Pittsburgh Public Theater Presents MARJORIE PRIME

Pittsburgh Public Theater ends an incredible season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Marjorie Prime, the funny and emotional sci-fi hit written by Jordan Harrison (TV's "Orange is the New Black") and directed by Marya Sea Kaminski (The Tempest), who is completing her first year as The Public's Artistic Director. Marjorie Prime runs May 30 - June 30, 2019 at the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater's home in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District. For tickets call 412.316.1600, go to ppt.org, or visit the Box Office.

A finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize, in Harrison's play Senior Serenity is a company that manufactures "primes." A "prime" is a holographic "person" made as a companion for someone who has lost a family member. Their Artificial Intelligence is loaded with memories specific to the customer who buys it.

As the play begins, Marjorie (Jill Tanner) is 85 and still saucy. Her husband Walter has been dead for 10 years, but now she has Walter Prime (Ben Blazer), a replica of her husband when he was a handsome young man. Marjorie's daughter Tess (Daina Michelle Griffith), and son-in-law Jon (Nathan Hinton), have shared certain details of Marjorie's life with Walter Prime. But for Tess, who is skeptical of her mother's new relationship, some things are too uncomfortable to reveal.

Describing the play, The Los Angeles Times said, Marjorie Prime is concerned with something eternal: the way our humanity is shaped and warped by the mysterious ebbs and flows of memory."

The design team for Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of Marjorie Prime is Michael Schweikardt (Scenic), Hugh Hanson (Costumes), Robert J. Aguilar (Lighting), Zach Moore (Sound), and Bryce Cutler (Media Design). Casting is by Pat McCorkle, Raecine Singletary is the Rehearsal Assistant, and Fred Noel is the Production Stage Manager.

Award-winning playwright Jordan Harrison has written more than a dozen plays which have been performed Off-Broadway and regionally. Titles include Maple and Vine, The Amateurs, and Log Cabin. In addition to its life on stage, Marjorie Prime was adapted for a film directed by Michael Almereyda and starring Geena Davis, Jon Hamm, Tim Robbins, and Lois Smith. For three seasons Mr. Harrison was a writer and producer of the Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black."

"When Robots Become Our Companions: Facts, Fantasies, and Uncomfortable Truths." With Marya Sea Kaminski, Illah Nourbakhsh, and Henny Admoni.

On Sunday, June 2 director Marya Sea Kaminski will host a lively discussion about robot companion development with two experts from Carnegie Mellon University, a leader in Artificial Intelligence. Featured are Illah Nourbakhsh, the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies, and Henny Admoni, an assistant professor in CMU's Robotics Institute where she leads the Human and Robot Partners (HARP) Lab. Beginning at 4 pm in The Public's third floor Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, the program is open to anyone with a ticket for either the 2 or 7 pm performance of Marjorie Prime on June 2.

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