'Zero' lets the audience decide the fate of characters - here's how you can participate

Equal parts AI and sci-fi dipped in immersion, “Zero” is coming to Albuquerque.

The free show by the Santa Fe-based Exodus Ensemble opened on Nov. 8, at Chatter Albuquerque, and runs through Nov. 24.

This is a play for people who don’t attend the theater, said artistic director April Cleveland.

Blending parts of “Black Mirror,” “Silicon Valley” and “Squid Game,” “Zero” lures audiences into interactive games where they earn points and decide the fate of characters.

The group based the show on a 1923 expressionist play called “The Adding Machine” by Elmer Rice.

“It’s a lot more like what people see on Netflix or Max,” Cleveland said.

“The audience receives a video beforehand — information on four characters,” she continued. “When they get into the experience, they’re allowed to choose one character and they’re on the character’s team. They sit behind the character. We turn the space into an arena.”

All of the characters work for a tech firm called Equilibrium. An AI robot named Daisy rules from the center of the show.

“She’s kind of the mastermind,” Cleveland said.

The CEO is named Tony; Zero is the mastermind who created Daisy; Leif is Zero’s wife, a highly paid executive and marketing director; and Shru is the janitor.

“They all have different perspectives on Daisy,” Cleveland said. “Some people think tech like this could replace jobs people don’t want to do. Others think a robot should connect with people; others think this is problematic.”

The Exodus Ensemble emerged from the pandemic.

“I went to St. John’s (College in Santa Fe) and then I went to DePaul (University in Chicago),” Cleveland said. “We all graduated and started working professionally. Then COVID happened and the industry shut down.”

Cleveland sent an email to “all of the best actors” inviting them to Santa Fe to rent a house and create a theater company. They spent most of 2020 in the house creating a contemporary version of Anton Chekhov’s 1887 play “Ivanov.”

In 2021, they invited a small audience to the home to see it.

“Word spread and we kept doing it,” she said.

Last year, the group performed “Zero” in San Francisco “in one of those cool tech companies,” Cleveland said.

Next year, they are taking it to New York.

“We ask for donations after every show,” Cleveland added. “Last year we raised $500,000.”