About the show

New: Read a story about Human Resources in The Austin Chronicle! And read (and listen to!) a story about us on KUT Arts Eclectic!

Human Resources is a brand new musical with book and lyrics by Mallory Schlossberg, music by Mallory Schlossberg and Alexandra Smith, and arrangements/scoring by Alexandra Smith. This December, it was independently produced and premiered for the first time ever on the internet with a cast and crew of about 30 people from all over the country!

The plot (without spoilers!)

Emily Silverberg is a writer who is down on her luck after losing her job at a pseudo-health startup. Her job was supposed to cover IVF and infertility treatments, and now she can't afford them. (She's got a lot of debt from her MFA program.) Her supportive husband, Max, encourages her to apply to work at a bigger and better company—the health food empire Greener Pastures—but before Emily can even apply, she gets a mysterious message from the company's recruiter, who asks her if she wants to be part of something bigger than herself. Once Emily starts working at Greener Pastures, she begins to suspect something’s not quite right. The company's mission is to "to feed the earth," and...let's just say they do that very literally. 

Human Resources takes a twist from work-place satire to full-on B-horror comedy. It's a campy, over-the-top musical with original songs that asks us what we'd be willing to give up for purpose and a place, while simultaneously tearing down the systems that prevent us from truly succeeding.

If you’re wondering how internet-based-livestreamed theater works, the answer is: It takes a lot of work to make it happen! The Human Resources team has worked tirelessly to find creative solutions to make the production as theatrical as possible over Zoom and YouTube. That means audio engineering, designing video solutions, virtual choreography (and fight choreography!), discovering how to make scene transitions work, to figuring out just how many fake steaks we need in a scene.

Missed the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch clips!