If You Can Get To Buffalo

by Trish Harnetiaux

Few know that way back in the day, 1993 to be exact, a text-based social network "mansion" called LambdaMOO was hijacked by a "Mr. Bungle," who singlehandedly detonated the new world utopia by misbehaving most grievously at a virtual party. Somewhat based on the real story of the first instance of virtual rape, the attempt to deal with the perpetrator and the awkward Charlie Rose episode that followed, Mr...

Few know that way back in the day, 1993 to be exact, a text-based social network "mansion" called LambdaMOO was hijacked by a "Mr. Bungle," who singlehandedly detonated the new world utopia by misbehaving most grievously at a virtual party. Somewhat based on the real story of the first instance of virtual rape, the attempt to deal with the perpetrator and the awkward Charlie Rose episode that followed, Mr. Bungle and the Incident at LambdaMOO explores our fascination with hiding behind a keyboard, the impulse to be bad, and the anonymity that made it all possible.

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If You Can Get To Buffalo

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  • Shaun Leisher: If You Can Get To Buffalo by Trish Harnetiaux
    “

    An absolutely genius play about the early days of the internet. Brilliant use of onstage text!!

    An absolutely genius play about the early days of the internet. Brilliant use of onstage text!!

    ”
  • Ian Thal: If You Can Get To Buffalo by Trish Harnetiaux
    “

    Speaking as a long-time denizen of LambdaMOO (though my time began a few years after the events of 1993), I find that "If You Can Get To Buffalo" captures the creative approaches to identity (and in many cases, ethics) that marked the milieu -- as well as the trouble that people had articulating just what life was like in this new frontier -- not just to those for whom the internet was still unexplored, but even to those who were experiencing it daily.

    Speaking as a long-time denizen of LambdaMOO (though my time began a few years after the events of 1993), I find that "If You Can Get To Buffalo" captures the creative approaches to identity (and in many cases, ethics) that marked the milieu -- as well as the trouble that people had articulating just what life was like in this new frontier -- not just to those for whom the internet was still unexplored, but even to those who were experiencing it daily.

    ”
  • Eric Henry Sanders: If You Can Get To Buffalo by Trish Harnetiaux
    “

    A brilliant play from a brilliant playwright. I was fortunate enough to see a production of IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO when it played in New York, and it was nothing less than wonderful -- wildly funny, quirky, and smart.

    A brilliant play from a brilliant playwright. I was fortunate enough to see a production of IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO when it played in New York, and it was nothing less than wonderful -- wildly funny, quirky, and smart.

    ”