Talk about prophetic. Data premiered as a digital production in 2021 and made its live debut in 2024 at D.C.'s Arena Stage, but Matthew Libby began writing the play in 2018, shortly after completing his undergrad degree in cognitive science at Stanford.

Questions about data usage, sale, and surveillance were circulating then, but not nearly at the level as they are now with the rise of generative AI and shifts in the American political climate.

"A lot of things I was writing about in 2018 which I thought were sci-fi at the time have come to pass," Libby said. "The play predates ChatGPT and the AI wave by like, four years. That's a data point I'm a little proud of, to be honest."

Data is a thriller, and key to maintaining a sense of tension and danger is "making it as tight as possible," said director Tyne Rafaeli.

"You don't really know whose side you're on or whose character you you align with until things get really going in the second act," added Justin H. Min, who plays Athena team lead Alex. The 90-minute, intermissionless structure allows for a gradual buildup of tension without interruption, and you'll be in and out of the theatre before you can say "algorithm."

Or at least, it feels like it. Data is a test of stamina for Karan Brar, who stars as Maneesh. With the exception of a brief scene or two, he's on stage nearly the whole time — but he likes it that way.

"I've never had a piece where I'm basically just sprinting from scene to scene to scene. That's the coolest part," Brar said. "These guys have to take downtime in between scenes and then get back up to speed. I get to just live in it from one scene to the next [...] it makes my job really, really easy."

Upon graduation, Libby remembers feeling "the pull of Silicon Valley" before ultimately getting a dramatic writing M.F.A. from NYU. Still, his undergrad experience inspired Data, which sees all the characters trying to navigate the often-secretive tech industry and square the company's values with their own.

"In some ways, this is a play about coming of age in Silicon Valley and finding yourself as a 20something in that world," Libby said.

Echoed Rafaeli, "So many areas of the tech sector are run by extremely young people, and they have the world's most important and pressing problems on their shoulders. That's an extraordinary paradox.

"In a world where you can feel really helpless, these young people are trying to figure out how to actually have some semblance of control and impact on the world they're living in."

Among all the digital talk happening in Data, one very hands-on activity pops up throughout: ping-pong. Maneesh and Jonah frequent a table in the break room at various points in the play, and the stakes are higher with each round. And yes, the actors are actually playing the game as they talk.

"The ping-pong acts as this beautiful theatrical device allowing these two characters to keep a conversation going," said Brandon Flynn, who plays Jonah. "It's sometimes used as a way to cloak our voices while we're talking about pressing matters, but it also is a reminder of this analog form [of live theatre]."

Rafaeli added that ping-pong is a subtle metaphor for some of Data's themes: the rapid pace and unpredictability of the tech sector's next moves, the characters' opposing ideas going head-to-head. Game on.

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