WHEN CIVILIZATION CRASHES IN QUIET MODE

Cellunova Productions‘ latest outing, Destination Undefined ventures into the future with a provocative premise that might make you reconsider your stance on artificial intelligence and the human-like robots that may be heading our way if playwright Changshuo Liu’s predictions prove prescient.

Victor Gao, Lyra Lys, Jueun Kang, Tom Shane

The prologue’s exact year is unspecified, but it begins when five AI researchers from the Human Research Institute unearth a “Memory Cube” in a long-forgotten vault beneath Manhattan. Their investigation of this living archive of human consciousness quickly flashes us back to the year 2051, where the play remains until its epilogue.

Victor Gao, Tom Shane

Liu packs in a timeline of fascinating — and plausible — future events: the dollar crashes in 2031, the Rubicon chip gains mass popularity the following year, crypto becomes the dominant currency in 2033, the AI cold war ignites in 2034, and, by 2051, AIs are fighting for voting rights. These predictions — many within our lifetime — are half the fun, especially for sci-fi lovers of futuristic realism. Liu envisions human chip implants that store a loved one’s essence, and robots so convincing they can pass for human.

Lyra Lys, Jueun Kang, Chisom Awachie

The crisis: Bob, the eager intern, is revealed to be not-quite-human and there are explosions rumbling above. Civilization, built on algorithms, is imploding. The lab seals itself off twenty floors underground, with air and power ticking away. It’s the kind of setup that should build to a white-knuckle boil. Instead, in this early preview, director Yibin Wang keeps the pace consistently slow and quiet for nearly two straight hours without an intermission. Even a doomsday needs some tempo changes.

Victor Gao, Chisom Awachie

The five actors — Victor Gao (Bob/Max), Juene Kang (Emily/Jane), Tom Shane (Xavier/Lee), Lyra Lys (Grace/Q), and Chisom Rwachie (Robert/Kay) — deliver grounded performances, though they could use more gear shifts to match the script’s escalating stakes. A couple of extended movement sequences, choreographed by Jianing Zhao, jolts the piece into something distinctly stage-worthy, and the cast’s full-bodied commitment gives a theatrical charge that offers a little variety to the performance.

Jueun Kang

Scenic and robotic designer Qingan Zhang opens with a striking contrast: a black curtain framing actors in crisp white lab coats (costumes by Nuzzi Qiuyi Li). When the flashback begins, the curtain opens to reveal a research facility with impressive depth and a secure gold vault at its center. The technical team — lighting designer Sophia Zhu, projection designer/engineer Qixin Zhang, and sound designer Sophie Yuqing Nie — layer the production with varied visual and sonic textures, keeping Production Stage Manager Fuyuan Zheng focused and accurate with an array of cues.

Tom Shane, Lyra Lys, Victor Gao, Jueun Kang, Chisom Awachie

The deeper the researchers try to escape, the grimmer and more troubled the trapped characters become — especially because of the limited capacities of the AI controls — a warning if ever there was one.

Chisom Awachie, Victor Gao

Destination Undefined is thoughtful, ambitious, and visually striking — but it could use a shot of urgency to match its ideas. In a world where the end might be just one software update away, we need the pulse to race a little bit more throughout.

photos by Ziru Wang

Destination Undefined
Cellunova Productions
Theatre 154, 154 Christopher St.
2 hours with no intermission
ends on September 27, 2025
for tickets, visit Cellunova or EventBrite

Cellunova Productions, a multidisciplinary company led by first-generation immigrant and BIPOC artists, is dedicated to creating socially engaged work for communities that rarely see themselves reflected on stage.

Gregory Fletcher is an author, playwright, theater professor, director, and stage manager. His publishing credits include a craft book on playwriting entitled Shorts and Briefs, as well as a collection entitled A Playwright’s Dozen: 13 short plays. Other publishing include two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories, 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and five essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.