ALGORITHMIC THEATER

BY ANNIE DORSEN

“Dorsen is, among other things, a key explorer and theorist of theatrical form for our time, in which human experience comingles and is increasingly altered by algorithms and artificial intelligence.”

—Tom Sellar, introduction to Algorithmic Theater

About Algorithmic Theater

Join Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series for Algorithmic Theater, the first career retrospective of boundary-stretching theater artist Annie Dorsen. The retrospective brings Dorsen’s work to Philadelphia audiences for the first time, featuring four of her past projects created between 2010-2015. Each of the projects uses custom algorithms to generate unique scripts, with varying degrees of machine and/or live performance, resulting in a new experience every night.

Together, the works tell a story about advancing technology, encroaching artificial intelligence, and post-anthropocentric art-making. Dorsen interrogates the ways in which algorithms are changing our thinking. Are we building tools that serve us, or are we being re-built by digital platforms? What does human virtuosity mean in the era of artificial intelligence?

An Annie Dorsen Retrospective 

The performances kick-off a year-long residency at Bryn Mawr College to advance Dorsen’s work and examine the consequences of digital communications through theater. A collection of essays and interviews by and about Dorsen is also available.

Events

Tickets and more information about each performance may be found at the links below. Tri-Co students, faculty, and staff may reserve free tickets.

Three 3D printed Greek masks float on a blue background

PROMETHEUS
(WORKING TITLE)

January 26, 27, 28, 8PM

Hepburn Teaching Theater, Goodhart Hall
Bryn Mawr College

A lecture-discussion-performance in which algorithms recreate the lost third play of the Prometheus trilogy.

A Piece of Work

Sept 9, 2022, 8PM

McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall
Bryn Mawr College

A machine-made Hamlet, mixing live performance with algorithmic interfaces for a new production every time.

Hello Hi there

Sept 10, 2022, 8PM
Sept 11, 2022, 8PM

Hepburn Teaching Theater, Goodhart Hall
Bryn Mawr College

A chatbot performance inspired by a famous 1970s television debate between Foucault and Chomsky.

Yesterday Tomorrow

Sept 15, 2022, 8PM
Sept 16, 2022, 6PM
Sept 17, 2022, 8PM

McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall
Bryn Mawr College

An algorithmic concert in which live singers perform a real-time generated score based on evolutionary computation.

Spokaoke

Sept 10, 2022, 10PM

Neuberger Centennial Campus Center
Bryn Mawr College

Sept 16, 2022, 10PM

FringeArts (part of Philadelphia Fringe Festival)

A participatory event in which the audience delivers speeches as they would ordinarily perform songs in a karaoke bar.

Annie Dorsen Headshot

Annie Dorsen and Authors in Conversation

Sept 11, 2PM

Music Room, Goodhart Hall
Bryn Mawr College

This discussion celebrates Annie Dorsen: Algorithmic Theater, 2012-2022, the first collection of writing by and about Dorsen.