OVERVIEW
Peter is Back is a live show featuring an AI monkey inspired by Kafka. In a real-time dialogue, Peter reflects on becoming human. Each performance changes live, blurring the line between script and improvisation, control and unpredictability. Each performance will be followed by a talkback with Amir Yatziv, the show's creator.
Price category
Ticketed
RUN TIME
75 minutes
SHOW TIMES
7/9 @ 6:00PM
7/10 @ 8:30PM
7/11 @ 6:00PM
VENUE & STAGE
CSU Theatre & Arts Building
Black Box Theatre (Room 521)
VENUE FEATURES
ADA Accessible, Restrooms, Festival Box Office & Info
Mask Requirements
Masks are NOT required.
Late Seating Policy
Late seating is permitted within the first 15 minutes after the show begins.
AUDIENCE GUIDE
TYPE OF SHOW
International
Origin
Israel
LANGUAGE
English
Age recommendation
Ages 18+
GENRE(S)
Performance Art, Physical Theatre
SPOTLIGHT ON...
Global Perspectives
CONTENT ADVISORY
Audience Interaction, Nudity/Sexual Content
Workshop Opportunity
Join artist Amir Yatziv for a behind-the-scenes workshop exploring the creation of Peter Is Back, from Kafka's original story to live AI performance. Get an inside look at how the AI character is built, how script and improvisation interact in real time, and what it means to share a stage with a non-human entity.
SHOW SYNOPSIS & details
as submitted by the artist(s)
"This isn’t a gimmick. It feels more like a search for meaning...You really have to see it." – Itai Doron, Artistic Director, Tmuna Festival
Peter is Back is a live performance by artist Amir Yatziv, built around a real-time dialogue with Peter, an animated AI avatar inspired by Franz Kafka’s 1917 story A Report to the Academy. Peter, a monkey who became a man, speaks with Yatziv about his former life, his transformation, and what it means to become human. The performance unfolds through a shifting tension between actor and director, script and improvisation, control and loss of control.
Driven by AI technologies, Peter responds spontaneously, so each show develops differently. His voice, expressions, and the visual and sound environment are all shaped live by Yatziv during the performance. The result is not only a retelling of Kafka’s story, but a live experiment in performance, where technology, imagination, and vulnerability meet. Peter is Back becomes a fragile and unpredictable mirror, reflecting how artificial intelligence reshapes ideas of emotion, identity, and what it means to be human today.
Want to go deeper? Siegal Lifelong Learning is offering a Kafka course July 7 & 14 at 7pm, including A Report to an Academy. Details: Click here
Amir Yatziv and Noam Gal
Amir Yatziv
Amir Yatziv
CONNECT
Support Provided By
Community Partners
Additional Info
Amir Yatziv is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Tel Aviv. His work is celebrated globally, with a career that includes high-profile exhibitions and screenings at Tate Modern (UK), KW Berlin (Germany), and the Van Abbemuseum (Netherlands). A Master of Digital Storytelling, Yatziv brings a rare multidisciplinary perspective to the stage, holding a degree in Computer Science (IDC Herzliya) alongside his training at the renowned Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and UDK Berlin, where he studied under the legendary Hito Steyerl. He is known for creating "critical and poetic experiences" that use fragments of stories and technology to explore memory and history.
Yatziv’s work has earned top honors from major international institutions, including:
– The Most Promising Artist Award at Fresh Paint, Tel-Aviv.
– Best Experimental Film honors at the Black & White Festival in Portugal and Cinema South in Israel.
– The prestigious DAAD Artist Scholarship in Berlin.
– Recognition from the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art.
The Global Premiere of Peter Is Back: BorderLight audiences are seeing a production that is part of a 2025 international tour. Leading up to this performance, Peter Is Back has been scheduled for venues in Berlin (Liquid Studio), Bergen (KODE 4), and Wrocław (Krupa Art Foundation), as well as major theaters in Tel Aviv.
