Robot drama launches year of Live Arts programming

THE PHILADELPHIA Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe isn't just for the fall anymore. Beginning Friday, Live Arts will host programs all year, starting with "The Robot-Human Theater," a collaboration between Japan's Seinendan Theater Company and Osaka University's Intelligent Robotics Laboratory.

The evening consists of two short plays starring both robot and human actors: "I, Worker" about a robot that loses its ability to work due to a mental illness, and "Sayonara," the tale of an android that reads a poem to a dying person.

The robots used were developed at Osaka University, the workplace of director Oriza Hirata who, speaking through a translator, said that the robots are used like props.

Even so, to Hirata, there's little difference between working with robots and working with people. Except for one thing: "For now, robots are more needy [than actors]," Hirata said.

The performance will be at Old City's Christ Church, but soon all of the yearlong programming will take place at the Live Arts' new permanent building on Delaware Avenue, which will include a cafe space and 240-seat theater. An official groundbreaking on the building is set for Feb. 25. Executive director Nick Stuccio says he hopes that the theater will be open for the annual Philly Fringe festival, taking place Sept. 7-21.

Yearlong programming is a big deal for the Festival. This show is the first time they've done major programming outside of the festival dates in its history.

Without yearlong programming, Live Arts often misses out on acts that cannot travel to Philadelphia during the set dates of Fringe, Stuccio said. But with programming all year, and a theater to call its own, the festival can bring more internationally known acts to the city.

But will Philadelphians be interested in avant- garde performance art year-round?

"I think about fatigue, but I gotta say no, I'm not really worried about it. We live in the fifth-largest market in the country and we don't have a place for contemporary performing arts," Stuccio said. "The stage can accommodate pretty much anything, that's part of the reason we love it. My gut instinct says Philadelphia is ready for a steady diet of this stuff."