AI debate front-and-centre for ‘RESET’ at Contemporary Calgary

Sage Theatre is presenting RESET at Contemporary Calgary, a unique location for what is being billed as an incredibly unique production. So unique, in fact, that even the ending can shift night to night.

The premise is that four characters become conscious in a space. One of them is human, the rest are artificial intelligence. Can the characters root out the truth of the situation? Can the audience?

That is the mystery at the heart of RESET by writer and director Bruce Barton, developed with Sage Theatre Artistic Director Jason Mehmel. The production itself has been in development for nearly a decade.

“It is close to eight years in the making,” Barton says. “We had a workshop as early as 2017. We were heading toward a stage reading and then everything locked down. So we kept developing it through Zoom. That actually inspired the idea of shooting it as a motion picture. We have a feature length video edition of it.”

When Barton and Mehmel began working on RESET years ago, AI was barely part of the public conversation. The team consulted a computer scientist to make sure they had the science right. Despite the development of technology since the concept’s inception, Barton says he believes it is still relevant in its presentation.

Mehmel puts it this way: “There is a sense in which the world has caught up to us.”

The question extends beyond the popular to‑AI‑or‑not‑to‑AI debate and becomes more of a philosophical experiment.

Barton says it takes the experience and scrutiny required to determine whether or not you are dealing with a human to examine humanity.

“What are the aspects of being a human being that actually are brought to the fore the more we engage with AI as opposed to disappearing? And that’s really what we’re interested in is those points of transition.”

He says it is also about how both humans and machines learn, remember, and then forget. “And so that’s really the transition point of the piece.”

At that point, the cast embarks on one of four conclusions to the show, but nobody knows which ending will happen on which night. When asked how it is determined, Barton is mysterious: “So when that moment happens, and it will be relatively apparent to the audience, we now know that a decision has been made not by the performers, not by the director, but by the night, by the stars, by the moon. And that’s the road we’re now going down.”

With support from videographer Emil Agopian, who was also responsible for the production of the full‑length film version, the one‑hour multimedia experience includes live‑streaming elements, recordings, projections, and seating that surrounds the action set in the centre of Contemporary Calgary’s Grotto.

The script is also a collaborative effort, with a cast of veterans contributing a personal memory into the writing fabric of the show. Veteran Calgary actors Julie Orton, Jamie Konchak, Mike Tan, and Braden Griffiths each bring decades of professional experience.

“This show is as unique as a fingerprint… if we did it with other actors, it would be a completely different show,” Mehmel says.

It is one hour in length, with no intermission, at Contemporary Calgary, and runs from March 18 to 22, with a special acoustic performance on Sunday the 22nd.

More details and tickets here.