THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

It's common knowledge nowadays that teenagers are risk-takers, often engaging in reckless behavior with hardly a thought for the consequences. It's also alleged that they are technologically superior to their adult guardians, capable of manipulating microscopic gizmos in ways bedazzling even disciples of William Gibson ( like me ) . So a youth movement claiming as its slogan "Don't trust anybody over 25" might, at first, seem a threat to society. But in Cory Doctorow's 2008 cyberpunk novel, the kids are out to rescue America, by daring to go where their cautious elders fear to tread.

Marcus "W1N5t0N" Yallow and his chums are typical—if brainier than most—San Francisco high school students. One afternoon, they are caught near an explosion demolishing the city's Bay Bridge, following which they are "detained" by the Department of Homeland Security as it existed just after the holocaust of 9/11. Incensed by what he sees as blatant disregard for civil liberties, Marcus vows to fight those who emulate the enemy they claim to deplore, using the weapons at his disposal—Xboxes, Alternate Reality Games, internal sabotage of everyday electronic devices and an army of likewise disgruntled adolescents.

Youngsters upsetting a status quo grown complacently despotic is a recurring theme in American literature—as a freethinking teacher notes before being replaced by a Sarah Palin-ringer, isn't our very nation, itself, founded on civil disobedience? And Griffin Theatre's ethos has long championed underpups taking on the Big Dogs. Referential nods to British author George Orwell's pessimistic prototype notwithstanding, the struggle of these dissenters is rendered all the more immediate by history having validated their warnings.

Recreating a sprawling west coast metropolis in the Athenaeum's tiny second-floor studio is no easy task, but Griffin Artistic Director William Massolia ( whose swiftly moving adaptation could have left the tech-unsavvy in the pixeldust, but never does ) has brought on board two experts at boat-in-bottle staging—production director Dorothy Milne and scenic designer Alan Donahue from Lifeline Theatre. Along with a technical team likewise adept at suggesting vast panoramas in closet-sized spaces ( with special credit due Charlie Alves' videos ) , a protean ensemble, led by fresh-faced Mike Harvey as the courageous Marcus, invoke the diverse range of citizenry dwelling in the city symbolizing a cradle of our country's freedom since the 1960s, when another generation of unruly idealistic crusaders set out to defend democracy against creeping erosion.