“Disruption” a new play by Andrew Stein which had a short run in London in 2023 is making its New York premiere at the Pershing Square Signature Center, presented by Jack DePalma. Hersh Ellis directs the stellar veteran cast competently, with some minor distractions and “disruptions”. Scenic design by Zoë Hurwitz is sleek and confined, more retro tech than futuristic, but manages to capture a visualization of the new algorithm program at the center of the story. Lighting design by Reza Behjat is sufficient but relies on too many “disrupting” blackouts hindering fluid and seamless scene changes. There are moments when some extraneous choreography and extensive scene changing were irrelevant, making the play longer. Perhaps a better choice, might have been eliminating those moments along with the intermission to enhance the momentum of the plot.

The plot revolves around so called billionaire Nick (John David Washington), inviting old friends to a dinner at a very expensive restaurant to pitch a new algorithm program, offering them an option to invest on the ground floor, for a mere five hundred thousand dollars. The three couples all decide to attend the dinner after having a few heated discussions. They are introduced to the sexy, MIT graduated Raven (Emma Kikue), Nick’s partner in this exciting new venture that promises to solve all their financial and personal problems. Jill (Elizabeth Stanley) a somewhat neurotic Harvard educated lawyer, and husband Paul (Joe Tippett), a magazine editor are one couple. Their marriage seems as unstable as their finances, as they struggle to try and afford sending their child to a prestigious private school with entitled enrollment. Ben (Conrad Ricamora) is a college professor married to Suzie (Shaunette Renée Wilson) a psychiatrist. Ben is longing to have a child but also has had a secret love affair with a male student. Tenacious and independent Suzie rejects the idea of bringing a child into this messed up world. Mia (Irene Sofia Lucio), an aspiring photographer, has dreams of buying a Brownstone in Brooklyn, while her surgeon husband Barry (Jason Ralph), would rather return to Africa to work in a clinic. All three couples are having difficulty making life decisions that would ensure their happiness and complement their lifestyles.

So, Nick appears to be the Mephistophelian character, asking his friends to invest in an algorithm concept that will guide them in making the correct life choices, achieving success, wealth and happiness. All they need to do is buy in and let the algorithm choose their destiny, basically agreeing to sell their souls and relinquish control of their life. Of course, they are all swept up by the proposal, seeing it as an easy solution to all the problems they are facing. When the algorithm goes rogue, producing situations and circumstances that will ensure its own success, Raven quits when Nick will not stop the immoral process. Everyone gets what they bargained for, but it all comes with a hefty price tag well beyond the monetary investment.

The cast is superb with no weak link in this ensemble piece. The characters are well defined by the actors as they create depth and substance, but at times the script leaves them wallowing on the surface. The themes of greed, power, control, self-absorption and deceit are clear, but there are questions that remain unresolved. Will you be happy not having control over your own life decisions? How much must you sacrifice to get what you want? Is the algorithm the problem or are the humans the problem? Does an algorithm even understand what happiness is? Who is morally corrupt? Nick for inventing the algorithm, or the three couples willing to use it? What seems to create the terror contained in Mr. Stein’s new play is not the fear of what the future of AI will create, but how humans will allow it to be used. This timely and thought-provoking play is worth seeing, but the best part will be the encore. The conversation that follows when you leave the theater.