We’re trying to produce a very human, naturalistic play … Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon. So how naturalistic (humanoid) should the robots be?

Here’s one perspective: it’s a slippery slope to try to imitate a separate and distinct reality. Once you begin to imitate, what’s being judged is the quality of the imitation, not the inherent power of your artistic choices.

Let’s put a stake in the ground, and claim that it’s better to acknowledge the distinctions up front, and to work with the obvious and potentially interesting disjunctions.

We’d like to begin exploring, highlighting and dramatizing those disjunctions by working with non-humanoid or accidentally humanoid robots, and see where that strategy leads us.

What’s your perspective?