Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Sometimes it's hard to decipher between reality and imagination, especially with lifelike virtual video games. Ever wonder what it could to teenager's molding minds?

The Aurora Theatre presents playwright Jennifer Haley's sci-fi horror play "Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom," which takes the stage tonight through early March.

"This play highlights how technology has become a substitute for personal engagement," Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez said.

Set in modern-day America, the production features a fictional popular video game with the same name as the play. Players use the latest technology, including GPS coordinates which create a realistic image of where the player is located, like their neighborhoods that they know very well.

To take the top prize, the players jump, attack and slash their way through armies of zombies to escape the neighborhood.

That's where the scene turns from entertaining to disoriented quickly as the teens get deeper and deeper into the game. Their households become filled with dysfunction and a sense of uncertainty.

"Aurora Theatre is the perfect place for this great new play to be produced," Rodriguez said. "Our theater is right in the middle of suburbia, and that, coupled with education and technology partners like Cisco, Georgia Gwinnett College, Gwinnett Tech and Rocket IT, gives us all the ingredients to really engage a new audience."

The play runs through March 4.