Swain Hall, Studio 6
Thursday at 8:00 p.m.
Friday at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
Festival badge required for free admission

Principal Investigator
Joseph Megel, Communication Studies, UNC

Project Team Members
Tracy Walker, project coordinator and research assistant
Allan Maule, Icarus Studios liaison and coordinator
Rob Hamilton, set and costume design

Writers   
Corvus Elrod
Haris Orkin
Jim Grimsley
Christine Evans
Jeanmarie Williams
Keith Glover
Jennifer Maisel

Technology Adviser
Mark Robinson, Communication Studies, UNC

Project Description
The Virtual Performance Factory (VPF) is a performance environment existing in the borderlands of real and virtual space. As a special one-time offer, the VPF is opening its doors for a free tour to both real and virtual world residents alike. While inside, guests will find themselves exploring the notions of identity and reality. They will confront questions about their participation in the virtual world and how that informs who they really are.

How much are we defined by our virtual identities -- the actions of our game avatars, our credit report, our fan pages on social networking sites, our consumer profile built cookie by cookie, as we browse the web?

The common workers of the VPF are the Borderguards. Having fully embraced the democratizing power of technology, they are now the authorities of this region between the virtual and the real. The Borderguards are strange helmeted beings who are from the real world but so well integrated into the virtual world that they no longer quite belong to either.

The VPF serves as a converter of self-identity to virtual identity. Everyone who finds the draw of the virtual to be greater than the real will eventually pass across this factory floor. As the guests explore the VPF, they encounter a variety of stories and characters blurring the borders between reality and virtual spaces.

Director Joseph Megel of UNC's Communications Studies department is partnering with nationally recognized writers and playwrights to construct the narrative world of the VPF. He is also collaborating with Icarus Studios, a gaming studio based in Cary, NC, to create the digital art and game assets of the production.

This performance runs February 17-27, each Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for general admission and $5 for students. During the CHAT festival, participants may use their festival badge to gain entry free of charge.