The Playhouse that Plays *thesis
Advisor : Mira Henry / SCI-Arc Spring 24’The Playhouse That Plays imagines theater not as a fixed container, but as an active performer. The thesis studies how autonomy, labor, and intimacy shape performance, from the Taiwanese Folk Opera mobile stage to the 99-seat equity waiver theater culture of West Hollywood. In both contexts, performers do more than act: they build, sell, cook, promote, direct, and sustain the theater itself. Through this expanded labor, the theater becomes a place of places, carrying the energies and relationships of its makers. The project proposes a flexible playhouse and its mobile twin, where construction, performance, and demolition become one continuous act.