Winona State University’s Department of Theatre & Dance will present the award-winning drama, “The Nether” by Jennifer Haley at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, through Saturday, Nov. 19, in the Dorothy B. Magnus Theatre in the WSU Performing Arts Center.
“The Nether” is an emotional sci-fi detective story structured around the probabilities of what is real and what is imagined. Part detective story and part social networking parable, “The Nether” explores the realm of consequences, or lack thereof, in a world of virtual reality.
The play fluctuates between an off-line world represented by a stark interrogation room and a virtual world called “The Nether.” Detective Morris is conducting a child sex abuse investigation in a realm within the Nether, known as “The Hideaway,” a virtual 19th Victorian estate. In the Hideaway, grownups create avatars of children in which to indulge dark fantasies.
Haley’s play, which won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2012, wades into the shifting waters of accountability and identity in virtual reality.
Tickets are $6 for students and $12 for general public. Tickets are available at the box office and online at http://wsuartstickets.universitytickets.com. The box office opens the week of the production from noon to 4 p.m. and for 1 hour prior to the 7:30 p.m. performance each night.
The cast list includes Cody Anderson of Lake City, MN; Brad Krieger of Maplewood, MN; Ella Dierberger of Milwaukee, WI; Courtney L’Heureuex of Farmington, MN; Ben Glomski of Wabasha, MN; Gavin Johnson of West Concord, MN; Shane Morgan of Blaine, MN; Abby Schmidt of Lake City, MN; Casey Howe of Rushford, MN; Andy Gilschinski of Shoreview, MN; Adam Calcagno of Hammond, WI; Nyshanyona Howard of St. Paul, MN; Hannah Ose of Benson, MN; Marshall Halleck of Winona, MN; Emma Cavanaugh of Frontenac, MN; and Halie DeChaine-Blanchette of White Bear Lake, MN.
This event is part of the 2016-17 University Theme, Our Digital Humanity.
The 2016-17 University Theme, Our Digital Humanity, examines human life in the digital age, exploring the impact digital tools have on individuals, institutions, systems, societies, our interconnected world, and implications for our collective future. Our Digital Humanity seeks to explore how digital tools have changed the way WSU faculty, staff and students research, create, communicate, relate, learn and teach.
The WSU Department of Theatre & Dance is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST).
For more information, contact Jim Williams jiwilliams@winona.edu.
