A clue scribbled in the margin of the book and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket then take him on a mysterious adventure that spans the globe and the ages.

The play begins with the Librarian appearing on stage, which is sparsely furnished with a whiteboard and marker pens, a magnetic bulletin board, and a table.

He starts with a copy of a Baedeker travel guide that was anonymously returned 113 years overdue to the library in the small Dutch town where he used to work.

Eventually, the audience learns that the person to whom all of the Librarian's items relate may be Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew, a mythical figure from medieval Christian folklore.

Sets were by Lauren Halpern, lighting by Tyler Micoleau, sound by Paul Adams, costumes by Miranda Hoffman and projections by Elaine J. McCarthy.

[2] T. Ryder Smith played the Librarian, and received a Drama Desk Award nomination that year as Outstanding Solo Performer.

[5] The Metropolitan Baltimore-Washington premier was at Round House Theatre in July 2003 directed by Jane Beard starring Jerry Whiddon.

The Houston premiere of the play was in February 2004 at Main Street Theater, produced by Hero Productions, with Jim Bernhard as the Librarian, directed by Roy Hamlin.

[11] First Presbyterian Theater of Fort Wayne, Indiana produced Lintel at the end of its 2005-2006 season in July 2006 with Joel D. Scribner as the Librarian, directed by Thom Hofrichter.

[13] In the winter of 2013, Kingbaby Productions mounted the play on Bowen Island, British Columbia starring David Cameron as the Librarian.

[citation needed] In May 2013, Duncan Henderson played the role of the Librarian in a production directed by D. James Newton in Brighton, UK.

[citation needed] In 2013, Mick Mize played the role of the librarian in a production performed at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley, CA.

A dual production in Montreal, Quebec was jointly staged in 2020 by both the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in its original English form and the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde as Zébrina, a French translation by Serge Lamothe.