2021

By Cole Lewis, Patrick Blenkarn, and Sam Ferguson

Produced by Guilty by Association, Co-Produced by Elbow Theatre

Under the glow of a flickering screen, a daughter weighs the worth of her father’s legacy. 2021 is a live performance where story, video games, and AI collide, blurring the boundaries between memory and simulation.

On stage, an audience member steps into the role of Brian, an unhoused veteran, reliving his final weeks in a New Jersey hospital. A digital world unfolds—endless hallways, bureaucratic roadblocks, fleeting human connections. Each choice shapes Brian’s story, narrated live by his daughter, collapsing the distance between past and present, the living and the dead, the real and the artificial.

As the performance shifts, reality fractures. Brian’s voice returns—not quite human, not entirely gone. 2021 confronts the ethics of digital resurrection, the weight of loss, and the question: If we could bring back the dead, even as data, should we? Can AI offer dignity in death, or does it only distort what remains?

Ways to Watch

IN PERSON: Thursday, June 5 at 8pm

Credits

Co-Creation, Prompter, Performance: Cole Lewis

Co-creation, Programming, Performance: Patrick Blenkarn 

Co-creation, Programming, Music, Sound Design: Sam Ferguson

Scenic Design: Helen Yung

Lighting Design: Itai Erdal

Technical Direction: Alex Grozdanis

Dramaturgy: Fatma Sarah Elkashef

AI Consultant: David Rokeby

Early Phase Collaborators:  Emma Cuzzocrea, Ezri Fenton, Laura Maieron, Shaan Tahir-Mehdi, and Daibei Wang

Guilty by Association (GbA) is an interdisciplinary performance collective that shifts its process with each new project. Led by Co-Artistic Directors, Cole Lewis + Patrick Blenkarn, they seek to expand what theatre can do, devising work from design ideas, exploring modes of storytelling, and scheming to fuse media to the stage.

The Elbow Theatre dissects the human condition. We develop shows that question accepted truths. Our productions engage our audiences with the realities of our world. Through process and production, The Elbow presents theatre that promotes caring for, and understanding of, each other. The Elbow was founded in 2012 by Itai Erdal and is based out of Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.

Acknowledgements

Developed with the support of Canada Council for the Arts, Tarragon Theatre, Nightswimming Theatre, Design + Technology Lab, Playwrights Workshop Montreal, Precursor Lab, and BMO Lab

Developed in collaboration with the National Creation Fund at Canada’s National Arts Centre.