Chicago Theatre artist Jeff Mills to juggle Shakespeare and artificial intelligence at Three Dolphins Theatre in Waukon this Saturday
Proboscis Theatre Company announces the regional premiere of Prospero’s Black Box, which will take place at the Three Dolphins Theatre in Waukon Saturday, November 8 at 3 p.m. Three Dolphins Theatre is owned and operated by Katie O’Regan of Waukon and is located at 501 3rd Street SW in Waukon.
Prospero’s Black Box is created and performed by Proboscis co-artistic director Jeff Mills, who is an alumnus of the (now closed) National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center Theatre Company, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree. Now based in Chicago, IL, Mills is returning to Denver, CO after performing Prospero’s Black Box at festivals in Hydra in Greece, Prague in Czech Republic, Verona in Italy, Santa Barbara CA, and Chicago, IL.
Prospero’s Black Box is a solo performance with clowning, music and singing, storytelling, movement, artificial intelligence (AI) projections, audience participation, and Shakespeare. The performance is a one-person clown show that premiered in 2023 at the Hydrama Center in Greece to critical acclaim. The show explores the absurd connection between Shakespeare’s Prospero and Google’s Geoffrey Hinton as they wrestle with the power of AI and virtual reality.
In real life, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton (Nobel Prize winner, considered the “Godfather of Artificial Intelligence”) recently resigned from his senior position at Google, citing that the AI technology he created is a danger to humanity. In this highly participatory solo show (the audience plays a role in the storytelling), attendees will see Prospero, the famous magician and alchemist from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, also grappling with the harms he caused while practicing his magic. Ultimately, Prospero also resigns and gives up his power.
Additionally, Mills plays himself as a clown, who implores the audience to help him sort out whether AI is a useful tool or a dangerous weapon. AI technology was used to create much of the projection design in the show and everyone involved makes up their own mind about AI in art.
The performance is described by University of California-Santa Barbara Professor Emeritus in Dramatic Art, Dance and Theater Peter Lacker as “An amazing, multi-level, meta-theatrical piece unifying Shakespeare’s vision of mankind and frighteningly topical current realities. Hilarious and thought-provoking in seamless ingenuity.”
O’Regan and her annual Star City Film and Theater Festival are presenting this event as a special fundraiser and performance. Proceeds will go to support Lutheran Lakeside Camp on Lake Okoboji to benefit artistic programs for children.
In addition to the Prospero’s Black Box performance, there will also be the showing of a short film O’Regan was cast in as the mother of an autistic child this past summer in Chicago. The film showing will take place at 5 p.m. both Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8 at Three Dolphins Theater. Tickets can be reserved by calling 563-419-4490 with payment due at the door the evening of the performance.
