From script to life: How imagination shapes our world

By Peter F. Sloss Artistic Fellow Xiaoyu (Mary) Liu and Bret C. Harte Artistic Fellow Manon McCollum

In the aves, playwright Jiehae Park immerses us in a near-future reality, following characters as they navigate a world both familiar and unsettlingly transformed. This aspect of the piece connects with a long history of playwrights imagining worlds where human ingenuity transcends modern-day limitations. The fact that some of these fictional “what if” scenarios have materialized into tangible events speaks to the power of imagination to shape our collective destiny. Here’s a look at a few plays that uncannily predicted the future.

UTOPIA, LIMITED, W.S. GILBERT AND ARTHUR SULLIVAN (1893)

This satirical operetta envisions a South Pacific island, Utopia, seeking to modernize by adopting British corporate and political structures. The operetta was the penultimate collaboration between theatrical titans Gilbert and Sullivan, investigating a government that takes the concept of “running a country like a business” to its disastrous conclusion. Though the play was written as a ripped-from-the-headlines satire of British society and late-stage imperialism, its insights about the imposition of Western society on the Global South and the increasing corporatization of government have prescient parallels to today. As opposed to the operetta’s depiction of citizens becoming businesses, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling “Citizens United” granted personhood to corporations and opened the floodgates to greed and corruption. Likewise, the unchecked influence of multinational corporations in global politics mirrors the operetta’s critique of economic imperialism disguised as governance. The growing trend of privatizing essential public services, from healthcare to infrastructure also echoes Utopia’s flawed experiment in merging commerce with civic duty.

BACK TO METHUSELAH, GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1921)

Shaw’s play begins in the Garden of Eden and progresses through different time periods, ultimately envisioning a future where humans live for centuries. In the latter parts of the play, set in 3000CE, society has split into two groups: long-lived, highly-evolved people and shorter-lived, “primitive” ones. The long-lived humans have lost interest in politics, war, and the trivial concerns of life. Finally, they evolve past mortality and live indefinitely, achieving Godlike status. We see echoes of that reality in today’s scientific breakthroughs, like Senolytic drugs which work to flush out senescent cells that degrade as we age, potentially slowing the effects of time. A more radical solution to aging is using lab-grown artificial hearts, livers, and lungs to replace our more failure-prone organs as we age. Though still highly experimental, these technologies mean that people may soon have to account for an additional 50 or even 100 years of life, and how that would impact society and the environment.

THE ADDING MACHINE, ELMER RICE (1923)

This expressionist drama follows Mr. Zero, a low-level accountant who has worked for 25 years at a grueling, monotonous job. Zero is replaced by a far more efficient automated adding machine, rendering both him and his skillset obsolete. This sends him into existential crisis — he becomes increasingly alienated from his loved ones and eventually murders his boss. He is tried and hanged, but heaven offers no escape. There he is put to work as an accountant and again “fired” and sent back to Earth for his soul to be recycled. It’s a story of alienation and greed, where we see countless parallels to the impending obsolescence of so many jobs due to AI. In fact, a McKinsey report predicts that in the next five years, up to 70% of workers’ tasks will be supplanted by generative AI. The question facing both Zero and today’s workforce is, “can there be a world where a person’s worth is not based on their job, or will automation always be a tool to oppress workers and maximize shareholder value?”

A NUMBER, CARYL CHURCHILL (2002)

A Number is a psychological thriller that explores identity, cloning, and parental responsibility. The character Bernard discovers that he is “B2,” one of several clones created to give his father a second chance at parenting, leading to the dissolution of their family and an eventual murder-suicide. Since the play was published, real-world children have been born with modified DNA. The controversial case of the first genetically-edited babies, born in 2018 under the direction of Chinese scientist He Jiankui, reignited debates about the ethics of genetic modification and human identity. Bioethicists warn that while these technologies offer potential medical breakthroughs, they also raise concerns about consent, unforeseen consequences, and the commodification of human life. Churchill’s play remains eerily relevant as scientific advancement challenges society’s understanding of individuality and agency.

MARJORIE PRIME, JORDAN HARRISON (2014)

Marjorie Prime tells the story of an aging woman with memory issues and the AI hologram, or “prime” designed to resemble her husband and guide her through her final years. When she dies, her children create a “prime” of her. The play is an exploration of the blurry line between artificial and human intelligence, and whether it’s possible to have a real relationship with a being created with lines of code. Though it was written only ten years ago, some of the “futuristic” tech in this play now exists, with apps like SeniorTalk and ElliQ providing easy-to-use chatbots for the elderly, promoting mental activity and combating loneliness. We, like Marjorie’s children, are forced to confront whether something is lost when we have real love for “fake” people.

PRIVATE, MONA PIRNOT (2022)

Private imagines a dystopian future that is already inching closer to reality. In the world of the play, the government has eliminated the right to privacy, and a married couple must decide whether to hand over all their personal details to a tech company or lose out on a huge employment opportunity. In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission released a report revealing that big tech companies have harvested and sold far more of our private data than previously thought. Earlier this year, failed genealogy company 23andMe received the government’s permission to sell off users’ genetic information to the highest bidder. Private asks an uncomfortable question that we all must grapple with right now: how much is our privacy worth?