Turing Test

What does it take to be human?

According to Alan Turing, it’s the ability to carry on a conversation with someone who believes you’re human.

But Adam (Finn Killgore) thinks it takes more, and that the answer lies somewhere in poetry.

“At the root of it, it seems fundamentally useless,” Adam explains in his monotonous voice. “The words are important. Because after I found them, they became bigger than me. And that had never happened before.”

With the help of Dr. Elizabeth Rossum (Julie Hays), Adam has enlisted the poet, David McKenna (Rick Busser), to make sense of it all.

“I wanted to talk to you and find out how you did that,” Adam explains. “I needed to know who you are. I needed to understand.”

Did I say “enlisted?”

More like coerced.

Turing Test is Dominick DeGaetano’s new play, directed by Taylor Edelle Stuart for No Future LLC. Now showing at the New York International Fringe Festival, the production traps us in a top-secret facility to witness McKenna’s struggle to turn Adam into a poet.

Even if it takes indefinitely.

With only four characters (including Elizabeth Chappel’s cameo as Seidel) and a few props, the company manages to deliver a show that is greater than the sum of its parts, just as McKenna’s words became “bigger than a man in a room” for Adam.

So check it out, then come back here and tell us what you think it takes to be human.

Whether you agree with Turing that it’s a matter of conversation or agree with Adam that it’s something larger than that, your reviews can help others decide if Turing Test passes or fails, and your ratings help us help you find future live events you’re sure to love!