12:00: The Company Theatre on staging "Macbeth" in 2025 and founding a new community theater
1:00: Human-cyborg relations: how movies portray AI, robots, and human love
The Company Theatre is one of Rochester's newest theater collectives and is currently staging a production of "Macbeth" at The Temple Theatre. The Little Theatre is also screening a stage production of "Macbeth" this month, featuring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. The Shakespearean tragedy about power and corruption has made "The Scottish Play" as relevant as ever. Guest host Matt DeTurck and the artistic team from the Company Theatre explore the political themes of "Macbeth" and how they relate to today, plus the team's decision to open a new theater in a post-pandemic world. In studio:
- Carl Del Buono, actor playing "Macbeth,” and founding artistic director of The Company Theatre
- Philip Detrick, director of "Macbeth," and board vice president for The Company Theatre
- Jill Rittinger, actor playing "Lady Macbeth," and board member for The Company Theatre
Then in our second hour, from 1927's "Metropolis" to 2025's "Companion," the relationships that humans have with robots — especially as depicted on cinema screens — has always been filled with passion, surprises, and regret. With artificial intelligence becoming more and more ubiquitous worldwide, how has Hollywood portrayed robot relationships, compared to where we're at and how AI is being used today? Guest host Matt DeTurck discusses it with an AI expert and film experts. In studio:
- Max Irwin, founder and CEO of Max.io
- Adam Lubitow, projectionist and programmer at The Little Theatre, and programming director for Anomaly: The Rochester Genre Film Festival
- Meghan Murphy, co-founder of Anomaly: The Rochester Genre Film Festival
- Scott Pukos, director of communications for The Little Theatre
*Note: Connections is livestreamed each day on the WXXI News YouTube channel. Watch here.
