One Day When We
Are All Robots
Written by the CSW House Ensemble
Directed by J.W. Basilo
at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont (map)
thru Sept 5 | tickets: $20 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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One day may be closer than we think…
Chicago Slam Works presents
One Day When We Are All Robots
Review by Lawrence Bommer
The ten poetry/drama performers in Chicago Slam Works’ latest incarnation deliver very disciplined warnings. Their targets are the perils of being over-connected with false friends and the dangers of seeking phony cyber destinations. In tightly-tandem breakout scenes the troupe’s taut dance-poems and sketches testify to a terrible cryonic/bionic/android future—One Day When We Are All Robots. Except for the details, these indictments hark back to the 1950s’ idea of “the lonely crowd.” We can been masse but not together. The first scene drives home the plight: We see passengers on an el train, all electronically tethered to their hand-held devices. As they play with these “lifelines and land mines,” they seem as separated as graves in a cemetery. Given these diminished returns, comparing Google to Orwell seems elementary.
Hit-and-run depictions of our modern matrix sardonically comment on cyber surveillance of “in” girls for trending profit-making, the Internet’s creation of entire categories of dispensable and obsolete workers, removing romance as you succumb to the untender mercies of the Tinder app, (“It’s fun to flirt!”) the saga of “Sadbone” and one woman’s lack of adventures in on-line romance. Well, YOLO already…
There’s a commercial for robot cosmetics for eternal youth, a kind of “biopsy blues” as a Web-ster confesses her cancer and nobody cares, a video game-based duet of despair from two guys, the reality of one’s reflection twisted by the distortions we suffer in pixels, and, finally, a group portrait of our destiny to become – not the origins of our devices, but the victims.
Not coming full circle but a healthy 180 degrees, the non-virtual (as in totally actual) ending depicts the same commuters, former crowd-source citizens, free from their meta-machinery and communication bondage, free to talk in true time to actual folks. Could the next new thing be as old-fashioned as a totally physical chat–without profile or status updates, checking in, photo posting, and not the slightest tweet from a (twit)terer?
Aimed at a generation’s hopes and fears, many of the skits highlight the increasing pressure to be perfect and efficient all the time. In a world where many of us spend too much time curating a personal-communications plan, check-ins, and online resumes, the vulnerability of building a real-time, face-to-face, relationship seems daunting. The answer, perversely perhaps, is to give ourselves even more fully to the robot world, where cyber architects and programmers tell us the most efficient thing to do and when to do it.
But, no question, Chicago Slam Works suggests a healthy, if Luddite, solution. But do they mean it? Because, without a hint of irony, in a post-show speech they urge their young audience to “follow us on Twitter.” The robots may win out after all.
Rating: ★★★
One Day When We Are Robots continues through September 5th at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont (map), with performances Fridays at 8pm. Tickets are $20, and are available by phone (312-327-5252) or online through Vendini.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at ChicagoSlamWorks.com. (Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission)
artists
cast
Victoria Alvarez-Chacon (actor), Nicole Bond (poet), Shelley Elaine Geiszler (poet, actor), Davide Grody (actor, improviser), Molly Meacham (actor, poet), T.J. Medel (poet, improviser), Frankiem Mitchell (poet), Lila Morse (actor), Angela Oliver (actor, poet), Dru Smith (actor, Hip Hop artist), Teagan Walsh-Davis (actor, poet)
behind the scenes
J.W. Basilo (director), Reggie Eldridge, Dan “Sully” Sullivan (associate directors), Jaxx Allen (stage manager)
14-0830
