★★★★★ Central Square Theater, Cambridge MA. According to a veteran policer of social media sites, viewing a daily array of posted images and videos to decide which are to be suppressed is “the intersection of a librarian, a 911 dispatcher, a schoolyard monitor, and an editor that curates.” In Ken Urban’s stunning new play, it’s also the source of tremendous anguish to an already anguished Frank Bonner (Nael Nacer), former manager of a defunct Kohl’s whose anger issues have led wife Edyth (Celeste Oliva) and their young son to move out at the height of the COVID lockdown. Hired by <redacted name of platform founded by a guy named Mark>, Frank starts out an energetic model employee but gradually gets worn down: by the solitude, the fear of loss, and mostly by the sickening, appalling view of humanity parading across his laptop daily. Eventually one bullied child (Sean Wendelken) keeps posting cries for help, but can Frank follow policy (and common sense) and stay uninvolved? The moral issues, many and complex, stand in contrast to the sheer exhaustion of maintaining one’s equilibrium in a world spiraling out of control. Jared Mezzocchi dazzlingly directs a multimedia event involving images, Zoom calls and live actors that propels the viewer right back to the crazy-house days of 2020. His ensemble is one and all superb, starting with Greg Maraio as the just-promoted supervisor who struggles to find his sea legs and Jules Talbot as Frank’s seasoned coworker who can’t quite help him navigate his fears. Oliva and Wendelken are heartbreaking, but it is Nacer’s work that holds it all together, trenchantly evoking all the qualms faced by photojournalists in war zones when it comes to maintaining a neutral perspective while keeping one’s own shit together. Be forewarned: That which parades across Frank’s computer does so across director/video designer Mezzocchi’s screens, and the NSFW horrors are too much for some audience members (I know; I saw them leave). I get their discomfort. But if The Moderate teaches us anything, it’s that turning a blind eye to human beings at their worst can never be the rational human being’s answer. (Photo of Nael Nacer by Nile Scott Studios.)