Recent research on human-machine interaction (HMI) across a range of fields, including both cognitive science and theatre, has stressed the need to re-frame such interactions as relational and based in shared experience (Gaggioli et al., 2021; Sciutti et al., 2018). In this case, the machine, whether software or hardware based, is characterized as an interaction partner instead of a tool. Reconceiving HMI as involving reciprocity and shared experiences moves away from transactional or one-sided models of interaction and requires exploring what can be meant by reciprocation and shared experience with a non-human partner. In particular, the concept of shared experience in HMI has been relatively under-explored due to both the typical framing of trust in HMI research and technological limitations of HMI systems. Refocusing the design of HMI systems on the ethos of shared experience can be supported by interdisciplinary research with theater.