It doesn’t matter if the actor is a robot; the virtual context of art and theatre is a site where a “vibrant materialism” might offer useful insights on the status of the actor, the object, and especially the robotic object, in an expanded dramaturgy.

Claudia Orenstein reconsiders the notion of “entertainment for the whole family” via a puppetry-centered program that, by drawing on the power of performing objects, delves into the uncanny and fantastical to appeal to young minds, inventive artists, and adventurous adult spectators alike. Edward Scheer considers the aesthetics of disappearance within Australian performance artist Mike Parr's most recent series of actions, Amerika , which involve extreme physical demands even as they posit the body as subject simultaneously to its own presence and absence.