Touchstone Theatre kicks off its 2025-26 season, billed as “UnBound Year-Round,” with the world premiere of “Alice in Informationland,” an original, interactive re-imagining of “Alice In Wonderland” set in the digital age.

The performance, 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 8, Linderman Library, Lehigh University, is free and open to the public. It was commissioned by The Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries to encourage discussions about the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Written by Touchstone Theatre ensemble members Jp Jordan and Christopher Shorr, “Alice in Informationland” is said to “examine technology’s evolving role in society, while celebrating the power of imagination, critical thinking and collaboration in navigating the digital landscape.”

Audience members take on the role of Alice, who has been summoned to be judged in front of the Queen of Heart’s court. To get there, audience members must walk through five scenes, set in different locations in Linderman Library, and collect evidence to prove their innocence or guilt.

Each scene has familiar (and not-so-familiar) characters facing AI-inspired challenges that explore such subjects as algorithmic bias, data ethics and human-machine interaction.

Audience members will be encouraged to engage with the characters as they encounter “the chaos at the Tea Party, pass secret messages in The Game and glitch out with the Cheshire Cat.”

Each of the five scenes are between five and 10 minutes long and repeat in a loop during the two hours.

It will take 30 minutes to 45 minutes to experience the performance. Audience members can start any time between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The performance is said to be appropriate for all ages. No tickets are necessary, but attendees must check in at the library’s front desk upon arrival.

“We designed the show from the ground up to live and breathe inside the Linderman Library,” says director Matt Prideaux, a Touchstone Theatre ensemble member.

“We wanted to bring art to Lehigh students and our larger community in a way they might not have experienced before, and fill an already beautiful library with our own unique touch of magic.

“We hope that our audience leaves with a newfound appreciation for this historic fount of knowledge in their own backyard, as well as a deeper love for the amazing work that librarians do,” Prideaux says.

In conjunction with the performance, Lindeman Library has opened an exhibit, “Discover Informationland: The Past and Future of Libraries,” through December, which traces libraries’ role from clay tablets to AI and is said to showcase “how librarians have preserved knowledge, guided discovery and built community across centuries.”

“Artificial intelligence holds the power to transform entirely how we create and engage with information,” says Boaz Nadav Manes, Lehigh University librarian, adding, “We envision our libraries as places of wonder and beauty, where curiosity encounters knowledge, guided by technology along the path to discovery. We are delighted to collaborate with Touchstone Theatre in shaping this unique immersive experience, exploring how AI may reframe our understanding of the world.”

Highlights of the exhibit include a variety of media on which information is preserved, beginning with clay tablets and papyrus, and ending with an e-reader and hard drive. Visitors are challenged to see how many formats they recognize when viewing print, visual, audio and other types of information.

“Festival UnBound” started in 2019 as a 10-day event using the arts as a vehicle to explore questions of community and identity. Over the next five years, “Festival UnBound” evolved into an annual multi-day celebration of performances, and workshops.

Now in its seventh year, “Festival UnBound” is changing its format with events throughout Touchstone’s 2025-26 season, instead of being limited to a single week.

“Alice in Informationland,” 7 p.m. Oct. 8, Touchstone Theatre, Lindeman Library, Lehigh University, 30 Library Dr., Bethlehem. 484-767-2456; http://www.touchstone.org/

Exhibition information:

https://lts.lehigh.edu/news/clay-tablets-ai-explore-informationland-lehigh-libraries

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com