“This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be.” Alan Turing, The Times, 1949
I AM ALAN TURING
An Artificially Intelligent Opera
Acclaimed composer Matthew Suttor and an international team of musicians, coders, and theatre makers are creating a groundbreaking opera inspired by visionary computer scientist Alan Turing and his world-altering predictions. Incubated at Yale’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) and developed in collaboration with Artificial Intelligence, I AM ALAN TURING traverses time, space, and history to ask some of the biggest existential questions of our time.
Who is Alan Turing?
Alan Turing paved the way for the development of modern computers and foresaw the advent of Artificial Intelligence proposing the “Turing Test” or “imitation game,” a then-hypothetical experiment, to test the humanness of thinking machines.
Despite speeding the Allied Forces' to victory in World War II with his expertise in cryptanalysis, in 1952 he was prosecuted for “Gross Indecency” and was subjected to chemical castration. Tragically, Turing died by suicide on 7 June 1954, sixteen days shy of his 42nd birthday.
I AM ALAN TURING draws on Turing’s fascination with natural number patterns to present a performance made for the age of AI.
The production is deeply influenced by Turing’s theoretical biological research on morphogenesis and phyllotaxis—the chemical blueprint for life. The music, driven by analog synthesisers, features cascading harmonies derived from Fibonacci spirals found in sunflowers sounding uncannily like baroque music—think Handel on acid! These chords unite the harmonic series and Prime numbers and are a stunning reflection of the forms that fascinated Turing. Classical sounds and pulsing pop rhythms create an accessible and eclectic musical experience.
The creative team worked with a bespoke version of Open AI’s GPT fine-tuned for the project and the libretto evolved from a joint endeavor between humans and machines. The startling result is part theatrical Turing Test and part séance, channelling Turing’s voice into the creative process. Elements of Turing’s life, his singular way of thinking, and his struggle to find love, combine to create a moving experience engaging audiences and technology enthusiasts alike.
Company of Artists
is a New Zealand-born composer who specializes in combining electronic and acoustic music. He is Program Manager at the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media and Senior Lecturer in Theater and Performance Studies at Yale.
www.matthewsuttor.com
Hugh Farrell
is an Irish dramaturg, producer, and Head of Cultural Affairs for the Irish Embassy in Paris. His work imagines new ways for audiences to interact with art, technology and the environment.
www.hughfarrell.com
is a Colombian visual designer whose work focuses on adapting new technologies for live performance. He is an Assistant Professor at SFU's School for the Contemporary Arts in Theatre Design, Vancouver, Canada.
www.wawr.ca
Emily Reilly
is a British/Irish performance maker and dramaturg working across theater, film, and dance. Emily is Co-Artistic Director of HORSE Performance Company. Her work addresses questions of embodiment, memory, and the limits of language.
is a Nigerian-American performer, writer, and co-founder of
Midnight Oil Collective. Recent credits include Broadway’s Camelot and The Metropolitan Opera’s Intimate Apparel (a Lincoln Center New Work Commission). Sola’s work focuses on new and devised projects for theater and film.
Madeline Pages
is an American dramaturg, writer, and digital content creator whose work bridges the fields of performing arts, historiography, technology, and media theory. Her current research interests include the historical use of performance as a tool for marketing scientific innovation.
is a Canadian-American sound designer, composer, and musician whose work explores the intersection of jazz improvisation and collaborative theater-making. He is Assistant Professor of Sound Design and Composition at University of Minnesota’s Department of Theatre Arts & Dance.
www.fredkennedy.org
Dakota Stipp
is an entrepreneur, software developer, interdisciplinary designer, and composer who develops new applications for spatial and sensor technologies in performances and exhibitions. He is CEO of Amuse Technologies, a startup in the arts and culture space.
www.instagram.com/dakotamakes
is a sound designer whose work explores the power of sound to transform our perception of space. He is the Assistant Professor of Sound Design and Technology at Louisiana State University.
www.tylerkieffer.com
Jean-Francois Monette
is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. His body of work explores themes of representation and sexual identity. His current documentary, Diary of Gay Clone, examines the dress codes of gay men in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Liam Bellman-Sharpe
is an Australian composer, multi-instrumentalist, sound designer, writer, and baritone. Working in a variety of disciplines across live, recorded, and hybrid media, Liam’s work straddles the silly and the cerebral.
www.liambellmansharpe.com
John Kao
is a production strategist, Turing Fellow, CCAM; Visiting Fellow, SEAS; Tony nominated producer, former Harvard Business School professor, serial entrepreneur, and innovation activist.
Production Team
Aura Michelle
Is a Canadian, multi-hyphenate artist, and third-year MFA stage management Candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Her passion lies in new plays and projects, music, dance, and collaborative performance creation.
Matthew Harrison
is a multifaceted musician with degrees in piano and voice, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in choral conducting.