Gamifying Democracy: Theater Meets Technology to Challenge Polarization

How can a performance become a game, and how can a game make us rethink democracy itself?

In Gamifying Democracy, Assistant Professor William Lewis, PhD (Department of Theatre and Dance) and Sarah Johnson, MFA, PhD (Indiana University Bloomington) are exploring these questions through a groundbreaking artistic research project that fuses performance, technology, and social inquiry.

The production transforms the stage into an immersive, participatory “game show” set in a post-apocalyptic future, where audience members role-play as rival factions tasked with repairing the societal divisions that once led to collapse. Using smartphone polling and actor-facilitated discussions, participants experience firsthand how algorithms shape and reinforce polarization and how dialogue can disrupt those cycles of distrust.

“Our goal is to create spaces where people can see themselves within the mechanics of digital division,” Lewis explained. “By turning this process into a performance, audiences not only watch but play through the tensions that define contemporary democracy.”

Over the past ten months, students and faculty from Purdue’s Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance have collaborated with peers at IU Bloomington and The Ohio State University to design, test, and refine the production. Four workshop performances held at Purdue, the Civic Theatre of Lafayette, and IU Bloomington have already shaped the project’s narrative and technical framework.

The team is now developing a custom polling software to deepen audience engagement and expand the “gameplay” mechanics of the performance. Plans include a 2026 Big Ten campus tour and a special presentation for non-academic audiences at the Indy Fringe Festival.

A forthcoming book project will document the process, findings, and lessons from Gamifying Democracy, demonstrating how games and performance can foster critical reflection on the algorithmic forces shaping our political and social worlds.