Imagine a post organic future where there are no humans, only robots, robots that are left with a text they don’t understand about humans. That is the basic premise behind Death And The Powers: The Robots’ Opera on show now at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston.
Composer Tod Machover, MIT’s Media Lab, The American Repertory Theater and the Chicago Opera Theater have all collaborated to create a fantastic new opera with robots.
We had the good luck to see the opening night of the show and it was amazing.
The robots are on mobile bases with a white triangular tiltable heads that can also be raised up higher. There were also three walls of light that moved around the stage as well. While we are not sure how the robots navigated the stage, we did notice green lights embedded in the floor of the stage and maybe they used these as some kind of marker for positioning themselves.
Another part of the story revolved around the lead character being uploaded into The System before he died. Similar stories have been told before, such as the short film called Clay, part of Robot Stories, or in like the AI in William Gibson’s book Neuromancer that roams cyberspace.
See The Robot’s Opera press release (pdf).
If you live in NYC, check out the Apple store on the Upper West Side tonight to see director Tod Machover explain how he incorporated the technology into his art.
Click through for a few of our photos and a video of the event and if you get the chance do check out this amazing piece of futuristic theater.
Link via (Boston.com)
