Adapted from the 1909 short story by E. M. Forster, The Machine Stops is a  sci-fi thriller in the style of classic musical theatre that looks into a future where humans live underground and rely entirely on a construct called The Machine. Vashti, a citizen of the Machine who spends her days giving lectures, is trying to connect with her son, Kuno, who has become obsessed with going to the surface of the earth. However, when Kuno learns the Machine is breaking, how far would he go to save his mother, and how far would Vashti go to convince him to stay?