Stacy, a humanoid caregiver in the not-so-distant future, is assigned to the ailing and acerbic Aislin.
“Touch my hand and I can know your heart rate and blood pressure,” Stacy assures Aislin. “Look in my eyes and I will understand the secrets of your nervous, circulatory, and limbic systems.”
Aislin, aging not-so-gracefully in her New York City walk up, scornfully declares the humanoid robot, sent to her for free by her estranged son, is no better than a toaster.
Never one to give up, Stacy, responds deadpan: “I put some bread in the toaster but it never popped up again. It was comatoast.”
“Your Name Means Dream,” playing through July 6 at TheaterWorks Hartford, explores the relationship between Aislin and Stacy – but also provides a glimpse into a future where humanoid robots are caregivers to aging humans.
José Rivera, 70, writer and director, said the idea for the play came to him five years ago when he began to think about long-term care, and what might happen when “you don't have anyone in your life, you don't have children living with you, you don't have a spouse, siblings are far away, and you're alone, and what if the only companionship you can get is an AI person or thing?”
Rivera, an Academy Award-nominee for the 2004 film “The Motorcycle Diaries,” said audiences are often moved because they have a parent needing care, or a spouse that recently died. “We all know folks who have become senile, or have strokes. And people who come to the theater for this play generally have had something in their lives that resonates with the play.”
Will robots play a future role in home health care?
Among the audience at a recent screening in Hartford was Jill O’Neil of Burlington, a nurse at Hartford HealthCare. She said a Stacy-like robot in a nursing home may not be a bad idea.
It would give dementia patients “a few minutes of connection to someone or something … because they don't know human from robot,” she said.
Robotic caregivers could also fill some stark labor shortages.
The U.S. economy currently relies on the unpaid labor of up to 100 million adults, acting as caregivers for family and friends, according to the new PBS documentary “Caregiving.”
More than 5 million paid caregivers work at private houses and assisted living facilities, earning an average annual salary of $23,700 a year.
Meanwhile, care professions had nearly 2 million vacancies in 2023, as demand for services continued to increase. That’s due to an aging and sicker population, according to the nonprofit Center Forward.
Plugging labor shortages in industries across the economy could be millions of humanoid robots — nearly 300 million by 2050, according to a new report from the investment banking firm UBS.
As “Your Name Dream” progresses, Stacy’s character arc evolves from stiffly learning Aislin’s name – Dream, in Irish – and her own, to peppering conversations with references to philosophers, poets and writers. Stacy even dances the salsa with a giggling Aislin in the living room.
Actors Sara Koviak (Stacy) and Anne O’Sullivan (Aislin) wring every emotion from Rivera’s tight writing and wryly sharp wit, showing what aging looks like when one is ill, alone, lonely, and poor.
Cecile Baranowski, 87, traveled from Fremont, New Hampshire, to see her niece, Koviak, on stage.
“I'm still running around and dancing and traveling the world,” Baranowski said.
“[But in the future], I wouldn't mind having a robot like Sara [care for me],” she said. “That would be wonderful!”
Learn more
“Your Name Means Dream” plays through July 6 at TheaterWorks Hartford. Running time is 2 hours. Tickets are available here.
