In this week’s Substack Live conversation, the Sustainable Media Center brings together Emma Lembke and theater creator Patrick McAndrew to explore an unexpected intersection: musical theater and responsible tech. McAndrew’s new production, The Startup, uses humor, storytelling, and live performance to examine some of the most urgent questions in tech today, including social media addiction, data privacy, and the ethical tensions inside startup culture.

The musical follows an idealistic tech company attempting to build a platform without exploiting user data, only to collide with the financial realities that drive today’s digital economy. Through its narrative and immersive audience experience, the show invites viewers to reflect on where the line between ethics and profit gets drawn and what is lost when it is crossed.

The conversation highlights a broader idea at the heart of SMC’s work: that culture, not just policy, can shape how we understand and challenge technology. By translating complex issues into human stories, The Startup aims to reach audiences who might never engage with these topics otherwise and leave them with questions that linger beyond the theater.

Ultimately, the goal is simple but ambitious. If even one audience member walks away thinking differently about their relationship with technology, the work has done its job.