The Nether by Jennifer Haley

The Nether is essentially the next generation of the internet/virtual reality. The play brings up a number of philosophical/ethical quandaries within its text, most prominent of which is: is it unethical (and should it be illegal) to allow people to virtually rape and kill children if it is only virtual and the real people who play the parts of the children are actually adults. The problem for me is not the ethical quandary within the play, but the one that would be brought up by actually putting on the play. In the virtual world of the Nether, there is a nine-year-old girl named Iris who is, in the physical world, a middle-aged man. In the play, however, there is an actual little girl needed to play the role of Iris, and, although none of the implied violence occurs onstage, I do not see how you would protect the young actress from the fact that she is playing the role of a (virtual) sex slave. Bring on the puppets?