Caryl Churchill’s new thought-churning play mirrors the digital age and the ever-changing attention span. “Love and Information” is broken down into seven sections, each with a given number of scenes. Each scene, some only lasting a few seconds, touches on the idea of how people process knowledge. Within the production, 11 actors take the stage and portray more 100 characters.

The play is ultimately about human interaction and the human need to connect and understand. Information is delivered rapidly to correlate with how information is received in the current world. As Churchill has described her work, “In the age of short attention spans, when we whip out our phones at all times to check updates, status, Instagram, Twitter, texts or emails, we still crave human connection. The mystery and challenge is how to achieve it.”

Director Daina Robins is excited to discover the possibilities within this production. “‘Love and Information’ is a clever and quirky play about the two subjects included in its title,” she said.  “Playwright Caryl Churchill has written a series of short scenes with open-ended contexts that deals with communication and miscommunication, love and loss or shifts or trouble in love, information and misinformation.  We are exploring possible relationships and circumstances for each scene and having a great time brainstorming and playing out different possibilities.  We hope our production captures the whimsy, imagination and variety inherent to this script.  It should be a fun evening of theatre.”

In addition to Robins, the production team includes senior Claire Bouwkamp of Jenison as scenic designer, with faculty member Richard Smith as properties designer and scene design mentor; senior Sydney Luse of Elburn, Illinoi, as costume designer, with faculty member Michelle Bombe as costume design mentor; senior Nils Fritjofson of West Granby, Connecticut, as lighting designer; junior Nathan Gingrich of Potsdam, New York, as stage manager; and freshman Gracen Barth of Dallas, Texas, and junior Anna Jones of Ann Arbor as assistant stage managers.

Staff members contributing to the project include Ken Chamberlain as sound designer, Paul Anderson as technical director and Darlene Veenstra as costume shop manager.

The cast includes sophomore Jose Angulo of San Francisco, California; junior Juliette Collins of Ann Arbor; senior CaliRose DiGiuseppe of Portage; freshman Ben Douma of Crawfordsville, Indiana; junior Alexander Johnson of Plymouth; junior Rachel Kennedy of Naperville, Illinois; senior Sydney Luse of Elburn, Illinois; senior Zach Makowski of Allen Park; sophomore Shanley Smith of Holland; freshman Jacob Starr of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and junior Elijah Yang of Eugene, Oregon.

Tickets are $10 for regular admission, $7 for senior citizens, Hope faculty and staff, and free for Hope College students and children 18 and under. Tickets are available at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7890. Tickets are also available online.

The DeWitt Center is located at 141 E. 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue between 10th and 13th streets.

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