Jennifer Tilly stars in a new Off-Broadway revival of The Adding Machine, a dark comedy about automation displacing workers—running through May 17, 2026.
Jennifer Tilly is stepping back onto the stage in a revival that feels uncannily timed for a moment when conversations about AI and jobs are everywhere.
A star-forward revival with a chilling opening
Jennifer Tilly appears Off-Broadway in a revival of Elmer L.. Rice’s 1923 expressionist play, *The Adding Machine*, currently running at the Theatre at St.. Clement’s in Hell’s Kitchen.. The production is directed by Scott Elliott and scheduled through May 17, 2026.. Tilly plays Mrs.. Zero. a role that kicks off the show with an extensive monologue delivered from a Murphy bed—an entrance designed to pull the audience in before the plot even fully opens up.
That opening matters because it frames the play’s world as both theatrical and strangely intimate.. Rice’s premise, updated by performance choices and modern attention to labor, follows Mr.. Zero, played by Daphne Rubin-Vega, whose steady life is upended after 25 years of work when he is replaced by automation.. It’s the kind of story that lands differently now than it did a century ago—not because the fear is new. but because the pace of technological change has turned workplace disruption from a future possibility into a recurring headline.
Corporate greed, displacement, and why it resonates now
At its core. *The Adding Machine* is about more than jobs disappearing—it’s about the systems that decide who gets valued and who gets replaced.. Mr.. Zero’s replacement isn’t presented as a sudden twist; it’s treated as an outcome of corporate logic. where employees become costs and machines become inevitabilities.. In the production, Rubin-Vega’s performance as Mr.. Zero anchors that tension, while Tilly’s Mrs.. Zero adds a sharp emotional charge at the beginning, setting a tone of dread laced with stagecraft.
The supporting cast also gives the story a fuller texture.. Sarita Choudhury plays Daisy. and Michael Cyril Creighton appears in multiple roles. expanding the play’s view of the corporate world and its shifting faces.. The result is a production that doesn’t simply ask whether automation is coming—it asks what the transition reveals about power.
This is why the show has drawn attention for exploring corporate greed and the displacement of human workers by technology.. Those themes have become especially relevant as workplace automation and artificial intelligence move from specialist conversations into everyday concerns—watching roles change. watching industries reorganize. and wondering what “replacement” really means when it’s dressed up as progress.
How staging and the script shape the message
Part of the revival’s impact comes from the way the production builds its environments.. The set design by Derek McLane uses modular filing cabinets to create the play’s different spaces. tying the visual language directly to bureaucracy and record-keeping—the mechanisms through which corporate decisions are made.. Thomas Bradshaw provides revisions to Rice’s original 100-year-old script. a delicate balancing act for any revival of a period expressionist work: keeping the original’s sharpness while making the dialogue and pacing feel alive for today’s audience.
A two-hour-and-fifteen-minute runtime might sound brief for a story this expansive, but it also reflects the play’s momentum.. The central arc tightens around the slow breakdown of certainty: the belief that a job, once held, provides stability.. When Mr.. Zero is replaced after years of service. the play turns the audience’s attention to the emotional cost of being treated like an interchangeable part.
That emotional cost is where the revival feels most immediate.. People don’t only lose income; they lose identity, routine, and a sense of contribution.. Even when audiences know the ending is rooted in a historical text. the experience can still feel like a mirror to modern anxieties—especially for anyone watching their workplace transform under new tools. new systems. or new management language.
What to know before you go: dates, age guidance, and a chance to watch remotely
*The Adding Machine* runs through May 17. 2026. and Misryoum notes the production is scheduled to be streamed live on May 5. 2026. at 7 PM Eastern for remote audiences.. For those in Manhattan, tickets for the in-person run start at $50.. The show is recommended for audiences aged 13 and up due to mature language and period-appropriate slurs. so viewers will want to consider that guidance before bringing younger theatergoers.
If you’re trying to decide whether to see it. consider the broader question the revival invites: how should society respond when technology doesn’t just improve work. but reshapes who gets to remain in it?. In Rice’s hands, the answer isn’t comfort—it’s exposure.. And in Jennifer Tilly’s hands. at least at the start. the exposure begins as theater spectacle: a monologue that turns the stage into a warning.
The takeaway: a century-old play that feels newly urgent
A 1923 expressionist play doesn’t usually arrive with the sensation of breaking news. yet *The Adding Machine* is built to do exactly that.. It’s about displacement. yes. but also about the moral decisions behind it—what corporations treat as efficient. and what workers experience as erasure.. With Jennifer Tilly leading the revival as Mrs.. Zero. the production brings theatrical force to a story that still asks the question many audiences are now asking in real life: when a workplace shifts. who pays the price?