Logan Black and Alexander Salamat in Doctor Moloch (Don Ipock)
Few current issues feel more divisive than artificial intelligence. Some have nothing but excitement for the rapid developments in technology. Many others have deep concerns about the ethics of training that tech on humans’ work without their knowledge or consent. And pretty much every sci-fi fan has been conditioned to have a healthy fear of the worst-case end scenario of where AI development can lead. All these perspectives are on display in Carla Milarch’s captivating new play Doctor Moloch, currently onstage at the Unicorn Theatre.
Doctor Moloch, directed by Sidonie Garrett, stars Unicorn favorite Chioma Anyanwu as Serena, a famous actress hired to help a humanoid AI robot doctor (Logan Black) better communicate with his patients. Dr. Moloch’s diagnoses are 100% accurate but his bedside manner leaves much to be desired. His creator Mo (Alexander Salamat) has the idea to bring in a professional empathizer to help him regulate his emotions—assuming he does in fact have any. Mo has tasked this “emotional consultant” with the seemingly impossible job of getting Moloch to not just act more human, but to be more human.
This job might seem beneath a multi-Oscar-winning actress, but Serena is in need of work. In addition to the usual career killer of being a woman daring to age in Hollywood, she’s in the midst of a legal battle with Netflix. The specifics of the lawsuit are kept vague but we know it centers on the streamer’s acquisition of Serena’s likeness and its use of AI to create computer-generated performances from that captured image.
These details are all drawn from our actual reality. The recent SAG-AFTRA strike named generative AI and regulation of this exact sort of “digital replica” creation as a central demand. And across fields, creatives are being recruited to train their own AI replacements. This phenomenon targets writers especially hard since, as this play explores, language is at the core of these developments, but some real-life projects do seek actors to make AI look and sound—if not actually be—more human. (Notably, these sorts of opportunities tend to pay closer to minimum wage than the $10 million being offered to Serena. The reality of being coerced into aiding your own obsolescence might be too depressingly mundane to make it to the stage without some dramatic flare.)
The themes and events of Doctor Moloch are extremely timely, and by setting it five(ish) years in the future, Milarch is able to play with realistic possibilities of where this tech is headed. Its approach comes from all angles, touching on implications for the science itself as well as legal and ethical developments. I do wonder if by investing so heavily in timeliness, Milarch has doomed the play to inevitably become dated. 2029 is a solid near-future setting, close enough to highlight the relevance but distant enough to allow for some imaginative speculation. But how will it hold up—especially with the rapid developments in AI technology—by the time 2030 rolls around? I suppose that’s a problem to be answered later; for now, Doctor Moloch is perfectly relevant and thoroughly enjoyable.
Milarch’s script is essentially an extended thought experiment, and the small cast handles the heady dialogue with grace. Logan Black is a delight, nailing the inherent contradictions of the humanoid alien—a being with all the knowledge available on the internet who exudes emotional naivete, a walking encyclopedia with a child’s endearing curiosity. The dynamic between him and Anyanwu is continuously engaging. The bulk of the play features their two characters bouncing ideas off of each other, spitballing over what it means to be human, and the process doesn’t get tired.
In the face of such a high-tech concept, the design elements are kept distinctly simple. Bethany Joy Elliot’s set on the Unicorn’s more intimate Jerome Stage is a tech conference room with Star Trek overtones: an eccentric conference table and four chairs, geometrically designed walls, and one sliding door with a satisfying (if a bit silly) sci-fi whooshing sound effect whenever it opens or closes. Amazon’s Alexa is essentially a fourth character, visually represented by a glowing light in the middle of the table when activated. Milarch’s script is kept front and center here, and the design is kept minimal in order to support, not overshadow its ideas.
With Doctor Moloch, Milarch tackles complex, even controversial subjects with curiosity and humor. Like so many shows at the Unicorn, this play is a natural conversation starter for audiences, on top of being a compelling piece of theatre.
“Doctor Moloch” runs through February 16 at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main St. For more information, call 816-531-7529 or visit unicorntheatre.org.
