BIOADAPTED is a theatre reenactment investigative documentary with actors portraying real people and scientists, paired with humorous and eerie fictional pieces about what our future might look like if the AI propagates in unethical ways that don't serve humankind.
Bioadapted employs texts about AI, some of which have been generated by GPT-3. An EEG headset will generate BCI (brain-computer-interface) instructions for the movement of an actor linked with a haptic vest and LED lights sewn into the costume. In the grand finale the audience will put GPT-4 on trial and interrogate it directly in real time
Tjaša is the Founder and Artistic Director of Transforma Theatre Inc., dedicated to creating interactive theatre experiences at the nexus of science, consciousness and ritual. She is the creator of The Female Role Model Project blending interactive theatre with neuroscience produced on Off-Broadway at the premier Art and Tech Center 3-Legged Dog, in New York in November 2018. They were also featured at the Ammerman Biennial of Arts and Technology 2018. She is the creator of a short film Ophelia’s Flip (Cannes Film Festival, 2012), a farce hit Cocktales-Confessions of a Nymphomaniac (The Cell, Abingdon Theatre, Art Basel Miami), an interactive solo show, Wild Child in the City, and a new play My Marlene. Wild Child In The City premiered in NYC (TheaterLab), filled houses on European Tours and received an Audience Choice Award at 46th TSD-Week of Slovenian Drama. Wild Child won a grant from Trust for Mutual Understanding for a tour at ITI-UNESCO MonoAkt festival in Kosovo, winning a Special Jury Prize, and “Northern Meetings” in Siberia.
ArianneBanda is a performance artist and practitioner of Afro-Indigenous medicine. Born and raised in South Africa, she currently lives in New York City. She has a BFA in Acting from Boston University and has worked in film and theater. She has performed in New York at Theater for the New City in Freedom Summer and The Time Traveler’s Club. She will appear in short films “Deathless” and “The Clock Painter” this year. She believes that when we heal, we change — and art is change imagined, and enacted. Her website is www.bandacreations.com
Originally from Venezuela, Juan Cardenas studied drama at The Terry Schreiber Studio and Matthew Corozine S tudio in NYC. His most recent stage credits include Trigorin in The Seagull directed by Paul Shack, Deeds Not Words directed by Chelsea Anderson-Long, The Stand-In directed by Sarah Reynolds and Jack Goes Boating directed by Erin Cronican (The Seeing Place Theater). Juan also appears in Pan American: Vol I directed by Andrew Burton, Searchers in Winter directed by Owen Pataki, Blank Names directed by Tyler Tremblay, Transference (official selection at The Chelsea Film Festival 2021) which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, and The Minimalist directed by Carlos Funes, which he co-produced, co-wrote and co-starred. Upcoming feature films include Her Choices directed by Yenniffer Behrens and Patterns directed by Dawn Davis. Juan is thrilled to be part of Transforma Theatre’s world premiere of BIOADAPTED.
Annemarieis an actor & performer with degrees in astronomy and physics. She has worked in the fields of theater, film, television, education, science communication, cognition, climate & sustainability, history, philosophy and finance. Where others see separate or even opposing fields of interest, she passionately searches for opportunities to integrate different modes of thinking. She works as an actor & coach with drama-based training company Bi-Jingo (London, UK), as an actor & educator at Mount Sinai Hospital and as a business developer with tech company Sobolt (Rotterdam, NL) on AI solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. She also worked in finance as a research analyst and software developer for 5 years, founded her own company as an independent theater maker & educator and toured the Netherlands with her one woman show The Story of The Einstein Girl. NYC Off-Broadway credits include: Casablanca Box (HERE Arts Center, dir. Reid Farrington), Romulus The Great (Yangtze Repertory Theatre, dir. Chongren Fan), Girl Gone: Or Before A League of Their Own (Actors Temple Theatre, dir. Layon Gray). US film credits include: The Artist’s Wife (starring Bruce Dern & Lena Olin, dir. Tom Dolby), Honeypot (dir. Jill Greenberg), Karma (dir. Irmak Tasindi), Destiny’s smile (dir. Datian Yang). She is a member of SAG-AFTRA & Board Member of the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW). Anne marie is grateful to Tjaša Ferme for inviting her to become part of the marvelous BIOADAPTED team where she can combine both her passions for the arts and the sciences in one project. She is also forever thankful to all the people who have helped her on her journey to become a permanent resident of the USA and for the opportunity to be able to live in the cultural capital of the world: New York City. www.annemariehagenaars.com
Munitz (she/her) is a NYC-based performer, writer, and researcher thrilled to have been with Bioadapted from the beginning and begetting to share this work with you now! Melody graduated from Penn State in2022 with dual honors degrees in Musical Theatre and Psychology, and since then has been working remotely as a playwright, performer, and researcher with the University of Chicago’s STAGE (Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration) Lab in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, developing a physics-based solo show. Select Off-Broadway performance credits include Head and Heart (Signature Theater), A Little Princess (Signature Theater), The Royal Family (Theatre Row), Hatch (Theatre Row), 30 Million (Theatre Row), Dream Street (Pearl Theatre), and concert performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and 54 Below. Huge gratitude to Tjaša and this inspiring cast and team for the opportunity to be part of such unique and timely art in an environment where the artist and scientist in her can coexist. www.melodymunitz.com IG: @melody_munitz
Thammie Quach is a Vietnamese-American actor based in NYC. Theatre credits include Muses (Theatre East), UNTITLED GAMER PLAY (Playwrights Horizons Theater School), Richard II (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), and Promenade (NYU Tisch, dir. Melissa Crespo). She holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Thammie is grateful (and electrified!) to be a part of BIOADAPTED's journey. She gives much love to her family and friends for their support. thammiequach.com @thammielaine
Stephanie White is a NYCand Miami based performer. Favorite credits include Theater: Proof (Actors’ Playhouse), Ragtime (Actors’ Playhouse), 110 in the Shade (Palm Beach Drama works) Most Happy Fella (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Assassins (Zoetic Stage), Cocktails - Confessions of a Nymphomaniac (the cell + Miami Art Basel) Television: Talia in the Kitchen (Nickelodeon). Big love and thanks to Tjasa and the cast/company of Bioadapated. @stephhhwhite
Heidi Boisvert is an artist, scientist and creative technologist. Heidi is currently an MIT research affiliate and an Assistant Professor of AI and the Arts: Immersive Performance Technologies at the University of the Florida, College of the Arts, School of Theatre and Dance. She has previously been a TED Resident, and is currently developing the first media genome: an open-source biometric lab and AI system to isolate the narrative ingredients that move us to act. She is also a member of the New Inc’s 6th and & 7th cohort in the Creative Science track, and has been working with David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar on Theater of the Mind, an immersive theater piece for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, as a Technology Designer.
Jingyao Shao is a Chinese new media artist based in Brooklyn, who speculates different dimensions of self-perception through installations, performances, and research. With individual and collective narratives, her works aim to evoke present conversations about the architecture of interpersonal relationships, across the spectrum from isolation to connection. She is a memory archiver, conscientiously examining in retrieval and morphosis of what has been left in the past, and planting it in new mediums through her practices. She is curious about what memory resonates among people and seeks to build invisible ties to people and space with her cultivation. Her work is also influenced by her reflections and questions on culture and gender structures, both looking back on cultural nostalgia and forward to future bodies. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Washington and a Master of Professional degree at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.
Formerly Partner/Creative Director at design & architecture firm NAU - selected Adweek'sinaugural Talent 100 (adNAU) - and at tech startup Blackbox AI. Oliver has worked as aproduction designer on events and commercials for clients including Fiat Chrysler, Mercedes,Syfy, T-Mobile, Nike, Disney, Universal Studios and the world's leading event and experiencemarketing agency GPJ. His stage visuals have appeared in Madonna's Reinvention Tour andbeen projected onto the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal for Häagen-Dazs & Creative Time'sHoliday Light Show. His film credits include Sr. Digital Set Designer on Disney's Prince of Persia,Ast. Art Director on Netflix's The Woman in the Window & A24's After Yang and Oliver oversaw psychedelic design for Amazon Studios on Birds of Paradise. A Scenic Design member, Tech & Innovation Committee Chair, at United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. Local 829, Oliver has written extensively on the intersection of architecture and media for MARK Magazine and was guest speaker at the AEDES Architecture Forum in Berlin.
Transforma Theatre's programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).
Special thank you to Doug Barron and Nikita Matiychyn.
Transforma Theatre is a part of the Culture Lab LIC Emergence Artist Residency program. A residency that offers space, time to realize performance based projects. This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.
3D scanning was done at NYCAP3D Studios
Transforma Theatre Inc. is dedicated to creating interactive theatrical experiences at the nexus of science, consciousness and ritual. Transforma’s first piece was “The Female Role Model Project (FRMP)” using EEG headsets on stage to investigate contemporary gender structures from the perspective of four completely different female-identifying devisers sharing their autobiographical stories through a series of interactive games. FRMP was produced Off-Broadway in NYC’s premier hub for arts and technology - Three-Legged Dog (3LD) and at Bedlam Theatre, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. It received an Honorable mention in the Creativity category of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards and a nomination for the outstanding innovative design at New York Innovative Theatre Awards. It’s been called “Gender-and generation-transcending,” “Best 23 Shows of Edinburgh Fringe” by inews and brinkwire, and “Original, thought-provoking, funny, absorbing, GROUNDBREAKING WORK” by Kate Saffin, Fringe Review. In November 2021 Transforma created and produced a sold out Science in Theatre Festival at The Cell Theatre, featured in Forbes and American Theatre Magazine.
TRANSFORMA Theatre Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) Organization dedicated to creating interactive theatre experiences at the convergence of science, consciousness and ritual.
