Could you spot a script written by AI? Cincinnati theater pits 'Man vs. Machine' – Cincinnati Enquirer

It was bound to happen.
For months, we’ve been inundated with news about artificial intelligence. The benefits, some say, are incalculable. Others tell us that AI will completely undermine society.
Every few days, there seems to be some new piece of AI software that promises to be more imaginative, more comprehensive, more fun. Educators can create teaching plans in a matter of minutes instead of hours. And even the least tech-savvy of us can easily learn now to manipulate photos and bring still images to life.
To read all of this, you would think that AI will change the entire landscape of society.
What about the theater? What about AI scripts? If a computer can knock off a script in a matter of minutes, what does the future look like for playwrights?
The folks at Clifton Players decided to find out.
Cincinnati actor/director/playwright Kevin Crowley, a longtime member of Clifton Players, crossed paths with playwright Samuel Brett Williams at the 2012 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in McCall, Idaho. Crowley was assigned to assist Williams with a new script called “Revelation.” The play was a success and the friendship blossomed.
“Sam pitched this AI idea to me,” Crowley said. “This seemed like a perfect fit for our little company. We have to think outside the box.”
“Man vs. Machine,” as they call this project, is made up of 6 very short plays. Four of them are written by well-established playwrights. Two have been written by AI.
But here’s the kicker. No one knows which is which. The actors don’t know if the plays they are appearing in have been written by an actual person or by a piece of software. The directors don’t know, either. And neither will audiences. Only at the end of the three-week engagement – on Nov. 23 – will Crowley reveal which scripts are which.
“Every script began with the same parameters,” Crowley said. There could be no more than four characters. They had to be roughly 10 minutes long. And they had to be about love.
Williams’ Southern Theatre Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is planning to open its own production of “Man vs. Machine” sometime in January.
“I think people are doing to have a hard time telling which is which,” Crowley said. “It’s a little frightening. From personal experience, I know how difficult it is to write something. And these machines are able to produce it so quickly. Right now, they don’t have a sense of irony. And there’s not a lot of nuance. But AI is getting more sophisticated all the time. This has all come about in just a couple of years. It’s a little frightening.”
The program will list six playwrights: Lee Blessing, Carol Brammer, Zina Camblin, Eli Davis, Crowley and Williams. Again, only four of them have written scripts for this presentation.
Incidentally, Blessing, whose script for “A Walk in the Woods” was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, will lead a playwriting workshop Sunday, Nov. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Liberty Exhibition Hall. There is a $50 fee, payable at the door by cash, check or Venmo.

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