…for Steampunk Delusions, call 612.581.2229.

Opening night went very well for both The Diamond Lens and To Mars with Tesla.

Don’t delay! Come see the shows soon!

Microscopic organisms! Live onstage!

Although Fitz-James O’Brien’s “The Diamond Lens” is not well known to the general reading public, scholars and connoisseurs regard it as a classic of 19^th-century fantasy/science fiction. James Gunn, editor of The Road to Science Fiction: From Gilgamesh to Wells, calls it “the first known story in which another world is perceived through a microscope” and suggests that it may be the first “modern” science-fiction story.

Comedy! Music! Strange ideas!

Hardcover Theater’s adaptation takes the themes and incidents of the story and embellishes upon them, adding characters and inventing dialogue, digging deeper and branching out in new directions. The show is often funny, but it’s also serious in the sense that it’ll give you food for thought. There’s music throughout, and dance and other movement – this is a high-energy experience!

Come see The Diamond Lens!

The Diamond Lens is family-friendly, though things do get a little dark and weird toward the end. To Mars with Tesla, the other show on the bill, is slightly racier; if it were a movie, it would probably be rated a mild PG. Visit the show page for more information, or call Steve Schroer at 612.823.0631.

Hardcover is excited to announce that we are teaming up with our longtime collaborators Joshua Scrimshaw and Adrienne English to produce two new shows based on fantasy/science fiction tales from the Victorian era.

Opening at the end of April, Steampunk Delusions will include original productions of Hardcover’s “The Diamond Lens” (based on the 1858 story by Fitz-James O’Brien) and English Scrimshaw Theatrical Novelties’ “To Mars with Tesla” (based on the first part of the title of the 1901 novel by J. Weldon Cobb).

The show runs from April 27 through May 12, 2012, at Open Eye Figure Theater.

Visit the show page for more information…