Outside the front doors of Linderman Library, two actors dressed as soldiers greeted guests with a hello and the blow of a horn.
The interactive performance “Informationland” was held at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The performance, sponsored by the Friends of Lehigh University Libraries, used theater to explore how technology and social media influence the way people think, communicate and seek validation.
The event included four interactive scenes with actors from Touchstone Theatre, a nonprofit theater company located on East Fourth Street, dressed as characters from “Alice in Wonderland” to depict different social-technological spaces.
Matt Prideaux, the director of production and marketing at Touchstone, said the show was inspired by Moravian University students’ adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland, Alice in Bethlehem” at the Bethlehem Rose Garden in June 2024 and other previous events Lehigh Libraries have held about artificial intelligence.
Prideaux said he developed the idea for the play with Lehigh librarians and two other colleagues for about four months. Because it was an interactive event and not a traditional play, he said the Touchstone Theatre team created an outline of scenes rather than a traditional script.
“They gave a lot of space for me as the director in the rehearsal room to have the performers themselves help create what these scenes are,” he said.
Since August, Prideaux said the actors had been rehearsing each of the scenes individually, putting them together the night before the show.
He also said all of the actors are community volunteers with only a few who had specific talents, like playing an instrument, receiving a small stipend.
Prideaux said the event’s plot line followed a flow of online messages being sent to the villainous Queen of Hearts.
Once participants checked in, they were ushered into the library’s reading room for the first scene to watch characters act in a football-like game, where a message sent online was represented by a ball.
Through various characters intercepting the ball, the scene illustrated the idea that when information or messages are posted online, the person who sends them may not know where they will end up.
After the reading room, participants moved into the rotunda and sat around one of six tables that simulated a tea party. Characters playfully questioned the participants about their deepest, darkest secrets.
Prideaux said the characters represented social media influencers competing with each other to garner the most attention and laughs from participants.
Next, participants moved to a dark room with screens in the basement of the library where the character the Cheshire Cat was disrupting the flow of messages to the Queen of Hearts.
Audience members watched as the cat frantically tried to pick up plastic letters that symbolized online messages.
Prideaux said the cat represented a computer virus hacking into data systems and stealing information.
In the last scene, guests faced the Queen of Hearts on the top floor of the library.
At first, the Queen of Hearts wanted to “behead” the guests because she was not being admired. Once the guests began to give her “likes” via voting buttons, she cheered and sent them on their way.
Prideaux said this scene showcased how social media causes people to constantly desire validation. He said the show’s overarching message is that the library and librarians are able to help people navigate the Internet and artificial intelligence.
The show opened the library to Lehigh students and community members, some of whom had never been in Linderman before. George Wacker, a Bethlehem community member, said this was his first time stepping foot in the library, and it was interesting to experience the space in an interactive way.
“This is fun, being able to walk through the art and experience it differently,” Wacker said.
Boaz Nadev Manes, a Lehigh librarian, said the show was left open to the viewers’ interpretations to illustrate the different paths people can take while using AI and the Internet.
He also said the experience was an important reminder that there are different forms of effective teaching, as it’s useful to learn through play.
“It’s good to remind ourselves that not everything has to do with just a very singular kind of learning,” Manes said.
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