Dog Cartoon Inspires Theatrical Play

©2010 The New Yorker Collection from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

Peter Steiner's New Yorker cartoon, now 16 years old, is one of the most well known in the magazine's history.

And the subject of dogs and the Internet has been mined for other jokes, like my friend Nik Scott's four panel cartoon on Internet Spying, taken from the Prometheus6 blog.

But I had no idea that the "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" cartoon inspired an entire theatrical play.

"Nobody Knows I'm a Dog" by David Alan Perkins ...

" ...is a full-length play about six people who are unable to connect to other people IRL (in real life). They find the courage to socialize by joining a singles newsgroup on the Internet, taking comfort in knowing that they won't be seen. They all choose to hide behind lies and false personas to achieve their ultimate desire - connecting with other people - though it is these lies which keep them from connecting. This morality tale explores the notion that though people try to manufacture fantasy personas in cyberspace, their real personality eventually comes through."

More at David Alan Perkins' site.

Hat tip to Michael Maslin!