IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO Begins Off-Broadway Tonight

A new play about one of the first and most notorious cases of invasion of privacy on the Internet - "IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO: An Exploration of 'A Rape in Cyberspace' by Julian Dibbell," written by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Eric Nightengale - will be given its world premiere this winter by Incubator Arts Project (inside St. Mark's Church, 131 E. 10 St. in Manhattan), with preview performances tonight, February 13th prior to an official press opening on Tuesday, February 18th, 2014.

IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO is set in 1993 when the newly-minted World Wide Web was, at most, a curiosity to the billions of people who now take it for granted, and the world's first social network, LambdaMOO was created as an intended utopia in which the only rule was the need for no rules. A virtual mansion - comprised entirely of text - through which users could travel from room to room, LambdaMOO became the center of extreme controversy when a sinister puppet master brought it crashing down during a wild party of virtual revelry. IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO explores the rise and fall of this new utopia, taking us on a hyperlinked journey that investigates the dark complexities and unexpected comedy underlying the birth of online relationships, posing the question - how much are we responsible for the things that happen to us online?

IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO is inspired by the 1993 Village Voice article, "A Rape in Cyberspace" by Julian Dibbell - a leading technology journalist and currently a student at The University of Chicago Law School. The cast of characters from that time as the drama played out in real-life include Dibbell, Charlie Rose, "Bill Gates" and a writer from The New Yorker.

Featured in the cast of BUFFALO are Rob Erickson, Julia Sirna-First, Alex Viola, Starr Busby, Greg Carere, Minna Richardson, & Demetri Bonaros.

Sound Design by Rob Erickson, Production Design by Eric Nightengale, Projection Design is by Jacob A. Ware.

IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO is being produced in association with Allison Lyman's company Teeth of Tooth Atelier.

Trish Harnetiaux's plays have been performed and developed at Soho Rep, Cherry Lane, 78th Street Theatre Lab, Dixon Place, Metropolitan Playhouse and NJ Rep. Her plays include HOW TO GET INTO BUILDINGS, OUR PRETTY LITTLE WORLD, WELCOME TO THE WHITE ROOM, INSIDE A BIGGER BOX and STRAIGHT ON TIL MORNING. She received her MFA from Mac Wellman's playwriting program at Brooklyn College, was a member of Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab and is a two-time fellow at the MacDowell Colony and the Corporation of Yaddo. www.trishharnetiaux.com

Eric Nightengale served as artistic director of 78th Street Theatre Lab from 1995-2008, where he directed over 50 producitons. He has directed at Circle Rep, Circle in the Square, Cherry Lane, EST,, Soho Rep, HERE and Classic Stage Company. As well he has directed productions in Chicago at Victory Gardens, Steppenwolf and Second City. His work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has resulted in three Fringe First Awards.

Incubator Arts Project cultivates and presents a multi-generational community of artists who challenge the conventions of live performance. Originally known as the Incubator, it began in 2006 as a program of Richard Foreman's legendary Ontological-Hysteric Theater. By providing production opportunities for emergin to mid-career artists, Incubator Arts Project functions as a training ground where formative repertoire is conceived and new work can be constructed as each participant's voice develops a distinct style. IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO will perform, as follows: Thursday, Feb. 13 at 8 pm Friday, Feb. 14 at 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 pm Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 pm Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 8 pm - press opening Thursday, Feb. 20 at 8 pm Friday, Feb. 21 at 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 22 at 8 pm Sunday, Feb. 23 at 8 pm

Tickets are $18.00 and can be reserved online at incubatorarts.org
For more information about the show please go to: Gettobuffalo.net or incubatorarts.org
http://incubatorarts.org/buffalo.html