Research suggests that that there is no such thing as a singular “true self” [citation needed], and that one’s behavior instead subtly transforms when one is placed into different contexts. This occurs for various reasons, for instance, the desire to be accepted by a social group, or to attain status in one context whilst remaining unnoticed in another [citation needed]. When observing a person interacting with a particular social group, physical and behavioral cues, including posture, proximity to other persons, speech patterns, volume, gestures, and other interpersonal dynamics can be observed as indicators of the role that this person plays within this group [citation needed]. As such, all real-life interaction are inherently performative [citation needed]. Yet, when these cues are stripped away, as in the case of a text-only medium like Internet chat, one’s intended intonation and voice are obscured, and indeed the speaker is stripped of personality and performance [citation needed]. By interpreting the subtle cues that may be present in the act of typing itself, physical cues can be translated into stage direction for later re-enactment [citation needed]. Yet the multitudes of differing adaptions of the textual content of a play lends itself to a rich tapestry of interpretation, reminding us that all text, and perhaps even all physical and behavioral cues, are filtered through many lenses of multiple individual viewers, such that the “true self” of the original speaker may remain completely unknowable [citation needed], that is, the unbekanntselbst [citation definitely needed].

On the surface, our approach to capturing the unbekanntselbst appears to be a relatively simple reformatting of chat output into a screenplay. However, the adaptation is much more sophisticated: many of the conventions of text chat must be interpreted in the translation, for instance, emoji reactions turn into stage direction. Threads turn into cuts. Timestamps can indicate whether there are long pauses in conversation or if many people are talking over each other.

Finally, as a culmination of producing a script, we aspire to produce an actual stage play, dramatically and emotionally re-enacted by professional actors, complete with set design, costumes, props, blocking, and direction.