Tom Sgouros
15 Boston Neck Road
Wickford, RI 02852

January 15, 2002

Dear Tom,

We all wanted to thank you (and Judy) for a wonderful performance of “Judy, or What Is It Like To Be A Puppet?” at Vanderbilt last Fall.

What makes this play so unique is its ability to really work at so many levels at once. It is pure entertainment – a witty and engaging dialogue between a human (Tom) and his robot (Judy) with lots of laughs and several surprises for the audience. But Tom (and Judy) accomplish so much more along the way – they force the viewer to confront some of the classic problems regarding the relationship between mind and body that have continued to puzzle philosophers of mind. For cognitive scientists, seeing issues of consciousness, the Turing test, self-reference, and others issues played out in the dialogue between Tom and Judy was a real treat.

As such, this play is appropriate for many kinds of audiences: It would be wonderful to see it played to a general audience, serving to educate the public about some of the issues cognitive scientists confront in their work. In reaching such an audience, one possible venue for this play would be a science museum.

A young audience would also appreciate the humor and the interplay between Tom and Judy. More importantly, they could really learn something along the way.

At a university level, this play would be a perfect for a psychology, cognitive science, or philosophy department. The issues raised in the play can lead to some fantastic class discussions.

We all highly recommend Tom (and Judy) for a performance at any of these venues.