“innovative and compelling work”Brooklyn Paper
At HERE Arts Center
The Harmnf
On New Technology,
Artistic Collaboration,
and Other Difficulties
Five performances · January 2027
- Thursday, January 21
- Friday, January 22
- Saturday, January 23
- Saturday, January 23
- Sunday, January 24
Tickets coming soon
The Harmnf is Kevin (as a robot) Laibson’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Harmfulness of Tobacco, and a lecture about his failed attempt to direct a virtual production of that same play using only AI collaborators, including a synthetic actor in the starring role.
Performed live at HERE and simultaneously broadcast into virtual reality for a remote audience, The Harmnf finds Laibson armed with a VR headset, a temperamental slide deck, and several years of questionable decisions as he attempts to explain what went wrong.
What follows is a funny, increasingly personal exploration of artificial intelligence, creativity, isolation, and what it actually means to share space and ideas with other people.
Five performances only
Join us at HERE.
January 21–24, 2027
Dorothy B. Williams Theater
60 minutes · No intermission
The theater
HERE Arts Center
Dorothy B. Williams Theater
145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013
Entrance on Dominick Street
Tickets will be available through HERE.
Check back for the booking link.
The people behind
the difficulties.
- Written and performed by
- Kevin (as a robot) Laibson
Read Kevin’s bio
Kevin Laibson is a director, performer, researcher and educator whose work spans theater, comedy, and virtual performance. He is the former Artistic Director of The Peoples Improv Theater and co-founder of Magic Futurebox. He has produced and directed for The Public Theater, National Sawdust, The New Ohio, and The Flea, and spent ten years directing the award-winning sketch group City Hall.
As Senior Experience Director at Agile Lens, he researches and develops tools for virtual performance and rehearsal. In 2026, he has spoken at conferences around the world about his research with the Royal Shakespeare Company on how artists rehearse and work together in virtual spaces.
As a performer, he is half of the improvisation duo Calvin & Craig and appears in Brandon Powers’ livestream project Theatre Royale, where he played Estragon in Waiting for Godot at Lincoln Center (in Fortnite. Seriously.). Additional credits include Off-Rail (Raindance Immersive), PUBLIC /PRIVATE (New Museum), and the National Comedy Theatre’s New York ensemble.
He teaches improvisation at the Atlantic Acting School and NYU.
More at kevinasarobot.website.
- Directed by
- Parker Denton
Read Parker’s bio
Parker is an NYC-based director and clown/mime. He’s very excited to work with Kevin again on this very wordy show after Kevin directed Parker in his wordless solo show Delusions of Grandeur. Past credit highlights include performing with the house sketch team National Scandal, directing Mike Reiss’ Comedy is Hard starring Elizabeth Ashley and Todd Sussman, and working with Richard Schechner on Imagining O at Peak Performances.
- Stage manager
- Pat Maliwat
Read Pat’s bio
Pat Maliwat graduated Magna Cum Laude in BA Theatre Arts major in Dramaturgy and Directing from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She was a Stage Manager in productions such as “The Virgin Labfest” (Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2019–2020), “The Last Five Years” (Barefoot Theatre Collaborative, 2023–2024), “Into The Woods” (Theatre Group Asia, 2025), “Your Mind, Girls: The First Battleground for Freedom” (Barnard College NYC, 2025), “Miracle on 34th Street” (Phoenix Productions, Count Basie Center for the Arts), and “Truth: A Biofictional Choreopoem” (La MaMa NYC).
- Produced and with technology by
- Agile Lens Immersive Design
Read Agile Lens’s bio
Agile Lens is an award-winning XR studio pioneering immersive technology at the intersection of live performance, spatial computing, and emerging media. With over a decade of innovation, the studio creates real-time, story-driven experiences that scale across entertainment, architecture, and enterprise sectors. Their portfolio includes large-scale co-located installations, such as the 5,000 sq ft VR Holodeck built in partnership with DBOX and Pureblink for Four Seasons Private Residences Austin, as well as groundbreaking virtual productions like A Christmas Carol VR, La Pasión XR, and Your Mind, Girls.
Rooted in theatrical design and backed by deep technical expertise, Agile Lens bridges physical and digital environments through proprietary pipelines that integrate motion capture, multi-user networking, real-time rendering, and volumetric media. The studio is a trusted R&D partner for institutions like the Royal Shakespeare Company and has collaborated with leading organizations including NVIDIA, Epic Games, Samsung, Vodafone, IBM, Intel, Lincoln Center, and The Shed at Hudson Yards. Agile Lens also led development on the award-winning, now Peabody Award-nominated social impact VR experience Body of Mine, porting the project from desktop to Meta Quest.
A frequent presenter at major industry conferences including GDC, SIGGRAPH, AWE, SXSW, and Unreal Fest, Agile Lens delivers forward-looking solutions that transform bold creative visions into embodied, immersive realities.
- Adapted from
- Anton Chekhov’s The Harmfulness of Tobacco