We now live in an era where data brokers sell our micro-tagged marketing profiles to political campaigns using data culled from our Facebook accounts, smartphones, and virtual assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon Alexa.
- Several years ago, I listened to a woman become hysterical when asked why she didn't use a Clipper Card. Obviously not understanding how the card's tracking capabilities were designed to help analysts understand MUNI's passenger flow in order to improve bus and train service, she launched into a vehemently paranoid rant about why she didn't want MUNI "following" her.
- Viewers who were horrified at Google's campaign to scan and digitize hard copies of the world's literature continue to blithely ignore the way their smartphones and computers deliver oceans of information about their personal tastes and habits to data banks that can later be mined by artificial intelligence.
- In describing a new exhibit at San Francisco's M. H. de Young Museum entitled "Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI," Ina Fried mentions Lynn Hershman Leeson's Shadow Stalker "which illustrates the volume of personal information on the web. Enter your email and the exhibit starts showing a list of places you've been, people you know, and your phone numbers (albeit with some parts redacted). Another piece from Leeson, a video, highlights the dangers of predictive policing."
- Numerous articles have been published in the past year advising readers to install a virtual private network (VPN) on their computers and take proactive measures to limit the amount of personal data that can be stolen right out from under their noses.
The sad truth is that we now live a surveillance society which makes it much easier for corporations to predict our biases, behavior, and how we will react to outside stimuli. Ironically, laws originally designed to protect and preserve our privacy are now easily subverted by brokers who have no legal restrictions on selling our personal data. Whether or not it is developed by Russia, the use of sophisticated technologies (combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence) to create deepfake media content is now predicted to have a dangerous impact on the 2020 Presidential election.
While social networking has helped to build the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements, their impact can be dwarfed by disinformation campaigns created by foreign governments and Internet bot farms funded by deep pockets.
In a bizarre way, the manner in which passengers on two cruise ships were recently subjected to quarantines offers a warped view of what happens when freedom of assembly is suddenly (and severely) restricted. The United States Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United may prove to have a more devastating impact on our country than a pandemic caused by the recent outbreak of a coronavirus.
Has resistance become futile? The Washington Post recently published a chilling report by Hannah Dreier entitled "Trust and Consequences" which describes the predicament of a teenaged asylum-seeker from Honduras named Kevin Euceda, who has been held captive by the Trump administration for more than 900 days. Why? When the government initially required the 17-year-old refugee to see a therapist, he was told that his words would be held confidential. Instead, they metastasized from one report and detention facility to another, leaving the traumatized young man who fled from murderous gangs in his native country threatened with deportation back to Honduras.
Two dramas that recently received their world premieres from small theatre companies in San Francisco offer stark insights into how people manage to live in an atmosphere of fear, surveillance, and media manipulation. While each has its comedic moments, the underlying message from both playwrights is deeply disturbing.
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San Francisco has a long history of colorful characters who found ways to delight the natives while confusing and scaring tourists. From Peter Berlin and Jesus Christ Satan to Mr. Peanut and a dancing Christmas tree entertaining crowds on Polk Street after the bars closed, creativity flowed freely and freak flags flew frequently. |
| Self portrait of Peter Berlin |
I still have fond memories of attending a Gay Pride celebration during which a parade float rolled up Market Street with a banner proclaiming "Gays Against Brunch." Several years later, a pickup truck had a gaggle of gay men dressed in black dresses and veils bearing a sign that identified them as "Queer Widows."
Written and directed by John Fisher, the Theatre Rhinoceros production of Radical combines the seething resentment at challenges that currently plague the City By The Bay with the easy access to social media that allows people to become "influencers." Fisher stars as Jack, a quirkily optimistic iconoclast who takes pride in being the kind of do-gooder who picks up trash and gives people free rides in a rented Zipcar, but sees no need to search for a discreet place to relieve himself of urine (which is merely wastewater) for which the city has failed to provide an adequate supply of pissoirs. Jack prefers to buy an indigent person something to eat before he gives them money and believes that travel on MUNI should be free for all.
Using his smartphone to film upbeat messages about his daily activities that can encourage others to take action to help keep the city clean, Jack's YouTube videos start going viral. Soon he is being interviewed by a tiny local news outlet. Instead of sitting down for a standard interview, Jack invites Plant (Jacob Soss) and Diana (Polly Levi) to accompany him around the city on bicycles, while he jogs, and as he records one street video after another.
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| Polly Levi and John Fisher in a scene from Radical (Photo by: David Wilson) |
Plant soon falls under Jack's spell and believes Jack could easily become a candidate for District Supervisor if he secures some endorsements. Although Jack's antics are not appreciated by another local politician who has supported Plant and Diana's website, Jack is just entertaining enough to start building a public following.
Meanwhile, the acutely passive-aggressive Diana becomes increasingly aggressive in her sexual harassment of Plant, thereby creating a hostile work environment. Though they seem to fall in love, her emotional insecurities turn their relationship quite toxic. As Jack's political presence starts to grow, he begins to flirt with Plant, igniting a yearning that has long lain dormant.
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| John Fisher and Jacob Soss in a scene from Radical (Photo by: David Wilson) |
Although Jack has steadfastly refused to take any position on homelessness, when Plant suggests that he declare himself to be a Republican, things start barreling out of control (soon Jack is being endorsed by local politicos, up to and including the Mayor). But once he begins to take homelessness seriously, Jack comes up with a stunning idea. Having developed a list of residential properties that remain vacant, he encourages San Francisco's homeless to register to vote and, if they so desire, to squat at any of the addresses he has identified. In no time at all, he is able to fill an auditorium with 3,000 registered voters whom he encourages to vote him into office as a District Supervisor -- even though he doesn't really want the job. With Diana suspicious of his motives, Plant deeply conflicted between his love for Diana and Jack, and a city increasingly on edge, things quickly go wrong. Horribly wrong.
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| Polly Levi and Jacob Soss in a scene from Radical (Photo by: David Wilson) |
Working with a bare-bones budget, Fisher draws members of his audience into participating in Jack's antics (even managing to drag an "Officer Krupke" into the action). A prolific playwright and director with a fevered imagination, he adds a certain level of aerobics into the proceedings (Jacob Soss deserves special mention for his ability to zoom from a nervous lover to monstrous levels of anger as the confused and conflicted Plant).
Anyone who follows local politics will find plenty to laugh about in Fisher's new play (as well as some truly cringe-worthy moments). Performances of Radical continue through March 1 at Spark Arts (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer:
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As part of its Sandbox Series for new works, the San Francisco Playhouse recently presented the world premiere of Born in East Berlin. Written by Rogelio Martinez and directed by Margarett Perry, the action takes place in 1988 when 300,000 people showed up for a Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin.As the play begins, an American entertainment lawyer representing Springsteen is meeting with a group of East German bureaucrats to iron out a contract for the rock star's proposed local appearance. For Anne (Ash Malloy), this is all about getting the Germans to agree to the boilerplate demands by Springsteen and his band for the exact types of food and amenities they require in their dressing rooms. For the Germans, it is almost like dealing with a creature from outer space whose logic and language completely mystify them.
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| Lauren Hart, Ash Malloy, Christopher Reber, and Patrick Andrew Jones in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Just when Anne thinks all the legal details have been laid to rest and she can head for the airport, she is informed that Hans (Patrick Andrew Jones) will take her to a hotel room and be her guide and escort while a committee reviews the contract. Compared to a western hotel (even a Best Western), her lodging is pitifully drab and likely to be bugged. When one of the hotel employees enters, she tries to make conversation with him, unable to discern if he is shy, intimidated by her, or controlled by the government.
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| Hans (Patrick Andrew Jones) and Anne (Ash Malloy) in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
When Hugbert (Christopher Reber) asks how Anne manages to get her red-streaked hair to keep its shape, she decides to play with him as a means to an end. Soon, Hugbert is getting his hair smooshed and sprayed in ways he could never imagine doing by himself.
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| Anne (Ash Malloy) and Christopher Reber (Hugbert) in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
As Anne's mysterious stay in East Berlin continues, she tries to make Hans a little less robotic whenever he answers a question, yet remains unable to unlock the man's drab personality. As SFOP's artistic director, Bill English notes:
“We live in the absolute center of the information age, where the dominant economic powers of our age, bribing us with conductivity and connectedness, gather information on every aspect of our lives. It is not paranoia to fear these intrusions into our privacy or suspect that information gleaned could be used to deprive us of our treasured freedoms. Recent articles have lamented the number of people being falsely arrested when facial recognition software mistook them for a criminal with a slight resemblance. Laudably, San Francisco recently banned the use of facial recognition. We worry these days about our privacy and feel like thousands of eyes are watching us: surveillance cameras, the info we must share to travel or get credit, the cameras on our laptops.”
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| Christopher Reber (Hugbert) and Wera von Wulfin (Alix) in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
“The East Berlin of the late 1980s was a totalitarian state where fear was the governing factor, everyone was afraid of someone looking over their shoulder, and no one could be trusted. The prospect of a Springsteen concert brought out the worst in the paranoid minds of the repressive leaders. Everyone involved in the concert became a suspect to be watched by watchers who were also watched by watchers. The brilliant juxtaposition of the repression of this government with the freedom of rock and roll serves as a cautionary tale for our own age. We have a choice: to protect the very freedoms represented by our most uninhibited art form, or to live in denial that there are strong forces at work in our time bent on collecting as much information as possible about all of us that they would then use to take away our privacy and our freedoms.”
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| Hans (Patrick Andrew Jones) and Lotte (Lauren Hart) in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Although I wasn't especially moved by Martinez's play, its premiere comes at an extremely delicate moment in American politics. Whereas Radical's Jack considers himself to be a free spirit, the German characters in Born in East Berlin have become depressed and disillusioned under the control of East Germany's totalitarian regime.
Thus, while the lonely Hugbert may be emotionally drawn to Alix (Wera von Wulfin) when the pretty woman offers him free tickets to the Springsteen concert, he knows enough to privately question her motives. Though the rebellious, risk-taking Gerhard (Griffin O’Connor) tries to bring his cautious girlfriend Katja (Isabel Langen) out of her shell, simply knowing that her sister, Lotte (Lauren Hart) is a government spy gives Katja good reason to remain paranoid.
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| Katja (Isabel Langen) recalls attending a concert by Bruce Springsteen in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
When Springsteen finally performs in front of a huge crowd and pulls Katja up onto the stage to dance with him, her momentary taste of the kind of freedom associated with rock and roll is intoxicating in a way that her sister could never understand. Later, when Lotte grills Anne about her relationship with Hans (who turns out to be Lotte's boyfriend), there is precious little Springsteen's lawyer can do to save a man who long ago gave up any hope for freedom.
With projections and sound design by Theodore J. H. Hulsker, costumes by Stephanie Dittbern, lighting by Andrea Schwartz, and set design by Bill English, Martinez's play eerily resembles a period piece that, like a virus, could come back to haunt Americans. The strongest work comes from Ash Malloy as Anne and Patrick Andrew Jones as Hans, with Christopher Reber and Griffin O'Connor offering cuddly and comic relief. Only Isabel Langen's repressed Katja experiences a transformative moment, thanks to her spontaneous and life-changing interaction with Bruce Springsteen.
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| Katja (Isabel Langen) recalls being pulled up onstage by Bruce Springsteen in a scene from Born in East Berlin (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Performances of Born In East Berlin continue through February 29 at the Creativity Theater (click here for tickets).
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