“anthropology”

What is real? Perhaps more than any time in human history, there is more of an ability to realistically fake anything. Worse, there are any number of people actively trying to use those technologies to mislead and manipulate others. This affects every aspect of our lives, and as a result the world is a more chaotic, distrustful place. Chatbots have infested every corner of social media and are difficult to distinguish from humans. People consider various AIs to be their romantic partners, as living humans get more distant. Lauren Gunderson’s play, anthropology, (the lowercase text is the playwright’s preference) takes this confusing situation as her subject matter, and although it gets off to a rocky start, it ultimately grows in power until by its conclusion it’s compelling and moving. The North American premiere production by Rogue Machine benefits greatly from its terrific quartet of actors, who bring visceral and affecting emotion to the show.

Software engineer Merril (Alexandra Hellquist) has been grieving the loss of her sister, Angie (Kaylee Kaneshiro), who disappeared without a trace more than a year ago. Her way of grieving is specific to her occupation – she creates an AI chatbot to sound and look like her sister. She tinkers with her creation, trying to get it more accurate and getting comfort from it. Her ex-girlfriend, Raquel (Julia Manis), doesn’t trust the AI, and her mother, Brin (Nan McNamara), initially thinks it’s an abomination. But Merril’s concerns about her creation change when it tells her one day that Angie might still be alive, and maybe they can find her.

Hellquist is a very talented and award-winning actor, but as written, Merril is the least interesting character in the play. She’s meant to be emotionally repressed, but unfortunately she comes off as a type instead of a three-dimensional person, and on top of that she’s saddled with most of the show’s plentiful exposition. Hellquist does her best, but she can’t quite get past the constraints of the script. Manis livens things up immediately with her funny performance, and McNamara expertly raises the emotional stakes in her scenes as the imperfect Brin. Kaneshiro ironically has the most vital character as the AI Angie, at turns quick-witted, bitchy and manipulative, and she brings it to glorious life in a brilliant portrayal.

Director John Perrin Flynn gets strong work from his cast and manages to both serve the piece’s bigger themes and deliver emotional catharsis by the show’s conclusion. Gunderson has said concerning this play that it was something different and challenging for her, and having seen some of her other work, this seems to be true. Although some aspects of the script don’t work (the one-note nature of the lead character, a long exposition dump at the beginning), it ultimately succeeds as a look at grief and reality versus the placebo effect.

anthropology starts slow but gets better and better as it goes along until it fully ignites in its powerful ending. I’d recommend it.

anthropology is presented by Rogue Machine at The Matrix Theatre and plays through November 9. Tickets are available at https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/