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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Data Also see Susan's review of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Director Margot Bordelon has set the play's four characters on a bland, nearly featureless enclosed-box set (designed by Marsha Ginsburg) that suggests a textured blank piece of folded paper. Amith Chandrashaker's lighting design plays up the high-tech setting of the space with humming fluorescent ceiling lights, which shift color to denote changes of location, and shifting ribbons and blobs of light moving around the sides of the box. A pulsating electronic score by composer Dan Kluger and sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman accompanies the visual flow. The setting is Athena Technologies, a data mining firm in Silicon Valley. New employee Maneesh (Karan Brar) has a comfortable job in the User Experience department, but he has specific skills that soon lead him to a position on the secretive Data Analytics team. Alex (Rob Yang), Maneesh's new boss, uses a lot of tech buzzwords to explain the company's work to streamline the U.S. immigration process. (It isn't as benign as he makes it sound, or there would be no play.) The other characters are Jonah (Stephen Cefalu Jr.), a rather goofy tech bro who sees himself as Maneesh's mentor, and Riley (Isabel Van Natta), a company employee who knew Maneesh in college and knows he can accomplish more than he is choosing to do. Libby uses the ambiguous nature of words to show how easy it can be to normalize untested technologies, specifically the incorporation of artificial intelligence in the data tracking process. The play, which runs a tight 100 minutes without intermission, looks beneath this surface to raise questions about the nature of authentic communication among people. Bordelon has created a smooth ensemble among the four actors, but Brar dominates as a person who is concerned that the company's plans are actually beneficial to the people they will affect most strongly. Cefalu's characterization is most vivid when he realizes that his supposed protégé far exceeds him in ability. Data runs through December 15, 2024, at Arena Stage, Mead Center for American Theater, Kogod Cradle, 1101 6th St. SW, Washington DC. For tickets and information, please call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org. By Matthew Libby Cast: |
