Coded: Knowledge Breaks the Spell—The Computer Science Musical
By Anja & Martin Erwig
Table Read: Sunday, October 20 at 7pm
Majestic Community Room
Content Label: G
The Majestic Theatre (a division of the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation department) is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to creating a safe place for actors of all backgrounds to explore their craft. We are particularly eager to work with artists of color and other artists from marginalized communities. All table reads are free and open to the public. The Majestic Theatre staff and volunteers do not discriminate on the basis of age, national origin, race, gender, ethnic background, ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or any protected class.
PLEASE NOTE: This is an open table read to expose actors and the community to a new work, not an audition. No prior experience or prep is required. Anyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity may show up and read for any part. No prior sign-up is necessary. If more actors arrive to participate than there are roles, readers will be rotated halfway through.
This is a new musical with a recorded soundtrack, so participants will read the libretto as a normal script and then listen to each song on the soundtrack as it appears in the action.
SHOW SYNOPSIS
Coded is a new musical that teaches computing concepts through the traditional fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel live in a small house in the woods where they are raised by their father and their aunt. One day, the family is visited by Glazehook, a woman who sells gingerbread cookies. When she proposes that the children work for her, Aunt and Father decide to give it a try. Suspicious of Glazehook, Hansel and Gretel manage to escape from her and find their way back home by following pebbles that Hansel dropped along the way. However, Father and Aunt don’t approve of their behavior and let Glazehook take them with her a second time because, unbeknownst to them, they are under the spell of the cookies they got from Glazehook. Hansel and Gretel must use their wits and their understanding of computing concepts to defeat Glazehook and free the other children under the control of her magic cookies.
FROM THE PLAYWRIGHTS, Anja & Martin Erwig
Everyone uses computation, and everyone is affected by computation. Thus, everyone can
benefit from knowing what computation is. But while most people have a basic understanding of other sciences and how they affect their lives, this is not the case for computer science. Perceptions of the field are driven by nerdy stereotypes as well as wrong expectations about what computation is and what it can do. By associating computation with inscrutable machines the field appears to be mysterious, shrouded in a veil of magic. Presenting computer science in artistic form as a concept musical offers a fresh perspective on the field and provides a low-cost, non-intimidating, and entertaining entry point for a wide audience.
PREPARATION NOTES
This is a table read to expose actors and the community to a new work, not an audition. No prior experience or prep is required. Anyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity may read for any part.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
GRETEL
Character Age: Adolescent.
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Female-presenting
Vocal Range: Soprano or Mezzo-Soprano
Character Description: Gretel is a very clever girl, but she is careful, a bit anxious, and more obedient than her brother Hansel. Being careful helps her figure out the escape from the witch Glazehook, since her attentive nature keeps her from eating the cursed gingerbread cookies. In the end, Gretel overcomes her timidity when hatching and executing an escape plan.
AUNT
Character Age: Middle-aged
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Female-presenting
Vocal Range: Soprano
Character Description: The aunt is a kind and caring woman who stepped in after Hansel and Gretel’s mother died, moving in with them and their father. Her husband (Abacus) vanished some time ago; unbeknownst to her, he was captured by Glazehook. Aunt is compassionate and humble and admires Glazehook’s success. Hoping for a more prosperous life, she allows Glazehook to take Hansel and Gretel with her. When she realizes her mistake, she is instrumental in finding them in the end.
GLAZEHOOK
Character Age: Adult
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Female-presenting
Vocal Range: Soprano or Mezzo-Soprano
Character Description: Glazehook is an evil woman, but she hasn’t always been that way. Her desire for a successful business made her eat a magic cookie, whose power has given her a way to control people. She has her accountant Abacus and several children run a baking business for her by feeding them special magic cookies. She is very cunning but in the end outsmarted by Gretel.
HANSEL
Character Age: Adolescent
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Male-presenting
Vocal Range: Tenor or Baritone
Character Description: Hansel is a brazen and rebellious boy. He likes to do things his way. He is adventurous and isn’t scared by new situations, but he is also not very careful and rushes to action, which brings him into trouble at least twice: First, when he runs into a loop when tracing back the pebbles, and then again when he quickly eats a gingerbread cookie and falls under the spell of the witch. In both situations it is Gretel who saves him.
ABACUS
Character Age: Middle-aged
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Male-presenting
Vocal Range: Tenor or Baritone
Character Description: Hansel and Gretel’s uncle, brother of their father. Abacus is a math geek who, under the spell of Glazehook’s magic cookies, runs her baking business. He is very afraid of Glazehook. Appealing to his scientific mindset, Gretel can convince him to join her in freeing everyone from Glazehook’s spell.
FATHER
Character Age: Middle-aged
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Gender: Male-presenting
Vocal Range: Baritone
Character Description: Hansel and Gretel’s father is a hard-working and well-meaning but also somewhat naive man. He is grateful that Aunt is helping him after his wife died.
SIX CHILDREN
Character Age: Child-adolescent
Character Race: Any.
Character Ethnicity: Any.
Character Genders: Any
Vocal Range: N/A
Character Description: Anna, Bert, Charlotte, Daniel, Emma, and Felix—children under Glazehook’s spell who provide the labor in her baking business.
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