Garry Kasparov takes on Deep Blue in epic chess battle being re-created at the Park Avenue Armory (photo by Helen Maybanks)
Park Avenue Armory, Wade Thompson Drill Hall
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
September 4-18, $45-$90
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org
www.donmarwarehouse.com
A seminal moment in the history of man vs. machine took place in 1996-97, when Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov played the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a series of highly publicized chess matches that would serve as a critical turning point in the ascendance of artificial intelligence. That epic battle has now been dramatized by England’s Donmar Warehouse, which will be staging the U.S. premiere of The Machine at the Park Avenue Armory September 4-18. Written by Matt Charman (A Night at the Dogs, The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder) and directed by Donmar artistic director Josie Rourke (The Physicists, The Cryptogram), the two-and-a-half-hour multimedia show features Hadley Fraser as Kasparov, Francesca Annis as Clara Gasparyan, Phil Nichol as television commentator Mandy Dinkleman, and Kenneth Lee as Feng-Hsiung Hsu (or Tsu), the computer scientist, known as Crazy Bird, who built Deep Blue. The production, which should look spectacular in the armory’s expansive 55,000-square foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, is designed by Lucy Osborne, with lighting by Mark Henderson, sound by Ian Dickinson, choreography by Jonathan Watkins, and video projection by Andrzej Goulding. On September 7 there will be an artist talk with Rourke and Charman in the Veterans Room, moderated by armory artistic director Alex Poots ($15, 5:00).