A Radio Play Mockumentary.

In the government-funded pilot project K.I.T.A., an intelligent nanny system is being used for the first time in Germany. Kindergarten teachers are enthusiastic, but how do parents and children react to the KidBots?

Children play with robots and learn from them. Parents provide voice samples for the AI to imitate or choose the voice for their parenting robot from a database. Kindergarten teacher’s determine the educational concepts of the parents, so that the KidBots educate their offspring according to their expectations. Kindergarten staff praise the new possibilities and the relief provided by the intelligent system. The robots work perfectly and do what they are told. Everything goes according to plan. But is this reasonable or senseless?

The authors create a reflective space of lively scenes in which precisely that remains unclear. The play follows a long tradition of dystopian literature about machine people since Mary Shelly invented Frankenstein. But the greatest danger may not lie in the uncontrollability of the machines.

The piece is an experimental mix of fiction and documentary, a radio play turned social experiment with lots of improvisation. Real parents and children as well as a real kindergarten director react spontaneously to fictional scenes and professional actors.

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