09/26/2024
RIPPED FROM THE PAGES OF THE PIQUE:
Maury Young Arts Centre presents 'Aye Aye A.I.'
The Stephen Vogler play returns to Whistler Sept. 28
• by David Song
After a successful premiere at this year's Flag Stop Theatre and Arts Festival, Aye Aye A.I. is headed to the Maury Young Arts Centre.
Written by Stephen Vogler, artistic director of the Point Artist-Run Centre, the play features a moribund theatre company in dire need of a new script and the government funding it would bring. The protagonists decide to use Open Source's Chat GPT to write a story on their behalf, an apparent solution that results in various unexpected developments.
Kathy Daniels and Carla Fuhre of Squamish’s Between Shifts Theatre team up to direct, while the cast includes Susan Hutchinson, Andrew Wood, David Francis and Emma Strong.
Vogler was inspired to pen the project after a buddy of his showed off how easily Chat GPT can create fictional scenarios in real time. He started to experiment with the A.I. platform before deciding to use it as the basis for his latest work.
Like many others, Vogler is ambivalent about the technology.
"I have another friend who’s been writing songs with A.I.," he says. "He provides the lyrics and suggests a musical style and A.I. churns out a fully recorded and mastered song. Really he’s just the lyricist, but he’s got loads of new songs.
"So I think A.I. is going to flood the market with tons of new content, lots of it mediocre and lacking originality—whether it be music, writing, film or visual art. But I think the artist will always have the upper hand in terms of truly original creation. That was something I tried to explore in the play: that A.I. can be used as a tool, but it can’t truly supplant the artist. I do think it will supplant lots of jobs in the more technical aspects of artistic production."
Flag Stop's signature stage, which floats atop Alta Lake, is a unique setting for actors and directors to work with. Vogler and his circle have done so for 13 years, rolling with disturbances like wind, rain and even the noise from a passing train. More than 200 people watched the premiere of Aye Aye A.I., forming two sold-out crowds across Aug. 9 and 10.
Next on Aug. 23, the show travelled to the Heritage Playhouse Theatre in Gibsons alongside Crypto Caper, another Flag Stop play. It is the second time a Vogler-authored production has gone on the road, the first being 2019's About the Moose.
Vogler is pleased with how things have unfolded with Daniels and Fuhre at the helm.
"I think Kathy and Carla did an incredible job of bringing a challenging script to the stage, keeping the ideas present while really bringing the humour to life," he says. "Going from script to stage was a challenging process that involved the cast, the directors and the playwright––a collaboration that was not unlike the theatre troupe in the play. Kathy and Carla really steered it along to a place we were all happy with."
Meanwhile, the quartet of actors portrayed eight roles between them with poise and fluidity.
"It was a great challenge for Dave, Susan, Emma and Andrew and they all rose to the occasion beautifully,” Vogler says. “Not only do they each play two characters, but they interact with two more Chat GPT characters who are very sassy. I’d say they had to dig deep into their acting skills, and with the help of a few props and the excellent work of Tim Smith running Chat GPT voices and sound effects, it came together really nicely."
Thanks to support from Arts Whistler and the Maury Young venue, Aye Aye A.I. is soon slated to reach a wider audience. Viewers can expect to take in a more focused rendition of the show's dialogue, humour and plot without the distractions inherent to an outdoor production.
Aye Aye A.I. next runs on Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at https://www.showpass.com/flag-stop-in-the-fall-presents-aye-aye-ai/.
