The impact of AI on live performance

Performers now fit in the palm of your hand.
Provided
Performers now fit in the palm of your hand.
Oscar and Emmy nominee and Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award winner Steve Carell recently made his Broadway debut in the well-received production of Uncle Vanya. In an interview in advance of the opening, Carell commented: “I am a huge proponent of live concerts, [and] theatre. I kind of think it’s the wave of the future, frankly. With AI and with everything you’re seeing on a screen, who knows what’s real and what’s not. And when you go to see someone perform live, there’s no hiding. It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be.”
The use of video projections aside, that reflection does indeed resonate with those of us in the theater community.
Others have written or spoken about the value of live theater – as well other forms of live entertainment, such as concerts, poetry readings, and sports – as an antidote for artificial intelligence, or as writer Victor D. Infante put in a piece for Worcester (Massachusetts) Magazine, “live entertainment [is] an antidote to computer-generated cultural overload.” Infante was reflecting in comments with GBH (Boston Public Radio) executive arts editor and host Jared Bowen on how live theater is “an opportunity – and antidote to overproduced, overly computer-generated entertainment.”
Sharon’s very own PBS radio station, Robin Hood Radio, concurs: “Live is everything! It’s all about live. It’s all about communication. Marshall Miles always said what people didn’t realize about radio is the immediacy. That is key,” commented Jill Goodman, co-founder with Marshall Miles of Robin Hood Radio, Sharon, in a live interview.
Perhaps this is not a new thought, or even an obvious observation. However, who cannot deny that people today are looking for something “real” or to use an overused word, “authentic”? Both of these commentators shared that they yearn for “real acting, real singing and real comedy. It’s hard not to see live entertainment as a sort of remedy to that virtual ailment.”
As we know, in live entertainment anything can happen. Sometimes flubs or breaking character are part of the enjoyment of live entertainment, as it shows us that the performers are “real” people, as vulnerable to making mistakes as we are. Recently, on a live broadcast of Saturday Night Live, actor Heidi Gardner found a skit so funny that she broke into uncontrollable laughter. She was worried how her producers would react. But the audience and viewers LOVED it! Also, in live theater, there are no do-overs…except for sometimes. Some years ago, when theater legend Nathan Lane was giving a Tony Award winning performance of the classic A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum, he accidently slipped and plopped while making an entrance to a song. He picked himself up and said directly to the audience, “Let’s try that again.” The audience’s applause lasted for several minutes.
Brisa Carleton, three-time Tony Award winning producer, also reflected: “While…AI [has the potential] to enhance the live theater experience, it is worth noting that human creativity and performance remains a key aspect of live entertainment. AI is likely to augment rather than replace human contributions in the industry. Theater is an opportunity to remember what it means to be connected to other people in an experience that will never happen quite the same way, ever again.”
As you might expect, The Sharon Playhouse’s own Education & Associate Artistic Director Michael Kevin Baldwin, feels the same: “Live theater and other forms of live entertainment offer a unique, irreplaceable experience that stands as a powerful antidote to the rise of artificial intelligence and computer-generated media. They foster genuine human connection, evoke real emotions, and remind us of our shared humanity in ways that technology simply cannot replicate.”
Whatever the eventual role of AI is in the arts, one thing is certain. AI and computer-generated media can never replace the impact of live theater. Come and experience the impact and pleasures of live theater for yourself at The Sharon Playhouse. Visit www.sharonplayhouse.org to order tickets and for more information about our 2024 Season.
Lee A. Davies is a member of the Board of Directors of The Sharon Playhouse. You can reach him at leeadavies4@gmail.com.
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MILLERTON — In the short time that Rev. Dr. Anna Crews Camphouse has called Sharon, Connecticut, “home,” she has taken on an abundance of leadership roles in the area in hopes to grow and connect the community and people of faith.
Camphouse has been in pastoral ministry for almost 25 years. “Up until here, I’ve done a lot of things,” she said. Now, she leads four Methodist churches in the area.
After learning that the Lakeville United Methodist Church was without a pastor, Camphouse told to the district superintendent that she was interested and open to consideration for appointment. It was then that she was asked to take on Lakeville, along with the Sharon church.
Six months later, a year and a half ago, Camphouse got the call that Millerton had lost their pastor. In the first two years of her appointment, Camphouse took to running three local churches.
The next year, this past December, Camphouse was called to the Canaan United Methodist Church, as their pastor was retiring. Along with her current placements at the four churches, Camphouse is also “the convener of the Ministerial Association for the whole northwest corner,” she said.
Camphouse succeeds in carrying the impressive responsibility of four churches through a mix of organization and devotion. “There’s the technicality of how you do worship services, that’s more the science,” Camphouse said. “Then there is the art of it, which is ‘where is God calling me in this moment and how do I empower all of these people to be the best they can be, to serve God in the community?’”
With a staggered and rotating schedule, Camphouse said, “I just try to get to as many things as I can as soon as I can.” She also hopes to build a strong and cooperative parish model. “There are certain things that only I can do as the pastor, but there’s other things that a lot of people can do, and so I’m trying to make it more manageable in that way.”
“For somebody who hasn’t been here very long, I’ve somehow gotten super connected and involved. I think that is both the joy and the challenge of small towns. When you come into them, you have an option to be involved or not be involved,” Camphouse said. Her main goal and calling is to “connect communities, whether they are my churches or people of faith in general, toward being heaven bringers,” she said, hoping to spread the qualities of love, peace, grace, gentleness, and patience.
Growing up in a rural community in Alabama and living in other similar settings, Camphouse has noticed differences in the rural life of her new home. “This is a place that is rural, but it has resources, education and creativity. It has a mix of people who are interesting and curious and have incredible backgrounds,” she said. “People have been really willing to engage with me, I’ve had really positive experiences.”
“Apple pies are fabulous here. They’re the best things ever,” Camphouse added to the list of positives.
She has also been keeping an eye out for attendance patterns in each of her churches. “I think slowly the word is getting out as I connect with people, and more people are coming in to visit or to try out different things,” she said. The church aims to envision ways to interact and strengthen community engagement.
“When people walk into my church, I want them to feel the unconditional love of God,” Camphouse emphasized. “That is my goal. When they leave, I want them to feel uplifted and empowered to do things to make a positive difference in the world around them.”
Camphouse is excited and hopeful, as the Methodist church is becoming more inclusive and eager to love, which she says will strengthen the Methodist movement as a whole. “We have been on a journey of learning how to love better and consequently becoming more inclusive of who gets to come to the table officially. Some of us have thought everybody belonged at the table in the first place.”
“I want to make it clear that everybody is welcome at our church,” she declared.
Camphouse urges the community as a whole to “be as spiritually whole and vibrant with as much goodness, love and joy as possible,” and to “come out of fear and into faith and empowerment.”
“We need every person to remember who they are and shine. That is my point,” Camphouse said. “And if you want to do that with us, you are more than welcome. But if not, know that we are praying for you and that we will come alongside you as we do good works together.”
Webutuck’s Spanish for Educators program provided teachers at the district with weekly Spanish lessons intended to improve communication between teachers and students.
AMENIA — The Webutuck Central School District will continue to offer the Spanish for Educators program, which instructs teachers on basic principles of the Spanish language, during the 2025–2026 school year, citing the program’s success during the last term.
Webutuck offered the optional class of ten weekly sessions to faculty members beginning in February as part of an effort to address communication issues between faculty and the high percentage of students with a limited command of the English language.
According to Lauren Marquis, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology at Webutuck, around 22% of Webutuck students possess a knowledge of English insufficient to learn effectively in an English-speaking classroom.
The goal of the program is not to train faculty to lead specialized classes entirely in Spanish, but rather to make existing classes taught in English more accessible to Spanish-speaking students. “We are not a bilingual school — the primary language that we utilize is English,” Marquis said.
The Spanish for Educators program is intended to complement existing measures, such as translation devices and bilingual visuals, intended to make classes learnable for Spanish speakers, while still catering to the district’s majority English-speaking population, Marquis said.
Students at Webutuck may not speak English fluently, but they are not necessarily proficient in Spanish, either. “We have a large Guatemalan population who speak K’iche’ as their first language; Spanish is technically their second language and English may be their third,” further complicating the ability of teachers to provide accessible instruction to all students, Marquis said.
In spite of the inherent challenges of being a firmly English-speaking school with a population of students not proficient in the language, the Spanish for Educators program facilitated basic dialogue in the classroom and helped build relationships between students and teachers, Marquis said.
“We had some students in the last session come in to speak Spanish with our faculty which was a really valuable experience for our staff; they formed great bonds with their students,” being able to communicate in the same language, Marquis said.
The ability to engage more easily with their students was the aspect of the program which faculty found to be the most meaningful. “We had 18 staff members who participated in the course … The providers said that the participants were very enthusiastic, they were committed and they were taking risks in learning the language of our students,” Marquis said.