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In their fellowship at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, the US artist duo Michael Rau and Michael Crowley focus on the use of artificial intelligence as a collaborator in theatre productions. The performance of plays requires precise timing and coordination - both in technical applications and in human interaction. These are defined in work processes and rehearsals in advance. How can artificial intelligence simplify these processes and function as a collaborating entity, creating new content, choreographies, audio files, projections and lighting cues? How can the algorithm react to the actor in a live performance? And is it possible for artificial intelligence itself to become a theatre director? Using motion capturing and various open-source software such as voice- and image-based AI generators as well as software for pose detection and cue design, Rau/Crowley are experimenting with AI as a theatre collaborator.
Michael Rau is an internationally established theatre director. His work ranges from classical drama to opera to digital media projects. Such as, «Mistrovská díla» (Ntl Moravian Theatre, Czech Republic, later Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC), «Temping» (in collaboration with Michael Yates Crowley, 53rd New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center), «The Homes We Build» (collaboration with Katie Green, performed at Electric Dreams Festival, London), and the German production «Was Übrig bleibt» (with Thomas Bradshaw at TAM Zwei, Theater Bielefeld). His collaborations with composer Kate Soper have been performed at the Seattle Symphony, and the Dimenna Center in NYC. He focuses on the relationship between theatre texts, images, language and music to explore new forms of storytelling. He is a recipient of a 2021 Artists + Machine Intelligence Research Award from Google, as well as fellowships from the Likhachev Foundation, the Kennedy Center, and the National New Play Network. At Stanford University, he is an assistant professor of Directing and Theater-making, and an affiliate faculty member with the Stanford Institute for Human Centered Artificial Intelligence.
Michael Yates Crowley is a globally successful writer and actor. After receiving his B.A. in English from Columbia University and graduating from the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School, he has been a part of multiple productions all over the globe. His work includes «The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B Matthias» (The Playwrights Realm at The Duke on 42nd Street), «Song of a Convalescent Ayn Rand Giving Thanks to the Godhead» (American Repertory Theater, Joe's Pub/The Public Theater), «temping» (53rd New York Film Festival), «The Dead, Inc.» (Schlosstheater Moers) and «The Ted Haggard Monologues» (published by S. Fischer Verlag; filmed by HBO).
Michael Rau and Michael Yates Crowley have been working together since 2007 and founded the narrative technology company «Wolf359».
Photocredit: Harrison Truong (Stanford University)