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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Theater Acting Mechanically

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Wed, Nov 26 at 10:43 AM

First there was Heddatron, and now a Japanese playwright is wrighting plays for robots:

The play, which had its premiere at Osaka University, is one of Japan's first robot-human theatre productions.

The machines were specially programmed to speak lines with human actors and move around the stage with them.

Playwright Oriza Hirata says the work raises questions about the relationship between humanity and technology.

The play, called Hataraku Watashi (I, Worker), is set in the near future.

It focuses on a young couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.

Best of all, they aren't bound by Actors' Equity rules and regulations.

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wrighting?

Posted by Bellevue Ave on November 26, 2008 at 10:50 AM

Why didn't they just hire Keanu Reeves?

Posted by schweighsr on November 26, 2008 at 11:04 AM

Oh, I see what you did there.

Posted by COMTE on November 26, 2008 at 11:06 AM

Not to mention the fact that - duh - Actors' Equity doesn't even have jurisdiction in Japan; that would be the purview of the Japan Actors Union (JAU).

Posted by COMTE on November 26, 2008 at 11:08 AM

Thanks, robots. Make sure to leave your headshots with the casting director. Callbacks will be Wednesday.

Posted by flamingbanjo on November 26, 2008 at 11:09 AM

Wasn't the first mention of the word "robot" in an old Czech play? Ah, yes, Karel Capek's Rossum's Universal Robots. Thanks Wikipedia. Anyway, I think this is cool.

Posted by Parsnip on November 26, 2008 at 11:14 AM