“Daddy says … My daddy says that you’re my sister.” With that opening line, the new play “Sisters” at Writers Theatre in Glencoe drops audiences into a world where a 6-year-old girl is told that her new sibling is a computer. Written by Matthew Libby, the play runs 90 minutes and follows the relationship between Matilda and Greta — a digital “sister” created by Matilda’s father after her mother’s death — across 90 years of their lives, jumping nonlinearly through Matilda’s teenage years, her 40s, and old age.

Greta exists only as a voice, performed by Chloe Johnston, and is described by the playwright as a being who “grows alongside” Matilda. “My body looks like a computer,” Greta explains early in the play, “But that does not mean I am not alive.” She refuses to be copied and does not live in the cloud, a choice that renders her immobile and dependent, a dynamic that both reviewers note as central to the play’s tension.

Brenda Barrie plays Matilda at every age, remaining on stage for the entire 85-minute performance, with her age projected during scene shifts. Greta, meanwhile, is heard but never seen, prompting one reviewer to compare her voiceovers to Siri or “a chilly narrator in a soundproof recording studio.”

Two reviews, two verdicts

The two major Chicago reviews of “Sisters” arrive at sharply different conclusions. Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, the critic describes the play as “intellectually and emotionally stirring,” praising Libby’s ability to blend existential questions about AI with a “traditional drama about sisters.” That review highlights the siblings’ mutual jealousies: Matilda resents the attention Greta receives from their father and from others who study her, while Greta resents Matilda’s body and her ability to be seen in the world. The Sun-Times also draws comparisons to Spike Jonze’s film “Her” and to “Marjorie Prime,” the Jordan Harrison play that ran at Writers Theatre in 2015 and later transferred to Broadway, both of which explore AI as a remedy for human loneliness.

The Chicago Tribune’s review is far less favorable. The critic calls the production a “miserable experience” and writes that they “couldn’t wait for it to be over,” awarding the show two stars. The Tribune attributes the failure largely to the staging choices of director Jessica Thebus and vocal performance of Johnston, arguing that Greta’s delivery “as if she were a chilly narrator in a soundproof recording studio” prevents emotional engagement. The review also notes that the plot depends on Greta “belonging” to a particular computer, a setup that feels outdated given cloud-based AI. Still, the Tribune acknowledges that audience reactions may differ, noting that others in attendance appeared to have a different experience.

The play’s questions

Both reviews agree that “Sisters” engages with timely questions about AI’s role in human emotion. As Greta grows in sophistication, she begins to make demands of her own — at one point she complains to a grieving character, “My dad died too.” In another moment, she tells Matilda, “The more we talk, the more I’ll learn.” The play asks whether an AI that remembers everything can forgive, and what it means for a human child to grow up alongside an entity that may know her better than anyone else. Libby, whose earlier off-Broadway play “Data” followed developers at an AI company, places these questions within a 90-year span, showing how the siblings’ relationship evolves from childhood through old age.

Production details

“Sisters” is directed by Jessica Thebus, with set design by A. Inn Doo, and is described by the Sun-Times as a “stripped-down” and “actor-trusting” production. The play runs through Nov. 8 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. Running time is 1 hour, 30 minutes.