The Rogue, once again, entertains and provokes us.
We're lucky Tucson has the theatre company.

–Kathleen Allen, The Arizona Daily Star

...brilliantly performed.

–Chuck Graham, Let The Show Begin

...as usual The Rogue forces us to confront difficult subjects and to think and feel more deeply...
an incredible ensemble, and the music made everything all the more poignant.

–Laura K., Audience Member

This was outstanding. A truly remarkable play.

–Dennis W., Audience Member

I've been thinking about it ever since I saw it. So, so good.

–Shannon C., Audience Member 

Once again, The Rogue Theatre knocks it out of the park! I’m sure I, too, will not be able to get this play out of my mind for many, many days. Brilliant.

–Karen F., Audience Member

I can't begin to tell you how moved I was by your magnificent performance this afternoon.

–Marcia T., Audience Member

...timely and thought-provoking...

–Jim F., Audience Member

Trailer

Watch a short video trailer showing highlights from the play.

Click here to play video

Reviews

Tucson is lucky to have Rogue Theatre, which is now staging heartbreaking Marjorie Prime
Review by Kathleen Allen on February 25, special to the Arizona Daily Star

Can Artificial Intelligence ever replace the presence of one’s own family members?
Review by Chuck Graham on February 27 at Let The Show Begin!

Supporting Materials

Free “Open Talk” Video

Click here to see the video.

Everyday Science Fiction: The Emotional and Artificial Intelligence of Marjorie Prime

A Free Open Talk on Saturday, February 15 at 2:00 P.M.

Christopher Johnson, director of Marjorie Prime at The Rogue, talks about playwright Jordan Harrison and what recent innovations in A.I. have revealed about what makes humans human. Two of the play’s actors present a short scene.

This open talk is supported in part by a generous gift from Ed & Nancy Landes.

Essay

For more background on the play, check out Jerry James’ essay

AI, AI, AI! The When, How and Why of Robots

Poster

View the full-sized poster for the play.

Christopher Johnson (Director) first came to The Rogue in 2011 to play Jewel in As I Lay Dying and now serves as Assistant Artistic Director, Play-reading Producer, and Resident Ensemble Member. The recipient of eight Arizona Daily Star Mac Award nominations for Best Director, his directing credits include the Rogue productions of Under Milk Wood, Heartbreak House, The Seafarer, Great Expectations, Passage, The Awakening, The Weir, A View from the Bridge, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Middletown, The Crucible, Three Tall Women, Penelope, and The Picture of Dorian Gray; as well as Rogue’s Play-readings of The Great God Pan, Of Mice and Men, Seascape, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, I Am My Own Wife, Our Country’s Good, Loveplay, Let Me Down Easy, Everybody, The Illusion, No Exit, Don Juan in Hell, A House of Pomegranates, The River, and Elizabeth Rex. Elsewhere in Tucson Christopher has directed boom, Cabaret, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Altruists, and Speech & Debate for Winding Road Theater Ensemble; as well as Wit, Persephone or Slow Time, The Book Of Liz, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Killer Joe, The Rocky Horror Show, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage In Limbo, Bug, Titus Andronicus, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Etcetera at Live Theatre Workshop (where he served as late-night series Artistic Director from 2007-12). Christopher has acted in over 30 plays at the Rogue, is the author of three of the Rogue’s original stage adaptations, has served on the Board of Directors, creates all of The Rogue’s social media and video content, and recently illustrated The Rogue’s 20th Anniversary Season Coloring Book.

Christopher Johnson’s direction of Marjorie Prime is supported in part by
generous gifts from Denice Blake & John Blackwell and Eloise Gore & Allen Hile

Director’s Notes

In 1950, shortly after the advent of the computer, theoretical mathematician Alan Turing set out to answer the question, “Can machines think?” Since then, it’s been something of a race between man and machine––one in decline, the other on the rise––as computers become more human while humanity itself grows more robotic and antisocial. Face-to-face conversation has gone the way of the phone call, then the email, the text message, and now the emoji. We’ve been meeting the machines in the middle for nearly a century, at great cost to our ability to communicate and connect, forgetting much along the way of what it means to live, and to be alive, together.

Set in the near future, Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime is about the crucial role that memory plays in the retention, expression, and endurance of humanity, and how advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence are both changing, and revealing, what it truly means to be human.

In the play, an elderly woman named Marjorie lives with her daughter, Tess, and her son-in-law, Jon. Marjorie can no longer care for herself and her memory is going. She’s at the end of her life and grappling with the indignities of age. While her daughter and son-in-law work, Marjorie spends her days with an artificial intelligence companion called a Prime. Marjorie’s Prime is customized to appear as her dead husband Walter when he was about 30 years old.

Walter Prime not only keeps Marjorie company, but through the adaptive learning process of speaking to her and her family on a daily basis, increasingly becomes the keeper of her fading memories and the identity, or self, that Marjorie can no longer keep fixed in her own mind. When she can’t remember whether or not she had breakfast, Walter Prime can tell her. If she knows she used to have a dog but can’t place its name, Walter Prime can remind her. And if she doesn’t recall how she met her deceased husband Walter or even when he died, she can just ask him. Or, she can ask Walter Prime, at any rate.

Can we call it companionship without the possibility of touch? Is it possible to experience human connection with only the echo of someone who’s already gone? And in the seeming absence of mortality, what value remains in living? What might our idea of life evolve to mean in this kind of future?

In mathematics, a prime is a number larger than 1 that can only be written as a product of itself rather than as a composite of two smaller numbers. For example, 5 is a prime number because 1 x 5 or 5 x 1 = 5, whereas 4 is a composite number because 2 x 2 = 4. With this in mind, Harrison’s play reminds us that artificial intelligence didn’t drop out of the sky, it came from us. And however frightening or confounding we may find it, artificial intelligence is ultimately an extension of our own intelligence.

The limits of this technology, as dramatized in Marjorie Prime, illuminate and remind us who we are. The play may feel like a warning but, like any good work of science fiction, it’s not about the future so much as an uncanny rendering of the present. At a time when we’ve never needed it more, Marjorie reminds us what it is we’re here to do with the precious little time we have.

—Christopher Johnson, Director
director@theroguetheatre.org

Playwright

Jordan Harrison (Playwright) was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Marjorie Prime, which premiered at the Mark Taper Forum and had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons. Other plays include The Grown-Up (Humana Festival), Doris to Darlene (Playwrights Horizons), Amazons and their Men (Clubbed Thumb), Act A Lady (Humana Festival), Finn in the Underworld (Berkeley Rep), Kid-Simple (Humana Festival), The Museum Play (WET), Suprema (O'Neill Music Theatre Conference), The Amateurs (The Vineyard Theatre), Log Cabin (Playwrights Horizons), and The Antiquities (Vineyard Theatre) which has just premiered in January 2025. Harrison is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the Roe Green Award from Cleveland Play House, the Heideman Award, a Theater Masters Innovative Playwright Award, and a NEA/TCG Residency with The Empty Space Theater. A graduate of Stanford University and the Brown MFA program, he is an alumnus of New Dramatists.

CAST

WALTER - Ryan Parker Knox*
MARJORIE - Cynthia Meier*
TESS - Carley Elizabeth Preston*
JON - Matt Walley*

*Member of The Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble

Shannon Elias, U/S for Tess
Molly McKasson, U/S for Marjorie

Biographies

Ryan Parker Knox (Walter) had forgotten how many seasons he has been a member of the Rogue's Acting Ensemble, and with that blissful ignorance he's diving headfirst into his first full season since 2018-19. A South Dakota native, he has worked regionally in Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, and Florida but he's glad to have found his home in the Old Pueblo. RPK brings his versatility into a number of challenging roles this season and can't wait to see where the journey takes him, creatively and personally. He would like to thank his lovely partner CM for her patience and support (but mostly her patience) and to his zoo of fur babies back at the house who all lovingly ensure that no one gets a good night sleep.

Ryan Parker Knox’s performance is supported in part by generous
gifts from Carol Mangold, Joan Warfield and Diane Olson

Cynthia Meier (Marjorie) is Co-Founder and Managing/Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue, and has previously appeared in Under Milk Wood, Heartbreak House, Babette’s Feast, Great Expectations, Death of a Salesman, The Awakening, The Oresteia, A View from the Bridge, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Blithe Spirit, The Crucible, Three Tall Women, and The Grapes of Wrath. Cynthia has been nominated for nine Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star and received the 2008 Mac Award for her portrayal of Stevie in Edward Albee’s The Goat. She has also performed with Arizona Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Michigan Repertory Theatre, and Borderlands Theatre. In the 1990s, Cynthia co-founded a women’s theatre company, Bloodhut Productions, which toured throughout the American West and was published by St. Martin’s Press. Cynthia holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona.

Cynthia Meier’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts from
Ann & Andrew Lettes, Brock & Chantal McCaman and Monique Steinberg & Julie Cohn

Carley Elizabeth Preston (Tess) was last seen as Mrs. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teethon on The Rogue stage. Now in her sixth season as a member of The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Acting Ensemble, Carley has also appeared in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, Heartbreak House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Babette’s Feast, Sweat, Mrs. Dalloway, Passage, Twelfth Night, The Awakening, As You Like It, The Weir, A View from the Bridge, Blithe Spirit, and The Crucible. Carley received her BFA from the University of Arizona, where she was a member of the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Some of her other stage credits include Time Stands Still (Mac Award for Best Actress), Molly Sweeney, Enchanted April, and The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. She would like to thank the love of her life, Jerrad McMurrich, and their pups, Loki Björn Hiddleston, Freyja Laveau, and Indiana Idris Jones, for supporting her theatre habit!

Carley Elizabeth Preston’s performance is supported in part by
generous gifts from Susan Tiss and Eloise Gore & Allen Hile

Matt Walley (Jon) is a member of The Rogue Theatre Resident Acting Ensemble and was most recently seen as Jimmy Farrell in The Playboy of the Western World. Other appearances include Marana & others in If on a winter’s night a traveler, Mr. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, Don Armado in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Captain Cat & others in Under Milk Wood, Estraven in The Left Hand of Darkness, Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House, Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard in The Seafarer, Stan in Sweat, Stubb in Moby Dick, Dr. Bradman in Blithe Spirit, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Mr. Walley in The Secret in the Wings, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Roger in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Matti in Galileo, Edmund in King Lear and Uncle John in The Grapes of Wrath. He enjoyed previous roles at The Rogue in Bach at Leipzig, Macbeth, Richard III, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, Shipwrecked!, As I Lay Dying and Major Barbara. He also co-created and performed in Oaf at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre. He received an MFA from Dell’Arte International.

Matt Walley’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman and Kristi Lewis

Michael Fan – Violin

Russell Ronnebaum – Piano

Music Selections

This production features musical selections from:

The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (1718–1720)

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
by Max Richter (2011)

Preshow

Richter: Spring 0

Richter: Spring 1

Richter: Winter 3

Richter: Spring 3

Vivaldi: Winter, Mvt. 1 (Allegro non molto)

Production Music

Richter: Spring 1

Vivaldi: Winter, Mvt. 1 (Allegro non molto)

Richter: Spring 2

Vivaldi: Winter, Mvt. 2 (Largo)

Vivaldi: Winter, Mvt. 1 (Allegro non molto)

Richter: Winter 3

Vivaldi: Summer, Mvt. 1 (Allegro non molto)

Vivaldi: Summer, Mvt. 3 (Presto)

Music Director’s Notes

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) originally wrote The Four Seasons to invoke qualities of nature that he observed throughout the seasons. Modern-day composer Max Richter (b. 1966) set out to reinvent the timeless themes of Vivaldi through the lens of post-minimalism. His composition only retained around 25% of the original material, and in the process, he was able to extract the core spirit of Vivaldi’s themes.

It takes a lot of brass to recompose a masterpiece into a contrasting musical idiom. However, I applaud Richter’s ability to create music that pays homage to its original composer while translating those themes to a modern-day vernacular. I can only imagine the bewilderment that Vivaldi would experience if he could hear this version of his Seasons. 

In Marjorie Prime, playwright Jordan Harrison asks us to imagine a not-too-distant future where the essence and likeness of our loved ones are presented to us in a ‘recomposed’ format. Our decision to use Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s work might leave you wondering: Is there enough of the original material intact?  Should Richter have called his piece, The Four Seasons, PRIME?

—Russell Ronnebaum, Music Director

Russell Ronnebaum (Music Director) serves as The Rogue Theatre’s Director of Music and Resident Composer. He holds a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Arizona and is the assistant director of music at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oro Valley. As a pianist, Russell often performs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and various ensembles and choirs in the greater Tucson area. Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, performing the music of Dan Forrest. Past Rogue credits include productions of The Playboy of the Western World, *If on a winter’s night a traveler, *The Skin of Our Teeth, *Love’s Labor’s Lost,*Under Milk Wood, *The Left Hand of Darkness, Heartbreak House, *A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Seafarer, *Babette’s Feast, *Great Expectations, *Mrs Dalloway, *Passage, *Death of a Salesman, Twelfth Night, *The Awakening, *As You Like It, The Weir, *The Oresteia, *Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, *A View from the Bridge, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, *Moby Dick, Blithe Spirit, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and *Much Ado About Nothing (*original score). Russell also composes the music for Rogue Radio, a radio play series produced in partnership with Arizona Public Media, NPR 89.1 FM. Recordings, videos, sheet music, and upcoming concert dates can be found at www.RRonnebaum.com.

Russell Ronnebaum’s music direction is supported in part by generous gifts
from Peggy Houghton & Paul Garner, Lori Levine &Gary Benna
and Tannis Gibson, in memory of Professor Paula Fan

Michael Fan (Violin) has played violin in the Tucson Symphony, Arizona Opera, Arizona Theatre Company, and is currently Concertmaster of the Tucson Pops Orchestra. He also composes pieces for children incorporating music with re-imagined classics and original stories. Goldilocks, The Ugly Duckling, and The Princess and the Frog were performed as ballets by Dance Southwest. Dr. Solara and The Fossil Fools and Phoebe the Photon were featured at the Aspen Science Festival. The Little Fiddle, written for the TSO Piano Trio, is available on the album, New Kids Classics, along with Beethoven’s Mouse. Other composing projects include chamber music commissions and music for the eco-western Patagonia Treasure Trail. Michael plays in various genres, including jazz, klezmer, and tango. In 2019, he played for the Tucson Jazz Festival with the band No Fiction and for the 50th anniversary celebration of the honky-tonk band Dusty Chaps.

Designers and Production Staff

Cynthia Meier (Costume Design) worked her way through college at Eastern Michigan University by assisting in the costume shop. Most of what she knows about Costume Design, she learned from Katie Holkeboer, the costume designer and professor at EMU. After graduating with her MA in Speech & Theatre, Cynthia stayed on at EMU to teach Costume Design, Costume Construction, Stage Makeup, and Introduction to Technical Theatre while designing the university mainstage plays and supervising the costume shop. She has designed costumes for each and every one of The Rogue plays since 2005. 

Cynthia Meier’s costume design is supported in part
by generous gifts from Julie Cohn and an anonymous donor

Joseph McGrath (Scenic Design) worked in the scene shops at West Virginia University and the Juilliard School of Drama while he was studying to become an actor. He served as Technical Director for Arizona Theatre Company from 1987–88, and opened his own scene shop, Sonora Theatre Works, in the 1990s. Joe has designed and built scenery for Ballet Tucson for most of their ballets for over 20 years, as well as various projects with UA Opera Theatre. He has designed each and every set for The Rogue since its inception in 2005.

Joseph McGrath’s scenic design is supported in part by a generous gift
from Jerry James, in memory of Kathleen McGrath

Domino Mannheim (Lighting Designer) is a freelance Lighting Designer from Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2017 with a BFA in Technical Theatre and Lighting Design, and graduated in 2022 from Rose Bruford College in London with her Masters in Lighting In Performance. Some recent productions she has designed include Kiss Me Kate in Crawford, NE, Chicago, The Musical in Chicago, and If on a winter’s night a traveler here at the Rogue Theatre! As a traveling designer, she is very grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a talented team back in her hometown!

Domino Mannheim’s lighting design is supported in part
by a generous gift from Katherine Jacobson

Hannah Al-Baiaty (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with The Rogue Theatre again after previously stage-managing If on a winter’s night a traveler, The Skin of Our Teeth, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Seafarer, Great Expectations, Twelfth Night and Passage. Hannah earned her BFA in Technical Theatre Production and Design from the University of Arizona. Her previous credits include Stage Manager for Under Construction Series: Ralph Lemon & Friends at Park Avenue Armory, Helen Simoneau Danse’s Flight Distance at Joyce SoHo, Tucson Folk Festival, Arizona Repertory Theatre’s productions of Avenue Q and Voice of the Prairie, Assistant Stage Manager for Eugene Opera's production of Nixon in China and Assistant Production Manager for Pipeline Theatre Company’s world premiere of Byuioo. She also spent five seasons as a Costume Technician for The Gaslight Theatre. Hannah would like to thank her husband, family, and friends for their endless support and love.

Hannah Al-Baiaty’s stage management is supported
in part by a generous gift from Jill Ballesteros

Shannon Wallace (Production Stage Manager) first came to The Rogue in 2015 to stage manage The Picture of Dorian Gray, and now serves as their Production Stage Manager and Operations Manager. She has worked on over 30 shows with The Rogue, some favorites include: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Grapes of Wrath, Curious Incident, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, As You Like It, and If on a winter’s night a traveler. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona, with a dual emphasis in stage management and lighting design. During her college years, she worked on over 25 productions with Arizona Repertory Theatre and dabbled in production & company management at Arizona Theatre Company and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. After graduating, she continued to expand her breadth of experience to include different arts management positions such as Operations Assistant at Mudlark Theater Company. Apart from a one-year sojourn to Chicago, The Rogue has been her home for almost 10 years, and she is grateful every day to be a part of this vibrant and loving community.

Shannon Wallace’s production stage management is supported
in part by a generous gift fromVicki Ettleman

Omnia Al Musailah (Production Assistant) is an emerging writer with a keen focus on contemporary fiction. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and a minor in Creative Writing. Her storytelling is deeply influenced by her fascination with performing arts, Middle Eastern background, and academic studies, exploring themes such as food systems, mental health, religion, immigration, and womanhood. Omnia’s narratives often take reality to surrealistic lengths to convey her messages. Having always been a seeker of freedom, writing fiction is the truest form of freedom she’s known—transcending geographical boundaries and soaring high in her imagination. 

Christopher Pankratz (Property Master) Christopher’s Rogue acting credits include The Playboy of the Western World, If on a winter’s night a traveler, The Skin of Our Teeth, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Great Expectations, The Awakening, As You Like It, A View from the Bridge, Moby Dick, The Crucible, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, and The Grapes of Wrath. Christopher also directed An Enemy of the People and Constellations for the John and Joyce Ambruster Play-Reading Series. Christopher formerly taught theatre at Flowing Wells High School where he wrote and produced numerous new plays including The Longest Day of April, The Story Seller’s Tale, and You Can’t Make Wine from Raisins, which are available online for licensing and performance. While attending the University of Arizona, Christopher earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, as well as a master’s degree from the College of Education.

Christopher Pankratz’s work as prop master is supported in part by
a generous gift from Karen DeLay & Bill Sandel

Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) lit his first show at 13. Professionally, he was with BBC Television for several years, and was an assistant to the UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow during the inaugural production of the National Theatre (Hamlet, directed by Olivier.) Although his career was in architectural lighting, he maintained some theatre lighting involvement on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2009, he volunteered for The Rogue’s initial season at the Historic Y. He has been master electrician at The Rogue for every show from 2013 to the present, supporting our lighting designers. He devised the system that enables lights to be quickly re-arranged, allowing more time for the creative process. Elsewhere in Tucson, he directed the technical and logistical aspects of fundraisers for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, including the fashion show Moda Provocateur.

Matt Elias (House Manager, Sound Consultant) is constantly seeking out art whether it be theatre, music, television or video games. He became enamored with live performance at The Rogue Theatre in 2014 while joining his wife, Shannon, as an usher. His experience as a touring musician, his penchant for audio production and his general obsession with how stuff works, makes him useful in all sorts of tight places throughout the production process. Nowadays you’ll see him as House Manager, trading off shows with Woods Fairchild and you might not see him sneaking a peek at each of those shows from behind the scenes. Matt has experience as a Master Bicycle Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire/EMS 911 Dispatcher, and most recently a Production Brewer at Dragoon Brewing Company.

Woods Fairchild (House Manager, she/they) first met the Rogue by assisting their installation of “The Object” art piece in preparation for The Left Hand of Darkness. The Object’s designer, John Farrell, is a dear friend of Woods’ through her work with his wife, Carol Farrell, in costume design. John’s invitation to Woods to help assemble the art kindled an immediate friendship between Woods and the Rogue team. Woods formally joined the Rogue family in October 2023. In overlap with performance arts, Woods has an artistic background in dance and movement practice studies, as well as sewing and costume design. Woods also worked as a Project Manager with the Arts Foundation who manage public art projects, as well as distribute funding to support artists and arts organizations in Southern Arizona, including the Rogue Theater! Woods is a photographer, crafter, biker and her little old pickup truck is her true love. Grateful to be with the Rogue!

Thomas Wentzel (Box Office Manager, Program, Website) is a Scientific Programmer for the National Solar Observatory and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Arizona. Previously he has worked as a Data Manager for several prevention programs in the Arizona Cancer Center and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health. He has served on the Board of the Tucson Men’s Cooperative, editing its newsletter for five years, and on the Executive Committee of Sons of Orpheus—The Male Choir of Tucson. He has sung with Furry Day Singers, Sons of Orpheus, AwenRising and Arizona Repertory Singers, and has performed with Tucson Art Theatre in Viktor Slavkin’s Cerceau and Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty. Thomas has designed and built The Rogue Theatre Web site (with great assistance from Bill Sandel and Bryan Falcón in creating the 2020 Website update), and serves as Webmaster and Business Manager. He has also served on The Rogue’s Board of Directors since the founding of the theatre.

Our Thanks

Performance Schedule

Performance run time of Marjorie Prime is 1 hour 25 minutes. There is no intermission.