The director of Cockroach Theatre’s The Nether on risk-taking art
Beginning on February 25, Cockroach Theatre will look to our morally complicated future with The Nether. The Nether is the Internet circa 2050, by then a network of virtual realities — including The Hideaway, where visitors, in the words of a New York Times review, “come to have sex with — and, if they choose, murder and dismember — the exquisite virtual children who live and play there.” Is that a crime, if it’s all purely virtual? Knotty stuff, you’ll agree, “as smart as it is unsettling,” says the Times. It's up to director Bryan Todd to make it work.
What drew you to this play?
Jennifer Haley’s fantastic script, first and foremost. As soon as I finished it, I immediately read it again. Which is what I hope audiences will be compelled to do — see it again to put the pieces together. It’s part mystery, part police procedural, part science-fiction, part love story. It’s not often you come across material this rich, with such complex and compelling characters. I jumped at the opportunity to delve into this world that is set partly in the future, partly in the past, but it is very much grounded in the now.
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What do you expect audiences to get from this experience?
An “experience” is a good way to put it. The play raises tough ethical questions that each individual is going to have to address in their own minds. The goal being, audiences discuss it with one another afterwards, face-to-face, as physical beings. Or at least, post a status update about it as their virtual selves.
Are you concerned about some audience members being disturbed?
Thought-provoking theater has always dealt in taboo and taken risks. Some aspects may make people uncomfortable; they made me uncomfortable. That’s okay. This play manages to look at something provocative in a multidimensional way, rewarding the audience for leaning into their discomfort. The subject matter is no worse than what you’d find on 90 percent of television police procedurals. The Nether is like if William Gibson wrote a smart, enthralling episode of Law & Order: SVU.
I want to be clear: We are by no means trivializing the devastating impacts sexual abuse has on victims and their families. This play examines our obsession with being online and virtual reality, and the dark implications of where that might lead if left unchecked.
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The show is set in the future, including virtual environments. What are the challenges in staging it?
There’s a stark contrast between the play’s decaying future and the alluring virtual realms. My sci-fi nerd brain explodes with the possibilities for showcasing all of this. Also, I’ve been working with a composer, Aaron Guidry, who does percussion at Zarkana, to create an original score. The challenge is remembering that ultimately it’s a story about human beings. The production can have all the bells and whistles, but it’s the characters who have to sing the melody.
Las Vegas is as far from Middle-earth as you can get — or is it? To prep you for Tolkien scholar John Garth’s appearance at The Writer’s Block on February 16 ( thewritersblock.org), here are a few similarities:
THE EYE IN THE SKY What is Sauron’s floating orb but a version of Las Vegas’ all-seeing security apparatus? Imagine an orc bachelorette party about to get jiggy with the penis-shaped lollipops when that giant, buzzkilling eye beams in to harsh the vibe.
ELFIN EATIN'
Tolkien’s books don’t mention celebrity chefs, but can’t you just picture his elves — elegant, rarefied — cultivating a decadent haute cuisine? You must try the dry-aged balrog with dwarf-beard aioli ...
HOBBIT HANGOVER
As much as those little fellas love beer, you know Sam, Merry and Pippin have awakened from a binge, strapped with a baby and jabbering at Mike Tyson.
MORDOR
Pahrump.
Rock on
A few questions for famed rock climber Alex Honnold
Known among his peers for his humility, Alex Honnold is still probably the best-known rock climber in the world, because of his specialty: free-solo climbing; that is, with no harness or rope. As he often does, Honnold spent December and January in Las Vegas.
Why do you like climbing here?
Because of the weather, and because there’s so much climbing here. It’s one of the climbing hubs in the country, for sure. Lots of my best climbing friends live here, and there are three or four houses where I know where the spare key is, and I can just make myself at home.
What’s your favorite climb here?
Maybe the Rainbow Wall at Red Rock, because it’s, like, proud and big and inspiring. It’s Chapter 3 of my book ( Alone on the Wall).
You’re known for soloing, but you’ve also said that you like being on a rope. What is your favorite style of climbing?
Probably sport climbing, which is actually what I’m doing here. I’ve been climbing out at the Virgin River Gorge in Utah ... climbing with friends, climbing with a rope — just hard, physical work.
What can non-rock climbers take away from the sport?
I don’t know if rock climbing offers this, but what I hope that my life offers people is living with a certain intention — choosing your actions, making choices: This is what I value in life. These are the things that are important to me. I will seek them out. Rather than just going on auto-pilot.
Will there be a second sequel to your film Suffer-Fest?
The thing about those projects is, they’re a big step back from me being a strong rock climber. The more exhibitions like that I do, and the more going to foreign places, the less time I’m spending getting stronger. That’s kind of why, over the last five or six years, I haven’t improved beyond a certain point.
So that’s your focus now?
Yeah. I think for the next year, I’m going to be a real climber, which is what I’m doing here in Vegas.
Desert Companion welcomed Heidi Kyser as staff writer in January 2014. In 2024, Heidi was promoted to managing editor, charged with overseeing the Desert Companion and State of Nevada newsrooms.
