On Friday, May 26th, members of AnomalousCo and data scientist Niki Athanasiadou will share some of their collaborative working practices, their research into the intersections of art and artificial intelligence, and their technological experiments utilized in the realization of this timely play. Zebra 2.0, written by Saviana Stanescu, is a mind-bending, heart-rending – and funny – transmedial performance experience, engaging questions of artificial intelligence, humanity, immigration, belonging, simulation, and consciousness, at the heart of which beats a charming and engaging love story between an immigrant named Zina and the AI whose office she cleans every night.
“Saviana Stanescu is for and of the 21st century. She is hot and cool, witty and brave, sexy and weird, politically knowing and cynical. But most of all, she is an extraordinary writer.”
The Play
We – and Zina – first meet Al as it analyzes pixels in photographs of wild zebras, able to communicate with a human user in very basic ways and existing solely on a large computer monitor on the stage. As the two start interacting, over the course of 50 nights (of which we see a handful), Al and Zina learn from and change each other, opening up and swirling us through questions of consciousness, language, love, the nature of existence, how humans treat each other, and whether two misfits can find fulfillment in this crazy, mixed-up world. As this rom-com moves towards its climax, the characters become gradually – and physically – subsumed into a romantic-comedy film, projected in the playing space, where they finally meet “IRL”. (Or do they?)
THE BACKGROUND
Transforma Theatre commissioned playwright Saviana Stanescu to write a new play, Zebra 2.0, with input from data scientist Dr. Niki Athanasiadou, for the inaugural Science In Theatre Festival (SiT), which was presented at Nancy Manocherian’s The Cell in Manhattan in November 2021 under the direction of Jeremy Goren. Research into topics presented in the play and those inspired by working on it – like the hard problem of consciousness, the uncanny valley, and Bostrom’s simulation argument – moved towards concepts for staging, performance, and design, pushing into elements that create an experience both accessible and existential and edging towards the human/technology convergence: The sci-fi sheen of the design, swings in performance styles, and other elements from the edge of our explorations mashed up science concepts with a Hollywood-style, rom-com love story. Goren, Stanescu and Athanasiadou decided to continue to develop the project.
The Company
Anomalous Co is a predominantly queer/woman-led, feminist, trans-disciplinary performance collective, collaboratively creating original work at the intersection of drama, new media, circus arts, installation, immersive performance, and music theatre.
Anomalous Co is a theatre without borders: intercultural, international, and multilingual. They are committed to foregrounding minoritarian voices around the globe, to amplifying the voices of women, and to adhering to a collaborative ethos: distributed leadership models, group decision making, and networked structures of cooperation. With a core team based in the US (New York), they maintain collaborative partnerships across the globe.
COME MEET THE ARTISTS OF ANOMALOUSCO AS THEY DISCUSS THEIR WORK ON Zebra 2.0!
There is no advance ticketing for Deep Space Residency presentations. You can come the night of the event and make a donation ($25 Suggested); OR, you can support the work of NACL and become a member to see all Deep Space presentations for no additional charge (in addition to other benefits)! Either way, join us to experience the work, and afterwards share in some delicious soup and discussion with the artists.