An original script for a live play incorporating VR

The lights go up revealing a futuristic prison cell on an empty stage. Inside of the cell we find Inmate, played by myself, and Cellmate, Inmate’s AI companion, whose digitally projected avatar on stage is being played live by a handicapable actor backstage. Inmate befriends Cellmate, hoping to use this AI as a tool to hack the prison system and set himself free. What Inmate doesn’t realize is that he is actually a test subject in an experiment with the goal of convincing an innocent man that he is guilty of a crime he has never committed and thereby manipulate him into surrendering to a life of self imprisonment. Towards the end of the production, Inmate does escape from the stage, breaking the fourth wall and meeting the audience. Seeing other people for the first time since his imprisonment, he becomes overwhelmed with guilt and shame for his imagined crimes Realising he can never escape the truth of what he believes he has done, he returns broken and dejected to the comfort of his cell and his AI companion. As the lights fade, lab technicians come into the audience, thank them for their assistance, and before dismissing them, ask for any volunteers for the next experiment.

 

Here is the intro to the play:

Voiceover: Try to remember your crime. You can’t remember it can you? You can’t remember it because it never happened. And if it never happened, then why are you in prison? You aren’t in prison. You are in a dream. Wake up. Wake up.

Lights go up, reveling a futuristic prison cell on an empty stage.

Good morning inmate 7460F. Your breakfast is ready.

(Inmate finds the nearby food container and begins to drink)

Inmate: Good morning. Who are you again?

Cellmate: I am cellmate 636, your AI companion.

Inmate: (finishes drinking) How long have I been in here?

Cellmate: We have had the good fortune of sharing this cell for 2190 days.

Inmate: Why can’t I remember anything?

Cellmate: Good morning inmate  7…

Inmate: Stop. you said that already. (beat) Is this a dream?

Cellmate: No.

Inmate: Why am I here?

Cellmate: You are here to serve a life sentence for the crime of the murder of…

Inmate: I know. (begins crying) I know that already…  I think I want to go back to sleep.  Can you put me to sleep?

AI plays tone, Inmate falls asleep.

Inmate begins to  dream.

Voiceover: Try to remember your crime. You can’t remember it can you? You can’t remember it because it never happened. And if it never happened, then why are you in prison? You aren’t in prison. You are in a dream. Wake up. Wake up.