A Community Theatre Used AI on Its Cast. That Should Alarm Everyone.

by Chris Peterson

I got a tip this week about a community theatre in Connecticut that found itself in trouble over AI-generated publicity photos. According to what I was told, the theatre used AI to place actors into different costumes from the show and altered the body shape of one of the actresses in the process. I have seen the before and after pictures of the actress in question myself, and the change is not subtle. I am not posting the images here because I do not want to further circulate something the performers themselves found upsetting and violating.

The images were eventually taken down after cast members objected, but by that point, the issue had already moved beyond a simple marketing mistake.

And let’s just sit with that for a second. Altering an actress’s body in a promotional image is awful. There is no softer word for it. It is insulting, it is invasive, and it sends a message that the body she showed up with was somehow not the right one to sell the show. In a space that already asks performers to be vulnerable, that kind of digital reshaping feels especially cruel.

The part that should make every performer’s stomach turn is this: the cast did not say no to publicity. They agreed to the ordinary, expected use of their likeness in promoting a production. 

But according to sources connected with the show, they did not agree to have their faces and bodies uploaded into AI tools, altered by software, and turned into something they never approved. Those are not interchangeable things. One is marketing a show. The other is taking ownership of someone else’s image in a way they were never given permission to do. The fact that this  Connecticut theatre seems fuzzy on that difference is deeply alarming.

This is exactly why so many people are deeply uncomfortable with AI creeping into theatre spaces. Community theatre, of all places, should understand the value of human presence. It is built on people giving their time, energy, talent, and trust because they love the work. It is not built on body-shaming performers by algorithm and calling it promotion. If you digitally alter an actress’s body to make her more marketable, you are sending a very clear message about what kind of body you think is acceptable to represent your production.

I understand why theatres are tempted. Costs are up. Budgets are tight. Everybody is trying to do more with less. I can even see the case for limited AI use on the administrative side. If it helps organize schedules, clean up notes, or draft internal materials, that is one thing. But once it starts touching the art, the design, or the performers themselves, the whole thing starts to feel cheap in a way that has nothing to do with money.

Community theatre needs to remain honest. It needs to reflect the people making it. The minute a theatre starts using AI to “improve” the humans involved, it stops honoring the very thing that makes theatre worth doing in the first place.

If this is where some theatres think the future is headed, I think they are heading in the wrong direction.