‘My Home on the Moon’ Fights Gentrification with Pho at SF Playhouse
As we are navigating our day-to-day lives it can be easy to lean on AI as a tool. Trouble with your cover letter? AI can help! Needing to write a script in a hurry? AI has got you covered! Do you need to fight the effects of gentrification and to save your failing Pho restaurant? For struggling restaurateurs Lan (Sharon Omi) and her chef Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson), their savior could be an ‘AI assistant’ arriving in the form of Vera (Rinabeth Apostol).
“My Home on the Moon” at SF Playhouse set to run through February, 24th takes on some difficult topics with humor, love, and pho.
AI Vera appears in a beautiful off-white suit claiming to be a consultant from an all-seeing telecom company. Lan, who has been making daily offerings to her ancestors, sees this as prayers answered. Mai is deeply suspicious. Vera only wants for the two of them to be happy…in the way only Wikipedia and TikTok can provide.
Lan (Sharon Omi – center) celebrates the new year with lion dancers (left – Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, right- Will Dao) in San Francisco Playhouse’s World Premiere Play “My Home on the Moon,” performing January 25 – February 24.
Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
Minna Lee’s play, whose world premiere took place on January, 31st, takes on the question of how much we are willing to give to AI in return for even the illusion of a perfect life. Utilizing the tropes of 1950s extraterrestrial otherness, Vera immediately and hilariously sets herself apart from Lan and Mai as non-human. However, this bot is programmed to learn fast and she quickly gets to the heart of what each character desires.
(L-R) A food critic (Will Dao) samples cuisine, watched by Lan (Sharon Omi), Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson) and a camera person (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) in San Francisco Playhouse’s World Premiere Play “My Home on the Moon,” performing January 25 – February 24.
Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
“she must venture into the metaverse and restore balance to her world.”
In this play directed by Mei Ann Teo, we are directly confronted with the darker side of AI. Visual similarities to the Matrix abound as Vera, Lan and Mai find their every desire met. Will Dao adds a lot of humor as he dances TikTok style to make Pho ‘sexy’. He appears again as a hilarious impersonation of every influencer food critic ever and as the unlikely hero from the other side of the Matrix.
Erin Mei-Ling Stuart lends her considerable talent as the evil, all-seeing, corporate villain. Hao Bai’s projection design and Tanya Orellana’s scenic design do an admirable job of insidiously expanding to include the entire audience in the illusion.
“My Home on the Moon” will run at SF Playhouse through February 24th.
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Vera (Rinabeth Apostol) is visited by CEO Gigi (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) in San Francisco Playhouse’s World Premiere Play “My Home on the Moon,” performing January 25 – February 24.
Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
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