By: Michael Matthews | Publish Date: October 27, 2026
John J. Wooten’s Flawless is a dark comedy about artificial intelligence, playwriting, and the results of what happens when technology becomes a creative collaborator. The production used a mix of humor, emotion, and personal conflict. It was presented by Premier Stages from September 3-September 20, 2026. The final performance was a sold-out show with a full house in Bauer Boucher Theatre on the main campus of Kean University in Union.
The play explores the anxieties surrounding creative control, humanity, and technology. The title is fitting as the characters are not treated as perfect people. The play gives the characters flaws and complicated relationships. The talented cast helped bring these concepts to life.
The story follows a writer and an artificial intelligence software designer who engage in a psychological battle of wits to create the next great play. Tess, played by Ellen Adair, is the successful playwright who reveals to her former mentor and lover Frank, portrayed by Michael Frederic, that AI has played a major role in her work. She has traveled to California to stay with Frank while working on a new script. This script is based on one of Frank’s old plot ideas. She is struggling to write an ending with which she is satisfied. Desperate to break through her block, she secretly uses “Percy” and treats it as if it is a collaborative partner. The AI program Percy, played by Alexander Rios, is not only represented by a computer screen as the backdrop, but he appears on stage as a human. Frank is now a struggling writer who is deeply skeptical of AI and is disturbed by Tess’s reliance on Percy. This develops into a battle over writing, originality, and how much control a creator is willing to surrender to technology.
As the battle continues, Frank eventually learns the truth, forcing both Tess and Percy to confront the realities and possible dangers of allowing AI to take over human creativity. When asked what he most wanted the audience to walk away thinking or feeling after seeing a performance of Flawless, Mr. Wooten said, “AI is here to stay, but how we incorporate it into our lives and culture will be very important, particularly how we use it to enhance human creativity.”
There are only these 3 characters in this 75-minute play.
“Flawless is a rolling world premiere, which means it started almost a year ago … and is doing three weeks here. This is our last performance, and then we are going to Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, New York, for another three weeks,” Wooten announced prior to the show. However, he stated that, “this is a play that will never be finished. It has had three productions and for each incarnation, I have introduced new material as AI is evolving at a highly accelerated rate. The production running now at Shadowland Stages in NY has changed since the one at Premiere Stages to keep up with advancements in AI.”
When asked what inspired him to write Flawless, John Wooten replied, “I was at a conference where a panelist mentioned that he asked an AI platform to provide a sequel to the famous Arthur Miller play All My Sons. Seconds later, AI spits out a draft. As a playwright, this was very concerning, and I began thinking about a play in which an AI software designer and a traditional playwright battle to create the next great play.”
If you would like to see more shows like Flawless, read our article highlighting other KeanStage events this semester.
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