ANDREA PHOX
Sara Koviak, left, and Anne O’Sullivan co-star in “Your Name Means Dream” at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, through Nov. 24.
“I am here to prevent your stress,” Stacy tells Aislin early in José Rivera’s two-person play “Your Name Means Dream,” which is currently being presented at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch. “Yeah, like a comfort dog,” Aislin responds.
It doesn’t quite work out that way. Aislin, played by Anne O’Sullivan, is elderly and starting to have a hard time taking care of herself. Stacy, played by Sara Koviak, is a robot — the play is set in the “near future,” in Aislin’s apartment in Manhattan’s East Village — and has been “hired” by Aislin’s son Roberto as a kind of caretaker/companion. But Aislin’s stress is just beginning.
Aislin is smart, funny, foul-mouthed and intense: Five human aides have quit over the last year, we are told. And as she gets to know Stacy, her resentments — mainly, at being passed off by her son to a “soulless, plastic, fucking machine” — start pouring out.
At one point, Stacy simply asks, “How are you?,” and Aislin responds, “Oh, shut the fuck up.”
They engage in a kind of verbal dance, throughout the play. When Aislin calls Stacy “beautiful,” for instance, Stacy presses her for an explanation as to what that word means, and why it applies to her. And Aislin is equally intrigued by Stacy; even as she is slinging insults at her, she can’t help trying to figure her out.
Stacy also is loaded with random facts and figures, telling Aislin, for instance, that in the Irish language, “Your name means dream.”
ANDREA PHOX
Anne O’Sullivan, left, and Sara Koviak in “Your Name Means Dream.”
O’Sullivan is very good as the cranky but still lovable Aislin. And Koviak is sensational as Stacy. Her vocal delivery is halting, with enough of the accents and inflections wrong that you can tell she still has quite of bit of fine tuning to do. And I assume that Koviak has a background in dancing, or maybe gymnastics, because some of the intricate, slightly stiff but still graceful movements she executes would be near-impossible for an actor with no such training.
She also gets to basically play another character — the aforementioned Roberto, who speaks in a heavy New York accent and is a real piece of work, and not in a good way — during phone calls in which Roberto somehow speaks through Stacy.
Rivera, who also directs this production, brings up a lot of meaty topics in the course of the play’s two acts, including the inevitable one: Is it possible for a robot to really take on human qualities? It is revealed that scientists are trying to take robots to the next level, which is identified as AOS (standing for “approximation of soul”). And at times, it seems like Stacy is already there: When Aislin treats her demeaningly, she seems genuinely hurt, and sulks, and fights back passive-aggressively. She also makes awkward attempts to express sympathy, and tell jokes.
But is she really becoming more human as she interacts more and more with Aislin? Or is this just the way artificial intelligence works: As she is exposed to someone, she keeps modifying her behavior, inching closely to something that seems almost human.
Is she just “a plagiarism of emotion,” as Aislin memorably puts it? And even if that is true, can the two still have something like a human relationship? And is this a morally acceptable way to deal with the loneliness and physical isolation that can come with old age?
ANDREA PHOX
Sara Koviak, left, and Anne O’Sullivan in “Your Name Means Dream.”
Stacy tries to help Aislin live healthier: Eat better, stop drinking, exercise more, etc. And Aislin resists. How hard should Stacy push her, in regard to help that has a positive intention, but that Aislin doesn’t want? Or should she be doing this at all?
Rivera does a great job of bringing up questions like these, but doesn’t fare as well in coming up with a satisfying payoff, in the second act.
A lot happens in it. Aislin and Stacy continue bickering. Aislin and Roberto fight viciously, and lots of dark family history is resurrected. A love interest for Aislin appears, as does a health issue. Stacy goes through some kind of robot freakout, spouting gibberish — including random bits of songs, movies, poems, cartoons etc. — as if she is spinning out of control (Koviak pulls this off in another remarkable feat of acting). The ending is chilling, but there is a bit of sweetness to it, as well.
And, no, Rivera’s big questions are never answered. But maybe that is kind of the point. Some things are simply unanswerable.
New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch will present “Your Name Means Dream” through Nov. 24. Visit njrep.org.
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