This September, Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series will present the first career retrospective of theater artist Annie Dorsen titled Algorithmic Theater. The retrospective is part of a residency advancing Dorsen’s work and examining the consequences of digital communications through theater. Algorithmic Theater brings Dorsen’s work to Philadelphia audiences for the first time and features four of her past projects, including Hello Hi There (2010), Spokaoke (2012), A Piece of Work (2013), and Yesterday Tomorrow (2015). Together, these works tell a story about advancing technology, encroaching artificial intelligence, and post-anthropocentric art-making that attempt to reckon with the last decade of history.

Dorsen is a New York-based theater director and artist who works at the intersection of algorithmic art and live performance. Since 2010, she has built a body of work in what she’s referred to as “algorithmic theater,” creating custom algorithms that perform in lieu of or alongside human performers. The pieces position the digital world’s influence on our everyday lives in dialogue with classical dramatic forms to confront the consequences of our increasing entanglement with information technologies.

Algorithmic Theater will begin with a presentation of A Piece of Work on September 9 at 8 p.m. at McPherson Auditorium. Mixing live performance with algorithms and interfaces, A Piece of Work flips the switch between man and machine in a digital version of Hamlet for a post-humanist age. The spectators are absorbed in a swirl of connections amongst memory, language, and technology, implicating both the past and future of theater itself. New scenes, songs, scores, and visuals emerge from an intricate and ingeniously programmed web of technology that uses Shakespeare’s original text as data.

The next piece, Spokaoke, will be hosted on September 10 at 10 p.m. at the Marie Salant Neuberger Centennial Campus Center. Spokaoke is a participatory event that invites people to perform speeches as they would ordinarily perform songs in a karaoke bar. Speeches are, after all, songs of persuasion, argument, consolidation, or motivation. Over 90 speech videos are loaded into a karaoke system and arranged in a catalog for audience members to peruse. Participants will read various forms of public addresses, including political speeches, award acceptance speeches, press conferences, theatrical monologues, eulogies, and trial testimony. An additional presentation of Spokaoke will take place at FringeArts on September 16 at 10 p.m. as a part of this year’s Fringe Festival, featuring a special guest host.

The third piece, Hello Hi There, will be presented on September 10 & 11 at 8 p.m. at Hepburn Teaching Theater. Dorsen uses the famous television debate between philosopher Michel Foucault and linguist/activist Noam Chomsky from the 1970s as inspiration for a dialogue between two custom-designed chatbots. Material from the debate, along with additional text culled from YouTube, the Bible, Shakespeare, and western philosophy, is inputted into computer programs designed to mimic human conversation to create a new, “improvised” dialogue at each performance.

Finally, Algorithmic Theater will conclude with Yesterday Tomorrow at McPherson Auditorium on September 15 at 8 p.m., September 16 at 6 p.m., and September 17 at 8 p.m. In Yesterday Tomorrow, three singers receive computer-generated music and lyrics both aurally and visually. The algorithmically-produced score begins with the Beatles’ hit song “Yesterday” and slowly transforms into “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie. Inspired by an artificial intelligence known as evolutionary computation, Yesterday Tomorrow gives a unique experience of the complexity and unpredictability of the present tense contrasted with the known past and the imagined future. Each night, the spatial and musical path from the past to the future is different; neither the singers, creative team, nor the audience knows the route the performance will take them.

Free tickets will be available to students from the Tri-College Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore) and can be reserved by calling 610-526-5300, or emailing reservations@brynmawr.edu.

General admission tickets for Algorithmic Theater performances will be available online for $20, $18 for seniors (65+), $10 for students (not from the Tri-College Consortium), and $5 for children under five.

In addition to presenting performances, Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series will release an accompanying publication titled Algorithmic Theater: Essays and Interviews, 2012-2022. The publication highlights the last decade of Dorsen’s work, and a limited number of copies will be available to the public for free. Edited by writer and theater critic Tom Sellar, the book features essays by Dorsen as well as illuminating conversations with her collaborators. It also includes a collection of essays previously published in journals, monographs, and anthologies by Miriam Felton-Dansky, Jacob Gallagher-Ross, Sarah Bay-Cheng, W.B. Worthen, and Johannes Birgfeld.

ABOUT ANNIE DORSEN:

Annie Dorsen is a director and writer whose works explore the intersection of algorithms and live performance. Her most recent project, Infinite Sun (2019), is an algorithmic sound installation commissioned by the Sharjah Biennial 14. Previous performance projects, including The Slow Room (2018), The Great Outdoors (2017), Yesterday Tomorrow (2015), A Piece of Work (2013), Spokaoke (2012), and Hello Hi There (2010), have been widely presented in the US and internationally.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://anniedorsen.digital.brynmawr.edu and https://anniedorsen.com/

Today on the podcast, GUNNAR MONTANA returns to talk about the latest FringeArts offering, BATHHOUSE. Here is my interview with Gunnar Montana.

Designed as a temple to the fluid nature of sexuality, BATH HOUSE is a deeply sensory immersive theatrical experience dripping with erotic energy from start to finish. BATH HOUSE fuses dance and movement to create an atmosphere where guests are free to indulge their deepest desires, and perhaps even discover new ones.

VIP Packages Available: The VIP Table Experience is the ultimate way to get up close and personal with Gunnar and the BATH HOUSE cast. The Experience includes (4) VIP table seats, (4) official BATH HOUSE t-shirts, a bottle of champagne for your table, and a post-show meet and greet with the cast. Check ticket page for VIP options.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.gunnarmontana.com

$30,000 Fundraising initiative. How far along are you?

How can our listeners get involved and support the initiative?

The funds raised will allow JUNK to provide equitable access for the community by providing free and discounted ticketing for artists and LGBTQIA and HIV+ communities.

The SEASON:

Luster

• Thu, Sep 8, 2022 Sat, Sep 17, 2022

• Concourse Dance Bar (map)

Lust for exposure and success turns… TRAGIC.

Set in an underground shopping mall turned nightclub, Junk’s newest experience, Luster, reveals the twisted nature of reality show competition and begs the question, “Where do we draw the line?”

Luster gives patrons a behind-the-scenes look into the making of TRAGIC, a streaming show where aspiring reality TV producers are looking to make their mark in the edgy new world of internet reality TV. Luster begins by giving audiences a look behind the camera during a live broadcast of the TRAGIC Season Two finale featuring five competing teams.

The plotline begins after Season One, which featured off-the-wall ideas with a cast of circus performers who competed in front of a crowd on equipment and apparatuses they had never used before. Season Two's production team needs to find new ways to create a show filled with even more outrageous and dangerous layers of competition. In the inaugural season of TRAGIC, every on-camera accident made ratings jump. The more the performers suffered mentally and physically, the more people tuned in. This year, producers and sponsors want something sexy and erotic, gritty but graceful. TRAGIC centers on pushing the envelope, with contestants focused on driving high ratings with provocative and daring performances.

Emotions will run high as five teams, StripperX, Face Punch, The Inappropriators, Gothic Drip, and the Gayties, battle it out to compete for a top-secret first-place prize. Luster audiences are encouraged to vote for their favorite team but with caution, as there is always a twist on TRAGIC.

Snowball, back on ice!

• Saturday, January 21, 2023

Our annual fundraiser

A Modern Carmen Fantasy

• Fri, Mar 10, 2023 Sun, Mar 12, 2023

• The Philadelphia Orchestra

Experience the great Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite as never seen before, with the help of the riveting Philadelphia-based dance company Brian Sanders’ JUNK. The dance theme continues with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, a colorfully melodic and spectacular score written for the Ballets Russes that made an overnight star of the young composer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://briansandersjunk.com

About The Hazards of Love:

Margaret’s chance encounter with a wounded fawn in the wild leads her on a dark, magical journey where she’ll learn “The Hazards of Love” firsthand.

Join us as we weave this tragic folk-rock opera featuring Yali Puello, Julianne Schaub, Alyssa Al-Dooki, Wyatt Flynn, Jenn Adams, and Linden Curhart.

The Hazards of Love will be available to watch both IN-PERSON and DIGITAL STREAMING.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE!

IN-PERSON: The show will be performed on Sept 29, 30, Oct 1 and 2 at Front Street Dive (upstairs at The Victoria Freehouse). This venue is up a flight of stairs. We require all audiences to be vaccinated AND masked. Please bring proof of vaccination to the box office, which can be a physical card, a picture of your card, or an app such as Docket or Bindle.

DIGITAL STREAMING: When you purchase a ticket for October 3-10th, we will send you an email on October 3rd with a link to view a video of the production until October 10th at 11:59pm. Vaccination and/or masks are not required

FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION: http://www.humnbards.com

Today on the podcast, Mariangela Saavedra stops by to talk about the hybrid performance of “Rogues’ Gallery” by John Patrick Shanley, presented as part of Fringe Arts by The Stagecrafters Theatre. Here is my interview with Mairangela Saavedra.

Today on the podcast, Producing Artistic Director Damon Bonetti (He/Him) and Artistic Associate Eli Lynn (They/Them) stop in to talk about the FringeArts offering “QvK” , a classical clash of royal proportions. Here is my interview with Philadelphia Artists Collective for QvK. Stay Tuned!

On today’s podcast, our 2019 FringeArts coverage continues with Director Joseph Ahmed. Tribe of Fools annual fringe offering Operation: Wawa Road Trip, takes a brother and sister on a trip to pay tribute, deal with loss and a battle between two Pennsylvania convenient stores. Here’s my interview with Joseph Ahmed.

On today’s podcast, Nick Jonczak talks about the 2019 FringeArts offering, “CHURN”, a queer historical sci-fi epic. Here’s my interview with Nick Jonczak. 

On today’s podcast, Hanna Parke and Shamus McCarty drop in to talk about the new musical and FringeArts offering, “Close Your Legs, Honey”. The creative team talk about origins, songs, who’s this for and lessons learned on this blitz to Fringe presentation. Stay Tuned!