Loneliness Was A Pandemic
by Olivia Haller
Theaterlab’s presentation of Loneliness Was a Pandemic, directed by Alex Kopnick, was a deeply compelling exploration of the relationship between artificial intelligence and art. Across its 21-performance-run, the play guided the audience through themes of companionship, trauma, and the existential threat of post-apocalyptic technology.
As the sound designer and a contributing composer, I endeavored to further this immersion with an atmosphere of longing and uncertainty.
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The two human characters in the play are often at odds with one another in terms of their respective optimism, both for the outlook of human survival and for their relationship together, and I tried to accentuate this in the score with music that modulated accordingly. I opted for instrumentation that ranged from the futuristic to the primitive to juxtapose the differences between the rigidity of the robot character’s attempts at art with the imperfections that are present in the human’s.
Read more about the play from the venue and the director:
Theaterlab: https://theaterlabnyc.com/loneliness-was-a-pandemic-november-1-24-2024/
KOPCORP: https://www.alexkopnick.com/lwap
Read some reviews:
https://twi-ny.com/2024/11/11/searching-for-connections-after-the-robot-apocalypse/
https://www.theaterscene.net/plays/offbway-plays/loneliness-was-a-pandemic/scotty-bennett/
https://blogcritics.org/theater-review-nyc-loneliness-was-a-pandemic-by-olivia-haller-can-you-teach-a-robot-to-make-art/
https://www.theatrebeyondbroadway.com/reviews/loneliness-was-a-pandemic
https://www.thinkingtheaternyc.com/2024/11/review-loneliness-was-pandemic-asks-if.html