'Love and Information': Theater as a 'Living Art Form'

Sarah Bay-Cheng believes theater should be a "living art form," which makes sense when you consider the treatment she's giving an already-innovative play being staged on campus this coming weekend.
Love and Information by Caryl Churchill has been described as an "exhilirating theatrical kaleidoscope." Through a multitude of different characters and mini-performances, the play examines the relationship humans have with information and with each other in the digital age.
Collaborating with colleagues in the fields of computer science and visual arts, theater professor Bay-Cheng's adaptation turns the play into an interactive, immersive digital experience that the audience can involve themselves with throughout the life of the show.
The project includes a specially designed mobile app, now available for iOS download at the app store, which enables people to access exclusive video content and to interact with the performance. Audience members wishing to do so can live tweet during the play, when a so-called social media "musician" will be on-stage "scoring" the Twitter feed and coordinating the flow of information.
Material will also be posted before and after each performance, says Bay-Cheng, which reflects how most of us consume our entertainment today. "Nothing lives in one place in contemporary digital culture. Everything is in multiple locations, and your experience rarely begins and ends with your visit to the theater."
Love and Information is sponsored by The Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts, and will run March 2-4, 2018, in Pickard Theater, Memorial Hall. Advance Tickets are free and available at Smith Union. Tickets will also be available at the door.