February 28, 2026
ARTIFISHAL IDIOTS
A New Theatre Experience by The Flying Karamazov Brothers
A hilarious, provocative, awe-inspiring exploration of humanity in the age of AI
Date and time
February 26th - March 1st, 2026
7PM - Thursday - Sun
2PM - Matinee in Sat and Sun
Location
Joseph Wheeler Theatre at Fort Worden
25 Eisenhower Ave, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Tickets
$40 - General Admission
$20 - Kids on matinees only
To purchase tickets visit:
https://www.theproductionalliance.org/fkb
Press contact
Daniel Milholland - 360-386-0519
danny@theproductionalliance.org
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The Flying Karamazov Brothers—legendary for over five decades of boundary-pushing physical comedy, virtuosic juggling, and social commentary—return with an entirely new theatrical work: Artifishal Idiots, a bold, funny, and unsettling meditation on artificial intelligence and what it means to be human.
Set in a not-too-distant future where flesh-and-blood humans may no longer exist, Artifishal Idiots blends high-level juggling, movement, music, and live performance with AI-generated visuals and hallucination-like projections across three massive screens. The result is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that asks big questions while delivering nonstop laughter and jaw-dropping physical feats.
“What started as a more traditional Karamazov show kept veering—almost inevitably—toward AI,” says creator and performer Paul Magid (a.k.a. Dmitri Karamazov). “Artificial intelligence is the biggest story of our time. We’re standing at the edge of something thrilling and terrifying. This show lives right on that edge.”
At the heart of Artifishal Idiots is a deceptively simple question: What is it that machines can never replace?
The answer unfolds through juggling—an art form defined by beauty, risk, and inevitable failure. Gravity always wins. And in that failure, the show argues, lies something profoundly human.
“Failure is what marks us,” Magid explains. “Even in a future dominated by machines, failure remains. Juggling is the perfect metaphor—no matter how skilled you are, you will drop something. And that’s where meaning lives.”
Developed collaboratively with performers Chen Pollina and Tomoki Sage, both of the ensemble NANDA, the production reflects the Karamazov tradition of doing everything in-house: from performance and choreography to visuals, design, and conceptual world-building. The team pushes technical and physical limits, combining blisteringly fast, complex juggling with AI-driven imagery inspired by psychedelic 1960s light shows—only now, the hallucinations are generated by machines.
The show is equal parts comedy, spectacle, and cautionary tale. Audiences can expect impossible tricks, surreal visuals, and moments that collapse into chaos—by design.
“I hope people leave laughing hard,” Magid says, “but also thinking deeply about what it means to be a human being—a creature of flesh, blood, lineage, and shared experience—who created these machines and cannot be replaced by them.”
Ultimately, Artifishal Idiots insists on one thing: this is theatre that must be experienced live.
“You can’t hear about this show and understand it,” Magid adds. “You have to witness it. That’s the power of theatre—and that’s what we’re inviting audiences into.”
Funny. Provocative. Awe-inspiring.
Artifishal Idiots is not like any theatre you’ve seen before—and you won’t see it anywhere else.
