Traditional wisdom says that theaters are slow to respond to current events, but dramatists like Ayad Akhtar (“McNeal”) have recently been telling stories about artificial intelligence, and sometimes using them. I'm screaming to help write.
Matthew Gasda's new play “Doomers” has been added to that pack. It was written with the help of ChatGpt and Claude, inspired by the 2023 expulsion of Openai CEO Sam Altman. The two chatbots share dramatic credits in the program.
Alas, the hype about the technology doesn't correlate with the narrative match here. Despite having a disgusting, fictional ex-CEO at the heart of it, and having a large number of characters who are making fun of the dangers and promises of AI, “Doomers” naturally has to say that the audience is being invested from Get. As if to say, it has a unique quality of self-satisfaction. -go.
This is a one-night crisis-driven story in San Francisco, shortly after high-tech company Mindmesh rejects leader Seth (Sam Hilakin). With a hole in his home, he plans to get his job back, but the panicked board of the company tries to find a way to move forward without him.
A sociopath who lacks the necessary charm, Seth tells his confidant: “I will not compromise. I will not admit my mistake. I have been fired to do miracles.”
That's not the way the board places it, but we haven't seen them until Act 2. The first act, by far half of this twisty play, is about Seth's plight.
Gasda, who also directed the production, featured ten actors in each performance and double cast. The cast I saw at Artxnyc in Manhattan was neatly refined. (Most of the play's upcoming New York shows will be at the Brooklyn Theatre Research Center in Greenpoint.)
However, the character is surprisingly unlikely, as the company's meticulous chief safety officer, Alina (Zususa Magal), tells her colleague about getting in the way of dreams that get in the way of repetitive dreams. It erupts through a monologue.
What's even more troublesome is that their ethical debate on AI feels rehashed if they adhere to the issue at all, and they can't trust these people as what they're saying to each other under these circumstances. There is also a sense that the play, where New York's run overlaps with another production in San Francisco in March, is reflecting culture and is about to invade itself.
The act of Seth using an intellectually disabled slur to explain some board members I-line gave a nasty laugh at the performance I saw. Yes, the word is revived and is a fair game for playwrights to use, but does someone else really need to utter it in Act II? Similarly, perhaps one polymorphism joke was sufficient.
There are references throughout Elon, and no last name is given, but there is no need to do so. (Sec, Alina, troubled by Snipes: “He should have given birth to Elon's baby when he wanted to.”)
“Doomers” is sold as “Grengar Grenross” in the AI era, but the “Succession” of the HBO drama is responsible for the misunderstanding of the board's strategy and the play that Corporate Jergon makes in Rivet Theatre. I think so.
The second act is all about Mindmesh's board of directors, but lines such as “I'm here to oversee risk, oversee potential fraud and reduce potential fraud” are It is fatal without circumstances that are not interested in or interest. For the plays that take place at such moments, it has an incredible lack of tension.
Maybe it depends on Dramaturk, Chatgupt, Claude?
When I asked the spokesperson about the credits for the program, he told me it was a “tongue joke” – Gasda said, “I asked Claude and the chat and AI questions, so he wrote it. You will understand the technology that has been done.”
Then there was a human error. Ah well.
Dwemer
Until April 19th at the Brooklyn Center for Brooklyn and Artxnyc in Manhattan. Doomers.fyi. Running time: 2 hours.
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