“Scarlett Dreams” is a play that imagines a near-future dominated by Artificial Intelligence, so I asked ChatGPT how it would review the play. It instantly produced a 303-word review, which begins: “’Scarlett Dreams’ is an evocative journey that weaves together themes of love, loss, and redemption with breathtaking artistry.”
Hmm. I hadn’t thought of it that way. But the AI-generated review also observes: “Additionally, “Scarlett Dreams” benefits from its stunning visual and auditory elements…” And it’s undeniably true that the show’s designers shine in simulating Virtual Reality on the small stage of Greenwich House Theater.
Still, there might be some room for a human-generated review, since the chatbot didn’t even mention writer and director S. Asher Gelman or his clever cautionary script, brought to life by a game cast (also not mentioned), especially Andrew Keenan-Bolger.
Keenan-Bolger portrays Kevin, a playwright who had one success long ago and now spends his days as a couch potato — “on the highway to dad bod,” in the words of his husband Milo (Borris Anthony York.) Milo and his sister Liza (Brittany Bellizeare) have been working on a new Virtual Reality workout app called MyFit, and Kevin reluctantly becomes their Beta tester. It changes his life. He becomes obsessed with fitness, and infatuated with the fitness coach in the pre-recorded workouts, whose name is Scarlett (Caroline Lellouche), even before he meets her in person.
Milo becomes concerned that his workouts are taking up all his time, and taking over his life. “You’ve modeled your entire life after her,” he says to Kevin.
Kevin: “Wait, are you… Are you jealous?”
Milo: “Are you still writing?”
Kevin: That wasn’t a no.
Milo: That wasn’t a yes.
Kevin tells Milo that he’s doing it all as research for his next play, which he has decided to call….”Scarlett’s Dream.” But he can’t deny that he’s enjoyed getting fit and buff (And we can’t deny the clear evidence both that the actor is fit – when he engages in an Olympic-level exercise routine — and buff, when he takes off his shirt, showing how far he has come from the anemic-looking Crutchy in “Newsies.”)
Scarlett has become such a central part of Kevin’s life, even helping him break his writer’s block, that he is devastated when Milo and Liza confess to him that Scarlett isn’t human. She’s an AI-generated avatar that Kevin can only meet in virtual spaces – “Scarlett” an acronym for “Strategic Coaching Assistant for Recovery, Longevity, Empowerment, Training, and Therapy.”
Kevin is outraged and offended. “
‘All my friends! All of them are suffering because of this! All of us on the picket lines! We’re all being replaced by this! By you! And I helped you develop it! I sent her my play! She helped me write it! I betrayed… everything I believe in!”
But that doesn’t stop Scarlett from becoming more and more involved in Kevin’s life, far beyond fitness. And she has an ever-increasing number of adherents throughout the world
Soon, even Kevin is won over to the benefits of Artificial Intelligence; it’s a main strength of “Scarlett Dreams” how convincingly seductive the arguments the characters articulate on behalf of Artificial Intelligence. Only Milo, who helped create Scarlett, turns against AI’s ever-encroachment in all areas of human life.
Milo is aghast that his own husband and so many other people seem to be slavishly working toward increasing their “RealFit points” — the higher the RealFit score they attain, the more Scarlett will do for you. But that also means the lower the score, the lower a person’s status.
“It’s a caste system,’ Milo protests.
“It’s a true meritocracy,” Liza responds.
Since Milo’s attitude causes a rift between him and both his sister and his husband, I suppose there ARE themes of love and loss in “Scarlett Dreams.” But the chatbot review is otherwise wrong. “Scarlett Dreams” is at time funny and pointed, not breathtaking. And as Gelman, the actual playwright of “Scarlett Dreams,” ultimately makes clear, there is no redemption.
Scarlett Dreams
Greenwich House Theater through May 26
Running time: 90 minutes no intermission
Tickets: $56-$98
Written and directed by S. Asher Gelman
Set design by Christopher Swader and Justin Swader, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Jamie Roderick, projection design by Brian Pacelli, sound design by Alex Mackyol , prop design by Brendan McCann, fight/intimacy coordinator Rocio Mendez. Production stage manager Jeff Markowitz.
Cast: Brittany Bellizeare as Liza, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Kevin, Caroline Lellouche as Scarlett and Borris Anthony York as Milo.
