John David Washington has returned to the stage with a provocative and prescient play about the power of artificial intelligence with Andrew Stein’s “Disruption,” currently playing at New York City’s Pershing Square Signature Center through Oct. 4
In the Hersh Ellis-directed production, the “BlacKkKlansman” star portrays a Silicon Valley tech superstar behind a new algorithm that promises to make people happy. But the experimental tools end up changing the course of the personal and professional lives of a group of close friends unknowingly being controlled by the technology.
“It was the subject matter, quite frankly, AI technology, African American relationship to tech in both the creators and the consumers,” Washington told URL Media about what interested him in the show, which also features “The Resident” star Shaunette Renée Wilson and Tony Award nominees Conrad Ricamora and Elizabeth Stanley in its cast.
Brilliantly designed by Zoë Hurwitz, the production couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time; In early September rogue AI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic after just four months and spilled the beans about the dangers of the new technology.
“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” he wrote on X.
Evan Hubinger, the Alignment Science Lead at the San Francisco-headquartered artificial intelligence safety and research company, cosigned what the 27-year-old whistleblower stated, saying that the chance of this apocalyptic event in the next decade is more than 10%.
A story ripped from the headlines
The ongoing conversations about the fast-rising and controversial computer science is what attracted Washington to “Disruption.” The former Morehouse College football star previously made his Broadway debut in the LaTanya Richardson Jackson-helmed 2022 revival of August Wilson‘s “The Piano Lesson,” which snagged two Tony Award nominations.
“It was the tea, quite frankly, as well in this play [about] quite messy situations,” Washington added. “You know, it’s a very human, character-driven story. A lot of people are surprised when they come out of it, and mostly because of how much drama is in it. It’s not just a warning or dissertation or mission statement about technology itself but in fact human imperfections that really were stimulating and drew my curiosity.”
The Golden Globe Award nominee, who made his acting debut in the HBO series “Ballers” in 2015 before going on to work in films with Spike Lee (“BlackKklansman”), Christopher Nolan (“Tenet“) and Sam Levinson (“Malcolm & Marie”), said it feels “really good” being back on the theatrical stage.
Back on stage and loving it
“The feedback has been positive, and … you just learn so much. At least I do learn so much from night to night, about yourself, about where I am, you know, as an artist, and what I’m looking to do. So it’s been quite fulfilling,” he said.
Although his last big screen film was 2023’s “The Creator,” about a war of humans against AI set in 2070, Washington admitted he’s no expert in algorithms. He just plays one onstage.
“Well, quite frankly, I think I need to be more immersed myself even more,” he said, adding he doesn’t shy away about using technology to keep up with technology: “So I’ve been able to do some some research through the internet, you know, YouTube and books and whatnot, but yeah, it’s pretty scary.”
“I mean, 2030, I believe, is when they’re going to kill us,” he said, referencing the sobering Anthropic news.
Black tech titans and spirituality
“So look, there are both positive and negative effects to technology,” Washington, 42, said.
“I mean, what if it could also make people happy in a way, prevent people from making dumb mistakes, prevent people from going to prison or prevent people from making decisions that can alter their life for the worse. If there’s a technology out there available to make people happy, or to at least give them hope, or faith, that could be interesting to explore. At least that’s what my character’s mission statement is and his beliefs are. So as a whole, at large, I think humans, us people, we are the common denominator when something goes awry or something that might have been meant for good that usually turns bad. So, historically speaking, I believe that it’s still on us to be able to be mature and handle the technology properly,” he said
While there aren’t many prominent Black men in the tech space, the actor, who is, yes, the eldest child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington, credits inventor and investor Paul Judge (a.k.a. “Atlanta’s Godfather of Tech”) and MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes for helping shape his approach to the role.
“You know those were kind of my North Stars really,” Washington said, adding that he would listen to TED Talks regularly.
Spikes — also the founder of the Urbanworld Film Festival — authored the 2023 memoir “Black Founder: The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider,” which also served as inspiration.
“His times at Motown and what he had gone through, even moving from Texas to L.A. and his spiritual journey, I thought was interesting. I didn’t think to integrate spirituality in this because you know when you think of tech, I guess that’s not the first thing that comes to mind, “Washington said
“But in fact, that should be what’s rooted in it.”
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