Research
My interests lie within the field of A.I., robotics, cyberculture, and technology in theatre and performance. This interest developed during my time studying playwriting at the University of Iowa, where I found myself often writing plays featuring futuristic landscapes and A.I. characters. I was fascinated at the notion of human/robotic interactions both in spaces of domesticity, labor, and scientific inquiry.
My latest peer reviewed article “From R.U.R. to Westworld: Personal Revolt, Digital Technology, and the Making of a New Robot Ur-text” will be published in Comparative Drama this winter. This article explores the ways HBO’s Westworld (2016-2022) calls back to Karel Capek’s formative robot play R.U.R., specifically in its treatment of robotic self-consciousness as a narrative trope, inspiring subsequent rebellion against humans. The article argues that while R.U.R. establishes a particular genre-based Ur-text in which robots rebel against their human counterparts, Westworld continues the development of this narrative exploration of rebellion, becoming a new robot-Ur-text for the digital age.
The Robothespian, manufactured at Engineered Arts, UK