Michael Marinaccio and Tymisha Harris in Bytes at Orlando Fringe Credit: Courtesy Photo

Jamie (Michael Marinaccio), an agoraphobic IT geek, spends his solitary days vibe-coding by the glow of a monitor, and his lonely nights replaying ancient NES games. Alongside a betta fighting fish from his niece, Jaime is birthday-gifted an A.I. companion as a birthday present from his tech-bro buddy. Initially, he resists Odessa’s (Tymisha Harris, appearing via video) charms, until some settings adjustments and Zelda secrets lead to computerized coitus interruptus. When her digital spark becomes the most real thing in his isolated existence, Jaime must choose between executing an existential extraction plan, or hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del on their relationship.

Writer-director Aradhana Tiwari (Way of the Cards) is back with a tightly wound ticking time-bomb of a drama that draws directly from the deep anxieties many of us currently feel about artificial intelligence and the loss of human interaction. Bytes is divided into eight bits (that’s a binary joke for all you computer scientists), and is the second show on the subject I saw at Fringe within 24 hours. However, Tiwari’s of-the-moment sci-fi story stands out for both its naturalistic repartee, seasoned with rhetorical flights of fancy that the actors devour with relish; and the raw humanism of this Twilight Zone-style cautionary tale. 

Marinaccio has long been among my very favorite members of Orlando’s theater community, and here he once again demonstrates why he’s one of our best with a grounded, unguarding performance that pulses with energy, despite having nobody else on stage to act against. However, trying to time his outbursts to pauses in recordings of Tymisha — who appears radiantly sassy in the ADHD-inducing projections — basically turns him into an organic animatronic, and even the world’s best actor probably couldn’t make it flow naturally (unless they trained alongside Christopher Walken at Universal’s old Disaster! attraction).

Bytes features sky-high production values and impeccable local theatrical pedigree, and offers a compelling character arc that’s powerfully performed. But without both Marinaccio and Harris interacting live within the room, all that technology ends up obscuring the human voice, undermining the author’s underlying intentions. 

Lavender Moon Productions (Orlando, FL)
Pink Venue, Lowndes Shakespeare Center
60 minutes; 18 and up
Tickets: $15

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This article appears in Orlando Fringe 2026.