What if watching a play didn’t just mean sitting back and observing—but actively deciding what happens next?
That question is at the heart of Interactive Cyber Theatre (ICT), an innovative new theatrical experience that blends live performance, technology, and audience participation. Unlike traditional plays, ICT allows viewers to vote in real time on story choices, shaping the direction of the plot as it unfolds.
This idea was created by the director, David Alford, who developed this concept long before smartphones, platforms, and online polls.
“When I was a kid, I used to play Dungeons and Dragons,” the director explained. “I was always fascinated with the idea of a story that’s guided by everyone in the room because even though the Dungeon Master has ideas, the players also sort of impact the direction of the story, so it’s always been interactive.”
His early fascination with collaborative storytelling stayed with him. Until his interest expanded into theatre and even sports, he noticed how audiences can influence performers.
“Wouldn’t it be a cool thing if the audience could impact, not just improv, cause there’s lots of comedic improvisations where the audiences impact the store, but there’s really been very few dramatic sort of exercises where the affected improvisation from the audience could shape the story” he said.
Alford began forming ICT in the early 2000s when he first realized it would’ve been possible to do live audience polling to guide a story. However, technology at the time made the idea nearly impossible.
“At that time, it was gonna cost like almost $200,000 to do the show even on a small local level,” he said. “There was just no way. So, I let it go for a long, long time.”
Everything changed with the rise of smartphones.
“Now, audiences have all that technology in their back pockets,” the director explained. “So suddenly the technology I needed was everywhere. That completely changed the game for me.”
The director first experimented with the concept during covid, where audiences voted on their phones during live performances. Now, the next step was to create a streaming version.
BW’s first ICT show titled obedience.exe, will take place in the near future, where a group of college students find an artificial lifeform when such things are prohibited. Each student struggles with understanding what to do and escapes accountability when suddenly the lifeform exhibits power that they did not foresee.
“It’s kind of a live-streaming version of ‘choose your own adventure,’ but the group decides, not just one person,” Alford stated.
Viewers will log onto the stream, where the host will explain to them what is about to happen. The show will begin with the artificial lifeform being woken up, and viewers will proceed to watch from the artificial lifeform’s point of view. Multiple polls will be launched for audience members to vote on what they want to do. There are three branches that can lead the show onto many different paths alongside many variations.
“So literally, you could watch all ten shows, and you would never see the same show twice,” he said.
The director explained why he chose to embrace the relationship between theatre and technology: “Technology is part of our evolution. It’s inevitable. We have to. There’s always going to be an audience but if we can use technology to couple with our craft then I’m all for exploring and finding new ways to do that.”
Despite all technical challenges and uncertainties, Alford has continued to remain open-minded and emboldens others to do the same.
“It will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. I’m inviting everyone to be a part of it. Try it; see what happens. We don’t know either. I mean, what’s it gonna cost you? Every show will be different.”
With Interactive Cyber Theatre, the line between performer and audience disappears—and storytelling becomes a shared adventure.
Tune in for the livestreams of obedience.exe from Feb. 25 to Mar. 1 on the Interactive Cyber Theatre YouTube Channel. More information is located on Instagram with the handle @baldwinwallaceict.