News

A diasporic theatrical take on AI, with an Asian immigrant mother in futuristic Brisbane

In a new bilingual theatre production, an immigrant mother seeks solace in a humanoid following the death of her daughter.

4 Sep 2024 9:00

Celina Lei

Anna Yen plays Mrs Chen in ‘AI May’, an elderly migrant mother grappling with grief in an increasingly lonely society. An elderly Asian woman wearing a sage coloured hoodie is holding a burning incense in her hands, she appears to be praying with her eyes closed.

Performing Arts

Anna Yen plays Mrs Chen in ‘AI May’, an elderly migrant mother grappling with grief in an increasingly lonely society. Photo: Naz Mulla.

AI May is a new bilingual play by Taiwanese/Australian playwright, director and founder of Embodi Theatre, Amy Chien-Yu Wang. With surtitles in both English and Traditional Chinese, the show details the story of a grieving immigrant mother as she interacts with a humanoid robot designed to simulate her deceased daughter.

It’s a uniquely diasporic take on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, thinking about human connection and unconditional love in a culture where trauma and grief are often internalised.

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Join Now Login

Celina Lei

Celina Lei is the Diversity and Inclusion Editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Most recently, Celina was one of three Australian participants in DFAT’s the Future of Leadership program. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne. Instagram @lleizy_