Philadelphia Live Arts Festival + Philly Fringe Present ROBOT-HUMAN THEATER, 2/15-16

Raising pointed questions about what makes us human, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe presents the world's first full-scale robot-human theater production, Robot-Human Theater, a Seinendan Theater Company + Osaka University Robot Theater Project.

The double-bill touring production, on stage today, Feb. 15-16 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, was created in 2008-10 by internationally acclaimed playwright, director and Seindenan Theater Company leader Oriza Hirata, who teamed up with Osaka University Intelligent Robotics Laboratory director Dr. Ishiguro Hiroshi to create an inventive new field that combines performance and science.

In the boundary-breaking short play I, Worker, a husband's personal struggle is set alongside his robot's loss of motivation to work. The issue arises: If a robot can't work, does it lose value? Is the same true of humans? Meanwhile, in the surreal Sayonara, the line between robot and human is blurred when Geminoid F, an android with uncannily human features, comforts a human girl suffering from a fatal illness. When Geminoid F's mechanics go awry, the meaning of life and death - to humans and robots - comes into question.

Robot-Human Theater is the first presentation representing Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe's transition to year-round programming. The 2013 Festival will be held September 6-13, 2013.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Robot-Human Theater, a Seinendan Theater Company + Osaka University Robot Theater Project
tonight, February 15, and Saturday, February 16, 8 p.m.

Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American St. (near Second and Market streets)

Tickets: $28 ($22.40 for Festival members, $18 for students and those 25 and under with ID)
75 minutes with intermission
Performed in Japanese and English with English subtitles

For more information, call 215-413-1318 or visit livearts-fringe.org/robot.