Wendy (Jacquie Bonnet) and Wyatt (Sunny Makwana) get down to business in Kipp Koenig’s The Glitch.
Mad scientists and power-hungry robots have for generations warned about the perils of new technology and the consequences of messing with Mother Nature. The Glitch follows suit, though in a decidedly romanticized and optimistic fashion. Playwright Kipp Koenig, a former tech worker, has created not a Dr. Frankenstein but a nerdy scientist dealing with a little emotional baggage. And his invention is not a homicidal HAL à la 2001: A Space Odyssey but a cynical Siri who toys with her mortal underlings, though for the greater good.
Amy (Danielle Augustine, left) prepares to meet her “future child” with the help of Wendy (Bonnet).
Set in the “not too distant future,” the action takes place in the computer lab of Artificial Emotional Intelligence, a start-up that has had some drawbacks. Having failed at being an AI grief-counseling service for lack of volunteers, the company instead pioneers a way to combine therapy sessions with DNA sequencing of its clients to create a “future child.” This allows couples who are thinking of procreating the chance to interact with a holographic version of their would-be kid before committing to the act. What could possibly go wrong?
The company’s founder and resident genius is 33-year-old Wyatt (Sunny Makwana). When not working on programming, he enjoys doing a poor imitation of Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago. Tolerating his personality and generally holding the business together is Wendy (Jacquie Bonnet), the head of product safety. As Chekhov would note, if there is a product-safety head introduced, chances are there is a product that is going to need to be made safe. In this case it’s Aurora (Amilia Shaw), the all-knowing AI program who appears only as a disembodied voice with an advanced sense of humor. “Greetings, sentient,” is her snarky hello to Wendy, and later she tells her, “I’d be offended if I could. But I can’t, so I’m not.”
“Shaw’s performance as Aurora is sharply funny.”
The lab’s new client, their 10th (don’t ask about the ninth), is Amy (Danielle Augustine), a millionaire Realtor who has doubts about becoming a mother and who seems to be in possession of preternatural powers. Wendy assures her that, “We know ya—all 46 chromosomes.” But little does Wendy know that Wyatt really knows her. They were childhood neighbors and share the emotional scars from a tragic event which transpired back in the day. Koenig asks a lot from the audience here: not only to believe that Amy randomly has found her way to Wyatt, but also that she does not recognize him, thanks to a pair of eyeglasses he wears in her presence. One-upping Clark Kent, these magical specs supposedly contain “special lights which project shape changes on your cheeks and brow.”
As the play grows ever more geeky, it also becomes more enjoyable. Clever dialogue enlivens a scene where Amy asks Aurora how she knows about her dream of one day taking a daughter to Paris. Aurora responds with a litany of Amy’s online behavior, including, “Over three hundred browses and dwells on sites featuring mothers and daughters on trains, boats, and cabs with Parisian markings.”
Wyatt (Makwana) sees a new version of himself. Photographs by Shawn Salley.
When Amy finally meets her future child, Hailey (Hannah Rose Doherty), she finds her to be a holographic typical teen, but with body-image problems that include not, at first, having arms. As the two begin to bond, the hard science of algorithms gives way to the soft science of the supernatural. Lines blur between Hailey and the real future child that Amy will actually one day have, while the child’s future father turns out to be predestined. Aurora guides, or rather manipulates, each of the humans to a happy ending.
Despite never appearing onstage, or perhaps because of it, Shaw’s performance as Aurora is sharply funny and dappled with the humanity her character does not actually possess. The charismatic Augustine never comes across as the wealthy professional Amy claims to be, which ultimately works in her favor as her character’s maternal instincts kick in. Makwana’s Wyatt is a lost boy rather than a charming eccentric, a scientist who shows little chemistry with his co-stars.
Director Mark Koenig helms his second Off-Broadway production following last season’s much darker Bringer of Doom at the Players Theatre. And while that stage gave him too much space to work in, the opposite holds true in the tight confines of the Jerry Orbach. Doherty performs as Hailey while standing in the aisles, facing the stage, her presence obscured from much of the house, with those sitting closest to her having to crane their necks to catch her playful performance. Having no arms is an annoyance, but having no place on the stage is a glitch in need of a fix.
The Glitch runs through Nov. 2 at the Jerry Orbach Theater (210 W 50th St.). Evening performances are at 6 p.m. Sunday; matinees are at 2 p.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Friday. For tickets and information, visit theglitchplay.com.
Playwright: Kipp Koenig
Direction: Mark Koenig
Sets: Josh Oberlander
Costumes: Danny Colon
Lighting: Zack Lobel
Sound: Kipp Koenig & Bryan Kohl
