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Right to be Forgotten ~ Arena Stage

Jordan Wright
October 27, 2019 

In Sharyn Rothstein’s clever play, Right to be Forgotten, the dilemma of the right to privacy in the digital age versus free speech gets a full-throttle examination.  Is the internet our friend or is it our undoing?  As a starry-eyed teen, Derril, followed his crush, Eve, around town until, feeling fearful of his unwanted attention. she reported him for stalking.  A blog called the ‘High School Girl Blog’ was created and outed him by name.  From that moment on Derril became the personification of a stalker.  As the blog went viral it encouraged any woman who had ever been stalked to post their experience.

(L to R) John Austin (Derril Lark) and Shubhangi Kuchibhotla (Sarita Imari) in Right to be Forgotten. Photo by Margot Schulman.

Now Derril is trying to get his PHD, have a career, and woo Sarita, a quirky girl, who likes him but is afraid to continue the relationship.  When she googled him up, she saw the damning comments that were still online.  The tricky bit is Derril refuses to change his name – a part of the plot that is hard to understand.  He chooses instead a privacy rights attorney hoping he can sue to have the posts removed and clear his name.  “Always there is this other me online,” he tells Marta who finally agrees to take his case.

Marta’s plan is to have him go public and to that end she takes him to a conference, “The Future of a Free Internet”, where he bursts onto a stage, tells his story and gets unceremoniously tossed out. Because everyone wants a free internet.  Right?  Or, well, not until it threatens their entire future.

John Austin (Derril Lark) in Right to be Forgotten running. Photo by Margot Schulman.

There are twists and turns when Marta tries to get her former colleague, Annie, to see it her way.  Now a bigwig corporate attorney representing internet companies, Annie plays hardball undermining Marta and planning a secret strategy involving a certain politician currently running for office.  Will the two women broker a deal to get the web links removed or will Marta resort to blackmail?  And will Eve find feel remorse for subjecting Derril to a lifetime of hateful trolling?  Alas, we are the ones left to ponder if free speech trumps hate speech and if privacy laws are archaic in the face of technology’s multi-faceted reach.  We are reminded that in 2014 the EU required search engines to create a “right to be forgotten” procedure.  We have no such protocols in the U. S.

Guadalupe Campos (Eve Selinsky) in Right to be Forgotten. Photo by Margot Schulman.

If you liked Dear Evan Hansen and remember how young Evan’s relationship with the internet nearly destroyed his life, you will love how this play turns out.  Did I mention that there’s a ton of comic relief?  Thanks to Marta’s character who is hilariously conniving and played brilliantly by Melody Butiu, there is a lot to love in this cautionary tale performed by a flawless cast and set against a techie’s dream of a set design by Paige Hathaway.

Highly recommended.

With John Austin as Derril Lark; Guadalupe Campos as Eve Selinsky; Rachel Felstein as Annie Zahirovic; Shubhangi Kuchibhotla as Sarita Imari; and Edward O’Blenis as Alvaro Santos.

Directed by Seema Sueko; Costume Design by Ivania Stack; Lighting Design by Adam Honoré; Sound Design by Andre Pluess; and Projection Design by Shawn Duan.

Through November 10th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024.  For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.

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