Schebetta and starring Sophie Pettit as Jane.

References

{{Authority control 2006 plays Adaptations of works by Henrik Ibsen American plays Plays set in Michigan Metafictional plays Plays about families Plays about writers Fiction about suicide