San Francisco Stage: ‘Shipping & Handling’ a must-see, surrealist counterpoint to ‘Ex Machina’

AI has now found its way to stages across the San Francisco Bay Area. The hottest topic here in Silicon Valley since, perhaps, the advent of the internet, it was just a matter of time before playwrights brought their own personal takes to skeptical, concerned, fearful and intrigued audiences alike.

The latest example: Star Finch’s Shipping & Handling. Though, it’s worth noting this play has been in development for at least five years, preceding the latest AI hysteria.

Produced by Crowded Fire Theater, the production might be easily missed. But that would be a mistake. This play is easily one of the most thought-provoking, engaging and well put together works I’ve seen in quite some time.

Time shifting is just one of the creative techniques that Finch uses to engage the audience — a story about future possibilities, yet told in reverse. How can we change the future when so much of it flows from the past? Moments of profound sadness and reflection are interrupted with humor; a signature human experience, but will this be so in the time before us as AI robots become more complex? She deftly paints a vision which is both futuristic and primal.

Counterpoint: The Black Feminist Gaze

The impact of the vast themes that Finch tackles in this monumental work could become something the audience could hide behind, cloaked in the anonymity of a dark theater. Alas, she deliciously doesn’t let us. The playwright punches out from the play itself. Even making killer sharp jabs at Alex Garland’s highly successful film, Ex Machina (2015), an intriguing — if controversial — look at an AI future told decidedly from the perspective of a rich, white man (played superbly by Oscar Isaac). Re-visiting the film recently I suspect my initial “hot female robots!” take back during the film’s release in 2015 has aged rather poorly. Indeed, my re-watch exposed faults in the material. At least one of those is explicitly mentioned in Shipping & Handling.

From the structure, to the subject matter, to the beautifully surreal presentation and to the way you’re invited to assess and question your own biases, the production was executed to perfection; this is exactly why, I believe, live theater is simply irreplaceable.

Performances all around were outstanding. In particular, understudy Jessica Dim as Chloe offered staggering range, entering into a talk-back in a ski mask and glittery dress, before approaching an open and unmoderated mic and walking us through the rationale for such a work. Do we really care about the playwriting process itself? How did a “little” black robot play like “Indigo” come to be? There’s a lot of questions to wade through, but maybe we need to see the forest from the trees thanks to some good old fashioned VR.

… it’s worth trying to determine, or at least guess, how this future will be built and whose purpose it will serve.

Over the years on Stark Insider I’ve been fortunate to experience a vast array of productions across the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m especially a fanboy when it comes to stage lighting and sound design — two key elements to transforming us into far off lands and experiences. Here at the Magic Theatre thrust stage, the technical and artistic teams absolutely nailed it. Sound is subtle and dreamy, before thundering bass strikes at key moments later. Same too with that creative and mystical light, emphasizing brooding shadows and sumptuous reds. I simply loved it all and soaked in each transcendent moment.

If you get a chance, look up Crowded Theater Company and grab some tickets. This is precisely why we need these sorts of works: to challenge us, to inspire us, and, ultimately, to change us for the better.

Yes, I guess I’ll need to re-watch Ex Machina again, through a newly learned lens — and maybe even Steven Spielberg’s prescient A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and, obviously, Ridley Scott’s neo-noir classic Blade Runner (1982). Because it’s worth trying to determine, or at least guess, how this future will be built and whose purpose it will serve.

Poetry Reading: Multidisciplinary Artist Mimi Tempestt Electrifies

Pre-Show: Treats at Goody

With Loni Stark contributing from San Francisco.