Anon (MCC Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Anne Washburn, whose “Mr. Burns, a post-electric play” imagined the afterlife of civilization, turns in Anon, to a menace already very much among us: the dark underside of social media, where the craving for online attention can blur the line between fantasy and reality, with increasingly disturbing consequences.

The dramedy heats up with a seemingly innocuous provocation: a gay pride flag is unfurled across the street from Jeanie (Crystal Finn), a Texas suburbanite whose single-minded devotion to posting on TikTok initially seems merely an eccentric, if irritating, habit. But as the action unfolds, her online activity takes on a distinctly darker cast, with consequences that reach beyond her own household and into the lives of her new neighbors.

Jeanie’s teenage daughter, Delia (Izabel Mar), is understandably mortified by her mother’s propensity to post personal information about her, potentially causing embarrassment at school. Jeanie’s husband, Michael (Andrew Garman), has also tried to reason with her, but to little avail. As “Anon” progresses, it explores how easily the pursuit of online attention can distort judgment and feed increasingly extreme attitudes. Jeanie becomes a rabid conspiracy theorist embracing all the Qanon rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the other household at the center of the action comprises Adam (Jeff Biehl), an easygoing presence, and his partner, Will (Jeremy Shamos), whose seemingly more conservative outlook grows increasingly militant and paranoid as he becomes caught up in the TikTok mentality himself when they learn Jeanie’s been posting about them.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Finn is a particular gem as Jeanie, initially comic in her zeal, but with a darker undertow that steadily becomes more pronounced. Biehl brings an appealing natural ease to Adam, while Garman makes a sympathetic, long-suffering Michael. Mar is affecting as Delia. And Shamos compellingly traces Will’s transformation from apparent restraint to something far more aggressive.

A growing atmosphere of foreboding is reinforced by Delia’s school assignment: to compose a monologue for a Shakespearean character who has no such speech. Her choice of Goneril, one of the treacherous daughters in King Lear, adds resonance to the play’s stormy climax.

Director Anne Kauffman keeps the narrative gripping throughout, making effective use of an otherwise largely gray set that serves as the respective homes of the two families. Projected text messages are a frequent feature, and there’s articularly inventive fantasy video sequence that opens the second act, laying bare the increasingly rabid tenor of Jeanie’s online postings.

Washburn’s cautionary tale is all the more unsettling for suggesting that the consequences of online extremism are anything but confined to the virtual world.

Anon is never less than absorbing, and increasingly suspenseful as it progresses.

(MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater (511 W 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019; mcctheater.org; through Nov. 1)

Photo by Monique Carboni: (l.-r.) Andrew Garman, Izabel Mar, and Crystal Finn

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