Lately it feels like we are in the midst of the wild wild west of plagiarism, where artificial intelligence companies seemingly feel emboldened to steal with impunity from writers, artists and other creatives. As evidenced by the contentious writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood last year to ongoing litigation from top American publishers, it seems unlikely we’ll find a resolution to a lot of these questions soon. The rules remain in flux, and it seems to me there’s no telling what the future holds for intellectual property rights in this brave new world.
A new play performing at the Jungle Theater, “A Jumping-Off Point,” by Inda Craig-Galván, grapples with the thorny issues of copyright, intellectual theft, cultural appropriation, and basic artistic courtesy, with a story that revolves around three characters. While Craig-Galván’s text doesn’t specifically mention AI, it was certainly at the top of my mind as I watched the characters navigate creative ethics.
Directed by Shá Cage, the story begins in the bright yellow apartment of Leslie Wallace (played by Vinecia Coleman) a Black playwright making huge strides in her career. When I say yellow, I mean every pillow, every piece of furniture, everything on the wall is all yellow in a set designed by Daniel Allen. I didn’t really understand this yellow choice, except the yellow matched the chalk mark text written on the periphery of the set addressing the topics of the play. It’s certainly a bold and interesting choice.
Gabriel Murphy plays Andrew Littlefield, Leslie’s white former classmate from graduate school who barges into her life to accuse her of plagiarism. Ashawnti Sakina Ford, meanwhile, plays Leslie’s best friend and roommate, Miriam Forest. Sakina Ford adds comic relief to the story, and also serves a narrative purpose by helping to round out the other two characters through their conversations with her and conversations between the three of them.
Ultimately, it’s a big idea play. We don’t ever learn much about Leslie’s backstory or her current relationships or family— in fact there’s actually more biographical information about the antagonist, who we learn comes from Indiana, and has a Trump-supporting family he doesn’t talk to. We learn even less about Miriam.
What we get instead is a robust debate about power, privilege, and the question of who gets to write what story. It’s the kind of play that you’ll want to have a discussion about afterward, and for me that’s my favorite kind of theater.
Wednesday, May 1-Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m., through May 19 at the Jungle ($16-96). More information here.
Sheila Regan
Sheila Regan is a Twin Cities-based arts journalist. She writes MinnPost’s twice-weekly Artscape column. She can be reached at sregan@minnpost.com.
