Are we engineering our own demise? Are we actively replacing ourselves with smarter, faster, more efficient minds? As in the play, do we believe that to hand off our labor is to afford us more opportunity for enlightenment?

Matthew B. Zrebski, Adapter / Director / Composer

It has been thrilling to adapt and direct this classic…a play I’d studied in college and have long admired for its prophetic examination of technological advancement. The obvious reason for presenting this work is our current grappling with the rapid progression of Artificial Intelligence. Are we engineering our own demise? Are we actively replacing ourselves with smarter, faster, more efficient minds? As in the play, do we believe that to hand off our labor is to afford us more opportunity for enlightenment?

As I’ve worked on this production alongside these stellar collaborating actors and designers, there are other thematic investigations also simmering within this 100-year-old story. The Czech word, robota, refers to “forced labor”. In R.U.R., Helena Glory shows up to afford robots the rights of humans. She shines a light on most uncomfortable questions. Why is it, that in historical cycles, the worker so often becomes “the other”…and in so becoming, is enslaved? And aren’t the disenfranchised always going to rise up and fight? Do we honestly believe we can create Artificial Intelligence and expect it to behave as “less than” us? Are we so blind to the patterns that have revealed themselves time and time again?

And of course, these myriad questions lead us down the path to contemplations much more existential in nature. As is all too familiar today, the characters in R.U.R. are divided by their paradigms. The believers and non-believers fixate on the idea of a “soul”, and the debates are futile when one is trying to prove whether a robot possesses a “soul”. But replace “soul” with “consciousness” and suddenly, we find ourselves in a liminal space between science and spirit. For we still don’t know what “consciousness” is. Neuroscientists are quite divided on the topic. Does the brain create consciousness? Or does consciousness simply live within the brain? If one chooses the latter notion, then one must ask: what is to stop this ethereal consciousness from landing inside a new kind of brain…one we now call “artificial”…but is very, very real?

R.U.R. takes place in the projection of the future by those living in the 1920s. We are projecting now. We are trying desperately to imagine the future through our 2024 lens. Can we possibly know? Are we fighting and debating the inevitable – or might we actually have some control over our collective tomorrow?

I applaud the leadership at Lakewood Theatre for tackling such monumental issues through exciting entertainment. Art is at its best when it can both offer us a good night out…and also leave us considering our community, our culture, our world… And I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to gather with my fellow storytellers and reimagine a century-old tale for audiences today. What an experience! Enjoy…

-Matthew B. Zrebski

Adapter / Director / Composer

LAKEWOOD THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
R.U.R. (ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS)
SEPTEMBER 13 – OCTOBER 20, 2024

To purchase tickets CLICK HERE.