The battle of Man vs. Machine is coming to the stage this weekend thanks to the Actors' Mission.
For the second time, the local theater company is hosting a 24-hour playwriting event, only this time with a twist. Most of the one-act plays will be written by humans, but one play will be written by AI.
Members of the Actors' Mission had been wanting to put on another 24-hour page to stage experience after the success of the first event in August 2022.
"It really meets the mission," Nina Tyler, an Actors' Mission member and one of the event's main organizers, explained.
She pointed out that it's a great way to showcase local talent and produce local plays, even if it happens in a shortened and somewhat chaotic setting. Participants will meet together Friday evening, and playwrights will have a few hours to write plays based on the people and assets they have to work with. The brand-new plays will be passed off, actors will begin memorizing lines, directors will start producing the shows, and crews will figure out sets, costumes, props, and lighting. Everyone will work through the night and day until Saturday evening when the curtain goes up and the plays will be performed for an audience.
"I think it's going to be another beautiful fiasco," Tyler said. "And then when you throw in the element of AI, it just kind of takes it in a different direction."
The idea to use artificial intelligence (AI) in this year's event came from Actors' Mission member Shannon Bendtsen. Tyler explained that Bendtsen has used and is familiar with AI, and she thought it would be fun to try to prompt an AI system, like ChatGPT, to write a play. The computer-written work will be performed along with the plays written by humans, and in the end it will be up to the audience to see if they can tell who wrote what and to decide which was best.
Even members of the Actors' Mission who are involved with the project have differing feelings on the use of AI, especially when it comes to writing and creativity.
Tyler speculated that the AI-generated play may be straightforward and correct in terms of things like grammar and structure, but noted that it may be hard to capture the human element. But she also added that the 24-hour format of the event puts extra pressure on the humans who participate.
"I kind of feel bad for the people," she said.
The one thing both man and machine will have in common is having to work within strict parameters and guidelines, Tyler pointed out. But she noted that the AI won't feel the pressure in the same way as the humans will.
"You can have a creative drive, you can have that desire, you want to write something good," she explained. "But then you add on the element of pressure where you have to get it done in six or seven hours for a 15-minute show that people will see. I think it can be, to say the least, anxiety inducing. It really is a challenge for the human playwrights to sit down and get it done."
Still, the pressure and desire can add a uniquely human element in the end.
"One of the things that I hope becomes relevant is that artificial intelligence has a time and a place, and I don't believe that is any sort of substitution for the spontaneity and the creativity of humanity," Tyler said.
Those who are interested in participating in the Page to Stage event as playwrights, actors, directors, or crew are invited to show up at the Broadway Theater in Rock Springs at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 19. Everyone else is invited to come watch the brand-new plays at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 at the Broadway Theater. Following Actors' Mission tradition, the performance will be free and a free meal will be served one hour before the show.
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