SYNOPSIS

Within the cold corridors of the Malos Corporation, Anthony, an employee under evaluation for potential misconduct, is subjected to a relentless interrogation by Sheba, his calculating superior. Their exchanges—rapid, philosophical, and charged with erotic tension—become a psychological chess match that blurs the line between guilt and innocence, domination and surrender.
 

As their verbal combat intensifies, the truth grows increasingly unstable, until Sheba orders Anthony to undergo the Brainstare, a neuro-scanning procedure designed to expose his hidden desires and unspoken sins. When the machine activates, reality and consciousness dissolve into one another, revealing the machinery of thought itself.
 

Through relentless, rhythmic dialogue and hyperreal imagery, BRAINSTARE fuses the language of psychological drama, sci-fi thriller, and absurdist theatre. The result is an unnerving, exhilarating meditation on surveillance, identity, and the end of privacy—a film that blurs the boundary between human and machine, reason and madness, creation and control.

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​REVIEWS (of the book)

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"When I was growing up, my favorite science fiction tales were those that wanted you to fear the future. Or at least to understand the threats it would bring and to be prepared. What Joseph has accomplished with this play is bringing that fearful future to the present. Just like in the real world outside of our window, we arrived at that future we have long been warned about.
   The first act of the play feels all too familiar. Anxiety and insecurity fills the trough of conversation between a pair of lovers. One side in perpetual self defense, hiding shame over past deeds and thoughts, the other side unflinchingly dismissive of the questions and concerns causing so much strife. The dialogue between the two reminds me of the casual neuroticism of my favorite early 1990s indie films. Conversation that exposes the animosity two characters have for one another, despite the plot’s insistence that their relationship is special to one another.
   The second act takes us into a muted version of a classic sci-fi scene. Reminiscent of the Blade Runner interview sequences, we are now faced with a corporate probing of the mind. Much in the same way that tech companies use data mining techniques to find out everything about us as consumers and employees and as just people trying to live their private lives. More directly, the technology in this play searches out one’s most hidden secrets, those desires or opinions that are often best kept in the dark. The sorts of thoughts and traumas that we prefer to examine by ourselves, under private or therapeutic circumstances, if ever at all. The very concept of our shadow selves laid out to be seen by others, against our will, would make most of us squirm with erratic discomfort."

- Chaouie​

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