A comic ballet about the developing world of humanoid robots? You got our attention! Karen Getz's AI Project is showing at Grundy Commons Complex at 8pm from June 28 through 30. The project was funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theater Initiative and an Interdisciplinary Professional Development Grant, and theater space was donated by Fred Baumgarten.
Show choreographer Karen Getz got her start as a professional dancer after appearing as a “dirty dancer” in the 1986 box-office hit, Dirty Dancing and later joined the touring stage show.
Synopsis:
Set in a warehouse of rejected robots and robot parts, we follow the story of one human and his four emotionally intelligent machines. The idea for the project came when Getz's 11 year old daughter showed her footage from the Hanson Robotics Lab of several strikingly “human” robots. Hanson, and leading humanist robotic engineers across the globe, are creating biologically-inspired robots that mirror the behavior of people. This is a new generation of robotic engineering that is able to mimic not just movement, or even emotion, but eye contact, face recognition, and naturalistic spoken conversation. Research for the project has already been underway for over a year. Getz spent time at Hanson Robotics in Dallas observing AI robots under construction, at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute exploring the history of the field and recent advances, and at the MIT Museum working with their collection. As these scientists explore what it means to be human, they tackle the question from both a scientific and artistic perspective.
With James Sugg, Dito Van Reigersberg, Heather Murphy, Dave Jadico and Makoto Hirano
Original Music and Sound Design Christopher Colucci
Set Mark O'Maley
Lighting Shelley Hicklin
Costumes Carla Bellisio
Dramaturgy Suli Holum
Production Manager Anna Drozdowski
Stage Manager Tom Shotkin
Mentors Dan Rothenberg and Melanie Joseph
Conception-Choreography-Direction Karen Getz
Tickets are $10.00.
Call Bristol Riverside Theatre w/ questions:
Office: 215-785-666
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