dark play or stories for boys

I just got back from a play that my roommate was in.  It was called dark play or stories for boys” and portrayed the idea of the virtual world in a very interesting and visual way.  The play revolves around a young boy who creates “games” so to speak online by creating different personas and interacting with people in a very real way.  His personas range from his normal personality to a horny 17-year-old exchange student with bad English and a sexually abusive stepfather.  What I found interesting about the play was how the online chat room conversations were portrayed.  It was obvious that these conversations were entirely mediated, but every part of them was acted out by the actors as if this mediation didn’t exist.  When one character got angry, he would slap the other even though the scene is essentially set in cyberspace.  This reminded me of Boellstorff’s discussion of place online.  Although their interactions were mediated they were very real and emotional.  In the end, this virtual reality was very real, especially for the characters involved.