The Play "The Nether" by Jennifer Haley at Left Edge Theater is an Underwhelming Sci-Fi Thriller

The Left Edge Theater in Santa Rosa, CA is an intimate playhouse.  Their mission is to present contemporary plays (written within the last 5 years) "to thrill and challenge audiences"..."in search of what is best in ourselves and in the human spirit."  Last night's production of  "The Nether" written by Jennifer Haley received the Susan Smith Blackburn  Prize ('12) awarded to up & coming women playwrights.  The play is a sci-fi thriller; an ambitious & intriguing genre for live theater.  Haley questions the boundaries between the real world and virtual reality and the blurred ethical behaviors imbedded in the subversive vortex of the internet.  This is an admirable idea to dissect given more & more time is being spent on the internet rather than engaging in - life.  The reality is a vast majority of time spent on the internet is viewing pornography much of which is illicit pedophilia.  Detective Morris is interrogating Sims or Papa as he's known in the virtual world he's created in the late 19th C.  Papa has established himself as the patriarch in his constructed stratosphere.  He's created 4 children. The eldest child Iris (Lana Spring) is a lovely prepubescent girl who vies for Papa's attention & adoration.  It becomes evident Sims has created an underworld for men to engage their fantasies of having virtual & visceral sex with children.  Detective Morris is working to find & destroy Sims' server that has eluded the authorities.  Sims is a slithering, sinister character not easily intimidated.  Doyle, a broken-down science teacher (David Yen) is a more pliable witness.  Haley ventures down the rabbit hole of material that's been gleaned in numerous sci-fi movies involving artificial intelligence & the double edged sword shorn by the internet.  Numerous studies have challenged the correlation between watching violent media and aggression.  Still, Haley raised a challenging question, does channeling perverse & immoral behaviors in a virtual world serve the better good by steering perpetrators away from actual victims.  "The Nether" possesses a creepy atmosphere delving into the hellish world of internet child pornography.  Unfortunately, "The Nether" is neither credible or challenging.  David Yen as a witting participant in internet porn portrays a sympathetic character also viewed as a victim despite willfully abetting victims of children abuse.  New comer & co-ed Lana Spring was captivating as Iris, an innocent figure mired in the matrix.