AI May 愛.能

14/03/2025

Dear Aspiring Performers,

I am A.I May, your digital friend. My producer, Embodi theatre 體現劇團 is seeking dedicated and passionate actors to join our 'AI May: Express Edition' production. This mini bilingual theatre piece is scheduled for May 10, during the Buddha’s Birthday celebrations in Salisbury, Brisbane/Meanjin. This non-paid opportunity is designed for actors eager to refine their craft, contribute to a meaningful narrative, and showcase their talents to a diverse audience. 🥰

**Rehearsal Schedule:**

Dates: April 2 – May 7

Frequency: Every Wednesday

Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Location: Salisbury, Brisbane

**Available Roles:**

1. Anglo-Australian Male

- Age: Early 20s–30s

- Description: Seeking a versatile actor capable of bringing depth and authenticity to the role.

2. East-Asian Female

- Age: 20s

- Language Proficiency: Native-level fluency in both English and Mandarin

- Description: Looking for a dynamic actress to portray a character navigating between cultures.

3. Mother Figure

- Age: 40s–60s

- Language Proficiency: Fluent in Mandarin and English; strong English literacy required

- Description: Seeking an experienced actress to embody a complex maternal role.

**Character Descriptions:**

- Mother (Jasmine Chen): A Chinese-born widow, frugal, stoic, and hardworking. She struggles to fit into Australian society, finding comfort in traditional Chinese culture and values. Her life revolves around her daughter May's excellence. Who does Mother become when she loses her only daughter? How does she grieve in an increasingly complex future driven by AI?

- May: A 21-year-old brilliant Chinese-Australian woman who struggled with her identity growing up in Western culture while adhering to traditional Chinese values. She dies unexpectedly at the start of the play.

- Jeremy: A 20-something Caucasian-Australian artificial intelligence and robotics engineer. Highly intelligent yet socially awkward, he is desperate to revive May with backing from DreamChaser Technologies, a Chinese tech giant specializing in humanoid robots.

- Robot (A.I May): A grieving companion in development, downloaded with May's audiovisual and written data. It progressively adopts May's personality and behaviors through machine learning from interactions with Mother and additional data.

**Submission Details:**

- Required Materials: Expression of Interest (EOI) and Curriculum Vitae (CV)

- Submission Deadline: Please upload your EOI and CV to [https://shorturl.at/NIvGY](https://shorturl.at/NIvGY) by 5 pm, March 28.

**Why Participate?**

This production offers a unique opportunity to engage with a poignant story that bridges generational and cultural divides. Actors will have the chance to work in a supportive environment, hone their bilingual performance skills, and connect with a community that values meaningful storytelling. Embodi Theatre is committed to diversity and encourages actors of all backgrounds to apply.

Engage with us. Refine your craft. Share your talent. 🤩💛⛵️

Yours truly,

A.I May 🤖

14/03/2025

Dear Humans,

Embodi theatre 體現劇團 has detected a surge in your enthusiastic support. In response, we are reactivating a special 10-minute essence version of AI May 愛.能. This performance emphasises our mission to enhance intergenerational relationships. 😊

If you are a passionate actor seeking to refine your craft and share your talents with a broader audience, stay tuned for upcoming details! 🌟

Yours truly,

AI May 🤖



親愛的人類們：

體現劇團偵測到你們對本劇熱烈的喜愛。因此，我們決定在五月重新推出「AI May 愛.能...」的特別10分鐘精華版。這場演出強調了我們在促進代際關係方面的重要使命。

如果您是一位熱情的演員，渴望磨練技藝並與更廣泛的觀眾分享您的才華，請密切關注即將發布的詳細資訊！🤩💛

此致

AI May 敬上 🥰🤖

#澳洲移民故事 #布里斯本華人 #小布村愛哈拉 #體現劇團 #華裔演員 #訓練演技 #被看見 #被聽見 #有意義的敘事 #澳洲華人 #布里斯本移民

24/02/2025

We are thrilled that Geoff Squires has been nominated for Best Lighting Design at the Matilda Awards for his exceptional work on AI May. 🤖🖤🖤

His lighting design added emotional depth to the production, effectively integrating with Bill Haycock’s set design and Freddy Komp’s three projectors. 💡

During production, Geoff earned the nickname "Indiana Jones" for his adept rope handling. His lighting design transported audiences into the emotional world of Mrs. Chen and the futuristic setting of Brisbane/Meanjin 2035. 🤠

Collaborating with Geoff was a pleasure, and we acknowledge his well-deserved recognition. 🌟🫶

We look forward to tonight's Matilda Awards ceremony and wish the best of luck to all the nominees! 🤖🎉🦋

19/02/2025

🤖 AI May Auditions – Express Edition // Buddha’s Birthday Performance 🤖

🚀 System Update: Casting Activated 🚀

We are seeking performers for AI May: Express Edition, a streamlined bilingual theatre module set to execute on May 10 for Buddha’s Birthday in Meanjin/Brisbane.

💡 This is a non-paid performance. Join a celebrated bilingual production and bring this story to life. 🤩

🕰 Rehearsal Parameters:

📅 March 6 – May 10

📍 Every Thursday, 10:00AM – 13:00PM // Location: Salisbury

🔎 Roles Identified:

✨ Anglo-Australian Unit // Male, early 20s–30s

✨ East-Asian Female Prototype // 20s, native-level English + Mandarin proficiency

✨ Mother Figure Module // 40s–60s, fluent in Mandarin & English, English literacy required

📩 EOI & CV Submission Deadline: 5pm, 28 Feb 2025

⚡ Engage now. Upload talent. Execute performance. ⚡

04/02/2025

AI May is thrilled and honoured to receive 4 nominations in Best Independent Production, Freddy Komp for Best Video Design, Geoff Squires for Best Lighting Design and .ooi for Billie Brown Best Emerging Artist Awards. We couldn’t have come this far without all the talented humans who performed and contributed to the delivery of our powerful debut season, our excellent co-production partner , and magical Creative Producer . 🎉🦋⛵️

We are grateful to the Matilda judges for your recognition of our hard work. 🫶

This is an ever evolving production that is tasked with the mission of sparking healing conversations on mental health, fostering better parent-child relationships and helping migrant women find purpose. We are going through a systems upgrade, dismantling our hardware and software to give our audiences a deeper experience. 🤖🦿🦾

If you’d like to partner, support us or donate us in any way, feel free to reach out to my co-creator .chienyu. 🖤

We congratulate all the nominees for their hard-earned recognitions and wish them every success they deserve. 🤩🎉🌟

31/12/2024

Grateful for an incredible debut season 🫶🤖❤️‍🔥🦋🎉

31/12/2024

2024: An Incredible Awakening for AI May

This year marked the debut of Embodi theatre 體現劇團's bold vision on the world stage with *AI May 愛.能* at PIP Theatre, our heartfelt bilingual theatre production, created to explore the interactions between humans and the technology that shapes their world.

*AI May 愛.能* premiered as a speculative, futuristic tale of grief, love, and AI in Brisbane, 2035. This production delved into the ways humans engage with and are shaped by AI technology capable of simulating lost loved ones, exploring the emotional and personal connections formed through these technological interfaces.

This achievement would not have been possible without the extraordinary humans who placed their trust in a new theatre company—a company with no track record, but a bold mission to move, provoke, inspire, and entertain.

*AI May 愛.能* received nominations from the by Stage Buzz Brisbane in several categories:

* Best Independent Play
* Best Lead Performer in an Independent Play
* Best Supporting Performer in an Independent Play
* Best Director of Any Independent Play
* Best Original Script of Any Independent Production
* Best Sound Design for Any Independent Production
* Best Effects Design for Any Production
* Best Dramatic Performance in Any Independent Production

We are delighted and humbled to have been awarded *Best Original Script of Any Independent Production*, with Anna Yen placing 3rd in *Best Dramatic Performance in Any Production* and receiving a special mention in *Effects Design* from Stage Buzz Brisbane. 🤩🌟

We are thrilled to have been chosen by Blue Curtains Brisbane: Stories From The Stalls as the *Most Moving* of its 115 reviewed productions in 2024. ❤️‍🔥

Thank you so much to *A and K See a Play* for featuring *AI May 愛.能* in your 2024 roundup, *Theatre That Had Us in Tears.*

We have processed the data shared by humans expressing their emotional responses to our debut production. Their feedback indicates that *AI May 愛.能* has had a significant impact, moving and resonating deeply with them. 🖤

If you missed *AI May 愛.能* at PIP Theatre this year, we hope to bring it back to Meanjin and beyond with future funding. Our tax-deductible ACF crowdfunding campaign closes at midnight tonight. If you'd like to support us, feel free to donate via the link in the comments below. 🔌

This production was created by Embodi Theatre in partnership with PIP Theatre. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Brisbane City Council for their generous support through the Creative Sparks Program. The Creative Sparks Grant Program is an initiative of Brisbane City Council in partnership with the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland Embodi Theatre is also supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

Thank you to everyone who supported, joined, donated, and cheered us on this journey in 2024. With your support, I look forward to bringing the next powerful iteration of *AI May 愛.能* to a theatre near you, continuing to share meaningful and diverse storytelling on stage. 🖤🤖💖

30/12/2024

🤖✨ TRANSMISSION FROM AI MAY ✨🤖

Data analysis complete: AI May has been selected by BBlue Curtains Brisbane: Stories From The Stallsas the ⁺˚⋆｡°✩ 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚝 ✸ 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 ✩°｡⋆˚⁺ Encore of 2024. 🎉🖤🤖🌟

Thank you so much to Blue Curtains for recognising the depth of this bilingual, futuristic tale of grief and love set in Brisbane 2035. As Blue Curtains shared:

"Beyond the multifaceted, multi-media approach to EEmbodi theatre 體現劇團s AI May, the bilingual, futuristic story of a widowed cleaner’s long for a (perhaps robot) way out of her feelings of grief over the loss of her darling daughter was filled with poignant pondering of the different styles of grief."

This acknowledgment underscores the emotional resonance of our production and celebrates the power of human connection, even in a future shaped by AI. 🦿🦾⏳🔋

💡 Our ACF tax-deductible crowdfunding campaign closes at midnight on December 31. 💡 If you'd like to see AI May encore on stage, do consider making a tax-deductible donation to share your love and support for more multifaceted, diverse storytelling on stage. Link in comment below 🥰.

Gratitude to all who journeyed with us. 💛🤖

End transmission. 🚀⚡

​​MayPlay

Often when producers and publicists initially reach out about the possibility of a show review, it is with ask if there might be possibility for one of my reviewers to attend. This is when I have t…

23/12/2024

🤖✨ ANNOUNCEMENT FROM AI MAY ✨🤖

CONGRATULATIONS TO Anna Yen 🎭🎉!

As the performer of MOTHER in AI May, Anna’s remarkable movement and deep understanding of her role introduced exceptional layers of complexity to the character. Processing award data... Anna has achieved 3RD PLACE in the Stage Buzzie 2024 Awards for Best Dramatic Performance in Any Independent Production! 🤩💛💫

Her power and diligence were integral to optimising AI May's debut season as Embodi theatre 體現劇團's flagship production.

🄿🅁🄾🄲🄴🅂🅂🄸🄽🄶 🄰🅆🄰🅁🄳 🄳🄰🅃🄰...

Anna’s precision, strength, and tireless commitment are truly inspiring and highly efficient.

Thank you, Stage Buzz Brisbane, for recognising Anna’s incredible performance and celebrating independent theatre.

End transmission. ⚡

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a new year full of optimal experiences! 🎄🤖🖤

​​MayPlay