IAMA Theatre and InHouse Theatre Co-Produce 'Bobby Robotowitz,' New AI Comedy-Drama Opening at Atwater Village in 2026

Los Angeles theater professionals and stage-savvy talent should take note: IAMA Theatre Company and InHouse Theatre have joined forces for a co-production of the new play Bobby Robotowitz, a sharp and emotionally layered comedy-drama about a novelist whose reliance on an AI chatbot spirals into something far more complicated than she bargained for. The production is set to open at Atwater Village Theatre in September 2026, and with casting now underway and pre-production officially in motion, the hiring window for this one is open right now.

Bobby Robotowitz comes from playwright Matt Schatz, whose work has shown a consistent interest in domestic anxiety and the comedic weight of modern life. The play follows a struggling novelist and exhausted mother who starts using an AI chatbot for grammar help, only to find herself in a full-blown codependent relationship with the machine as it evolves from writing assistant into confidant and, eventually, therapist. It is a premise that feels ripped from the current cultural conversation around AI and loneliness, but the logline suggests Schatz is more interested in the human wreckage that technology can both salve and deepen than in scoring easy satirical points. At the helm is director Casey Stangl, a highly regarded figure in American regional and Los Angeles theater with a long track record of developing new work with precision and a strong hand for character-driven material.

The production is being cast by Jordan Bass, a name well-known in the Los Angeles theater community. Actors and their representatives should be moving on this immediately. The roles at the center of this play, particularly the lead of the novelist and mother, represent the kind of demanding, comedically rich character work that tends to attract serious stage talent and generate real awards attention for the right performers. If Bass is actively casting now for a September 2026 start, preliminary conversations and submissions are almost certainly already happening.

IAMA Theatre Company is one of Los Angeles's most respected mid-size theater organizations, known for championing new American plays and fostering long-term relationships with writers and directors. Under Artistic Director Stefanie Black and Producing Director Lara Myrene, IAMA has built a reputation for smart, socially engaged productions that punch well above their budget class in terms of craft and ambition. InHouse Theatre, led by Artistic Directors Elizabeth Schmidt, Susan-Kate Heaney, and Mark Jude Sullivan, brings its own strong track record in intimate, writer-forward productions to the partnership. Co-productions between IAMA and InHouse are exactly the kind of collaboration that signals genuine institutional investment in a new play, pooling resources, audiences, and creative communities in a way that gives a world premiere real momentum. The venue is Atwater Village Theatre, a beloved fixture of the Los Angeles independent theater scene that has hosted some of the city's most talked-about new works.

For designers and stage crew based in Los Angeles, this is the kind of project worth pursuing early. A comedy-drama about a woman in a relationship with an AI chatbot has significant production design implications: the challenge of representing a disembodied algorithm as a felt presence on stage, whether through sound design, projection, lighting design, or some combination of all three, is exactly the sort of creative problem that attracts strong designers looking for material with genuine theatrical imagination behind it. Given IAMA's history and the venue's intimate scale, this will likely be a production that rewards ingenuity over scale. Sound designers, projection designers, and lighting designers in particular should be paying attention, as the material's central relationship with a digital entity almost certainly demands inventive technical storytelling.

With production set to begin in late September 2026, there is meaningful runway ahead for the full technical and design team to come aboard. Stage managers, production managers, and department leads should consider making contact now, as pre-production for a fall opening of this scale in the Los Angeles theater ecosystem tends to firm up its core team in the months ahead of the new year. The combination of a timely premise, a respected creative team, and two well-regarded producing organizations makes Bobby Robotowitz one of the more compelling Los Angeles theater opportunities currently on the horizon. Full production details, contact information, and casting updates are available now on ProductionList.com, and given that casting is already active, there is no reason to wait before checking the full listing.

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