The intelligent staging of Jenny Chow

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow: An Instant Message with Excitable Music is a play written by Rolin Jones that features an agoraphobic, obsessive-compulsive (perhaps also mildly autistic) girl genius who decides to seek out her birth mother in China by creating a robot to go on the journey for her. She’s also a secret subcontractor for the Department of Defense and relies on the help of a horny Mormon (who’s on a conversion mission in China) and a malcontent Russian professor of artificial intelligence, and tries to deal with her adoptive parents along the way. It’s funny, compelling, well-acted (Scott Kennedy portrays four different, quirky characters wonderfully), and, dare I say, touching without being too mushy. Also between acts they played one of the Game Boy remixes of Beck, “4” by Aphex Twin (which I had to sing along to), and more tracks of the heady electronica sort. It’s been extended until June 3 at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, so if you’re in Chicago you should definitely check it out.

Use the code “Friend of Jenny” when you order your tickets for a $10 discount on Thursday or Sunday shows. Sweet!

Here’s some reviews:

At Collaboration, ‘Jenny Chow’ a must-see

Watch Jenny Chow come to life: