Women handling grief in the age of AI
Can we trust AI for emotional support?
For Merril, a grieving AI programmer played by Jenny Jamora in Lauren Gunderson’s play anthropology, desperate to find reconnection with her lost sister Angie, the answer is yes.
The question lies at the heart of this production, staged until March 29 at Doreen Black Box Theater at Arete, and it’s timely. Too many people I know prefer to ask their Chatbot for answers to life’s eternal mysteries. I want to tell them AI’s like a friend who pretends to know more than they actually do. Which is pretty human, come to think of it.
Merril is a computer programmer who turns to booze and grief after her sister Angie (Maronne Cruz) goes missing, presumed dead. Uploading Angie’s personal data, she builds an AI Angie surrogate who converses with her in text and voice, then pops up in an onscreen version. (Some have noted the premise resembles an early Black Mirror episode, Be Right Back, but Gunderson’s play is definitely its own creature.) AI Angie can rattle off chipper/sarcastic/foul-mouthed repartée with Merril, but its all-seeing, all-knowing algorithmic powers raise questions of manipulation and deception. (A big AI red flag.)
AI Angie keeps Merril hanging on, at the expense of relationships with others, including her ex-girlfriend Raquel (Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante) and troubled mom Brin (Jackie Lou Blanco). And Angie’s determined engagement with Merril raises uncomfortable questions about what, really, constitutes the “I” in identity.
At Doreen Black Box, you’re struck by the minimal transformation of theater into a futuristic, womb-like space—the blue oscillating light, the continually buffering signals on the wall, the dial-up ethernet soundtrack and a weird kind of haze settling over as Jamora prowls the theater-in-the-round, laptop in hand.
Playing tortured characters reaching out to cyberspace is not new to Jamora (she did The Nether at Power Mac Center Spotlight Theater a decade ago), but anthropology feels much more relevant now, and she captures Merril’s range of emotions over her lost sister that echoes the Kübler-Ross model—denial, anger, bargaining, depression—while also adding guilt and desperation into the mix. You feel the weight of Angie’s absence on her, and the relief that a surrogate provides.
Meanwhile, an acerbic three-way develops between Raquel, Angie and Merril, and all are up to the task of the nuanced, ping-ponging dialogue. Also present is a palpable sense of separation, isolation and loss between characters, accentuated by the pregnant pauses in dialogue.
With Barefoot Theater Collective, director Caisa Borromeo has corralled a team capable of making a highly technical play feel believable, from the glitchy screens and oscillating strobe effects to the weirdly hovering blue circle above the stage. The challenge of interacting with a pre-recorded video onstage or an offstage actor on a screen is handled seamlessly. “The play zeroes in on the foundation of sisterhood, grief and loss, and the desperation of needing to connect,” says Borromeo. At its heart, amid the punchy lines and grief-soaked encounters, this is a story about women—and about humans—choosing to help one another. Even as AI makes it tempting to turn away from that comfort.
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anthropology is at Doreen Black Box, Arete, Ateneo Campus with weekend shows until March 29. For tickets, visit https://ticket2me.net/anthropology.
