Following last year’s critically-acclaimed productions of Cold Water, with Stefania LaVie Owen and Ben Rosenfield, and The Wasp, with Colby Minifie and Amy Forsyth, Little Engine Theater, a company dedicated to staging bold international plays in unconventional settings, is proud to present the world premiere of Machine Learning by Australian playwright Kate Vozella in her Off-Broadway debut. Directed by award-winning Irish director Colm Summers, Machine Learning stars Douglas Smith (HBO’s “Big Little Lies” & “Big Love,” MCC Theater’s Punk Rock) and Emma Ramos (NBC’s “New Amsterdam,” Ivo van Hove’s Scenes From a Marriage) in a strictly limited engagement that runs October 6 – 30, 2026, at Manhattan Neighborhood Network (509 West 38th St.) The opening is set for Tuesday, October 20. Tickets are now on sale at www.littleenginetheater.com
In Machine Learning, two couples enter a research program at a remote facility, believing their interactions will help train humanoid companions in human intimacy. But as the experiment unfolds, they must reckon with their patterns, secrets, and vulnerabilities. Machine Learning is a darkly funny, deeply human exploration of our search for connection in a time when we’re increasingly led to believe technology can fix it all.
Additional casting will be announced later
The creative team for Machine Learning includes Tyler Herald (set design), Karen Boyer (costume design), Christopher Wong (lighting design), Liam Bellman-Sharpe (sound design), Leia Squillace (production manager), and Mary Garrigan (stage manager).
Playwright Kate Vozella remarked, “I’m fascinated by the ways society looks toward technology to solve fundamentally human problems. I’m interested in attachment, and in the ways we shape one another in relationships, often without realizing it—why we repeat certain patterns, why we stay, why we leave, and whether we can ever really change alone. Maybe change is an act as simple—and as difficult—as being truly vulnerable with another person.”
Director Colm Summers said, “With the rise of AI, we are at an inflection point. We’re in a literacy crisis, a crisis of emotional intelligence, a critical thinking crisis, a political crisis, and soon a crisis of affection, empathy and romance. Kate’s work gets right at the heart of all of that. She probes at what it means to be human in a post-human world. I’m so honored to be directing this world premiere production, after seven years of working with my friend and collaborator. As two international artists working in the U.S., I’m so grateful our work has found a home at Little Engine Theater.”
Little Engine Theater’s co-founders Lilly Englert, Theodora Miranne, and Elena Rusconi, all born outside the U.S., remarked, “Machine Learning is our third production for Little Engine Theater, and our biggest and most ambitious yet. With each show, we’ve been refining what we want our company to be: a home for bold, relevant, international work that challenges audiences and pushes the boundaries of theater. For Machine Learning, we’re transforming Manhattan Neighborhood Network into the home of the companionship program at the center of the play, allowing audiences to step directly into the world of the experiment. The physical space becomes part of the storytelling itself, creating an experience that feels raw and intimate. We’re thrilled to be bringing Kate Vozella’s bold, distinctive voice to life under Colm Summers’ fearless direction.”
Performances of Machine Learning will be complemented by pre- and post-show experiences and encounters that engage the senses and deepen connections to the production.
Sixteen performances of Machine Learning will take place October 6 – 30, 2026, at Manhattan Neighborhood Network, located at 509 West 38th St. Performances take place on October 6, 7, 12–15, 20–24, 26–30 at 8 pm. The anticipated running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.
Tickets start at $39 for general admission and $99 for front-row seats and can be purchased at www.littleenginetheater.com. Standard ticketing fees apply.
About the Artists
Kate Vozella (playwright) is a New York-based theatre maker originally from rural Australia. She was recently a finalist for the Cherry Lane Playwrights Collective 2026, led by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker, and for the Australian Theatre Festival NYC New Play Award for her play This Motherless Earth (2024), which was recently selected for development through Theaterlab’s Hotel New Work residency (2026). Her first full-length play, Burning Falling Rising Monster, was shortlisted by Platform Presents in 2020 and later adapted into a short film starring Kyle Soller and Phoebe Fox. Jac Fitzgerald directed her debut screenplay, MIA, with Kate starring opposite Jason Butler Harner. The project won Best Original Story at the Cannes World Film Festival in 2021, and also received nominations for Best Actress (Vozella), and Best Director (Fitzgerald). Kate is currently represented by CAA.
Colm Summers (director) is an award-winning Irish director and writer from Waterford, Ireland, based in Brooklyn, and the Artistic Director of Working Theater. His directing includes Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe at Geffen Playhouse, named one of Theatrely’s Best Theater of 2023; the U.S. premiere of Derek Murphy’s The Bad Daters at Paradise Factory; and his Jeff-nominated production of Philip Dawkins’ Audible Original The Comedians at Raven Theatre in Chicago. He has developed new work with Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, the Abbey Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Phoenix Theater Company, Page 73, Clubbed Thumb, Rattlestick Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, Origin Theater Company, BRIC, Breaking the Binary, Egg & Spoon, The 24 Hour Plays, TheaterLab, and many more. Colm was a 2024 Drama League Next Stage Fellow, the inaugural Director-in-Residence at Geffen Playhouse, and a Resident Director at the Abbey Theatre. In 2023, he received the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Artist Award. As a playwright, his play Falls won the 2026 Phoenix Theatre Company Festival of New American Theatre and received a 2024 Relentless Award Honorable Mention. His plays have been developed by New York Stage and Film, Irish Arts Center, LMCC, BRIC, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Origin Theatre Company, Project Arts Centre, Pan Pan, 59E59 Theaters, Mercury Store, and the cell. His writing has been recognized by Cherry Lane Theatre, Local Theater Company, Fault Line Theatre, Pipeline Theatre Company, and Ars Nova.
About the Cast
Douglas Smith is best known for his standout roles in “Big Little Lies,” “Vinyl,” and “Big Love,” where he played the fan-favorite, Ben Henrickson. He is also known for his series-regular role in the Netflix/HBO Max limited series “The Alienist.” On stage, Smith received rave reviews for his lead performance in the Obie Award–winning, New York Times critic’s pick production of Punk Rock by Simon Stephens.
His upcoming films include the second chapter of Kevin Costner’s two-part Western epic Horizon: An American Saga, as well as the Canadian independent feature Lunar Sway, which was awarded the Cineground Award and Le Film Francis Award at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival. In 2025, he filmed Myriad Pictures’ grief-stricken horror The Pond, opposite Isabelle Fuhrman; Montana Mann’s feature film debut Tell Me A Secret, starring Willa Fitzgerald, based on her short film AZI, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2025; and Danish director Milad Avaz’s indie Elastic Hearts, starring Cole Sprouse and Stephen Dorff.
Douglas can currently be seen as a recurring guest star on ABC’s “Will Trent”; Chapter 1 of Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga; the post-apocalyptic feature Die Alone; and Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils. Additional film credits include Don’t Worry Darling, The Swearing Jar, Miss Sloane, Terminator Genisys, Ouija, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The Bye Bye Man, and Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral. He also portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the final season of CW’s “Superman & Lois.”
Emma Ramos – Off Broadway: Coriolanus (TFANA), Scenes from a Marriage (NYTW), Marriage of Figaro (Little Island), Camino Real (WTF), Spirit of the People (WTF), Frontieres Sans Frontiers (Bushwick Starr). Regional: Alien Girls (Old Globe), Espejos Clean (Hartford Stage & Syracuse Stage; Critics’ Circle nom), Luna Gale (Actor’s Theater of Louisville). Film/television: Hulu’s “In The Summer” (Sundance Grand Prix), Netflix’s “Big Fan,” Disney’s “Hamster & Gretel,” NBC’s “New Amsterdam” (recur). Emma will next be seen in Blumhouse’s Soulm8te and most recently wrote La Chef for Gaumont, with Noé Santillán-López attached to direct the feature.
About Little Engine Theater
Little Engine Theater was co-founded in 2024 by Lilly Englert, Theodora Miranne, and Elena Rusconi, three artists born outside of America. We aim to establish an artistic home in New York City for the American premieres of international plays performed in unconventional spaces. We’re building an artistic community through theatrical experiences that connect vital international voices with the dynamic perspectives of American audiences. www.littleenginetheater.com