Phorkyad Acropolis is a resident of Second Life, the owner of Faust's Study, and the publisher of several poetry anthologies both in-world and in the real world.He directed a one-act play, The Perm, by Zayante Hegel in Second Life (SL) in the summer of 2007. (He has also agreed to perform Zayante's Orphan Train Poems with her and others in August 2008.)

In RL, Phorkyad is Stephen A. Schrum, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. With a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California, Berkeley, Schrum begun teaching with technology in 1993, and since then has been writing and presenting on technology, including editing the book, Theatre in Cyberspace: Issues of Teaching, Acting and Directing (2000). His other interests include digital filmmaking, virtual performance, and playwrighting. As for playwrighting, Schrum continues to perform his full-length monologue, Immaculate Misconceptions, taking it into the virtual world of Second Life in mid-summer 2008. More information can be found on his website, MUSOFYR— pronounced “muse of fire”— at www.musofyr.com.

The name Phorkyad is derive from Greek mythology: the witches who shared an eye and a tooth. Since Phorkyad and his creator share the screen, the name made perfect sense.