Stephanie Jones, Lorri Layle Oliver (on the screen), and Renee Pezzotta Photo by Rhonda Sigler-Ware

In 2023, Gunderson took on the subject of artificial intelligence in a play called anthropology. (That's not a typo. She doesn't capitalize it on purpose, and I'm not sure exactly why.) The setup of this one-act is that there are two sisters, about ten years apart in age. Because their mother was a drug addict, the older sister, Merril, raised the younger sister, Angie, from the time Angie was eight years old. Many years later, when both are adults, Angie disappears while on her way home from a class. The police find no clues, they give up looking for her, and everyone assumes that she is dead.

The action of the play takes place about a year after the disappearance. Merril, now a computer programmer, is so grief-stricken that she creates an AI version of Angie by inputting data from Angie's phone, texts, social media posts, voice mails, etc. Voilà! There's Angie's voice (not Siri's, not Alexa's) and Angie's personality. Merril has recreated her sister, in a way. They talk to each other like sisters do, and it's not always in a friendly way. The real Angie was quite a troubled person, so Merril adjusts the program to produce a kinder, gentler Angie.

This version of Angie becomes more or less sentient, gathering more and more information from the internet, and she (it?) helps solve the mystery of the real Angie's disappearance. However, she also does things that Merril did not program her to do. This of course is the fear that we all have about AI. Will it control our lives more than we can control it? Even if Merril were to unplug or destroy her computer, Angie would still be there. It's a scary thought.

Even though the play is only 90 minutes long, it's padded out a bit. Merril's sustained grief over the loss of Angie and her obsession with bringing her back to life (virtually, not in a Frankenstein way) caused the end of an intimate relationship between Merril and her girlfriend Raquel. AI Angie manages to contact Raquel and bring her back into Merril's life, but this subplot is pretty much forgotten by the end of the play.

Apart from that distraction, the play moves pretty swiftly. Director Pete Parkin has cast it well. Stephanie Jones (Merril) is on stage during the entire play and gives a tour-de-force performance. Albuquerque newcomer Renee Pezzotta is convincing as Raquel, and she also created the excellent projections, which are a very important part of the show. Lorri Layle Oliver and Echo Dobie do fine work, but I can't reveal what parts they play without giving away some of the plot.

The production is tech-heavy and the Adobe Theater doesn't have a ton of resources, but they pull it off flawlessly. Set design by Terri Klein and lighting design by Michael Klein are just right. Ricky Fox stage manages, assisted by Gregory Gargano.

Why is the play titled anthropology? I like to go back to the roots of words. "Anthropos" in Greek means a human person. I think Lauren Gunderson's play is a meditation on what it means to be human, especially nowadays in our technological age. AI Angie approximates a human being, but she is not human. We have to be something more than a collection of data points. What is it that makes us human? That's what this play is about.

As far as I can tell, The Adobe Theater's production is only the third in the world, after London in 2023 and Los Angeles this past October. It's a remarkable opportunity for Albuquerque, so go see it!

anthropology runs through February 1, 2026, at The Adobe Theater, 9813 4th Street NW, Albuquerque NM. Performances Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. For tickets and information, please visit adobetheater.org.