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Site-specific Theatre

In this section, you’ll find content about work created for and performed outside of conventional theatre spaces. Artists describe the reasons for making such work, and the challenges that come along with it. Consider starting with Anne Hamburger’s “The Why and How of Site-Specific” or Gab Cody’s essay on writing for immersive and site-informed experiences.

The Latest

A Twelve-Foot Robotic Arm, Like Chekhov Would Have Wanted 
Podcast
A Twelve-Foot Robotic Arm, Like Chekhov Would Have Wanted 
by Tjaša Ferme, Igor Golyak
25 January 2024
Thinking Outside the Black Box
Essay
Thinking Outside the Black Box
by Rex Daugherty
7 December 2023
Performance, Pro-Democracy Protest, and Activism Across Cultures
Essay
Performance, Pro-Democracy Protest, and Activism Across Cultures
by Kristin Idaszak
13 November 2023
Preparing and Performing Site-Specific Immersive Work
Essay

Preparing and Performing Site-Specific Immersive Work

22 July 2015

Liane Tomasetti shares some words of wisdom following the performances of the site-specific, immersive piece Animating the James and Ann Whithall House at Red Bank Battlefield.

Music and Movements
Essay

Music and Movements

Cry You One at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas

2 July 2015

David Bruin on Mondo Bizarro and ArtSpot Productions’ Cry You One at the Arts & Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut.

Immersion, Coercion, and Mutiny
Essay

Immersion, Coercion, and Mutiny

How do we set rules for the audience?

15 June 2015

Phil Weaver-Stoesz describes an immersive theatrical experience where the audience took control of the narrative, and asks what rules, if any, we should set for audience members in non-traditional works.

Staging History
Essay

Staging History

A Pilot

17 May 2015

Liane Tomasetti explores what timing can mean for site-specific theatre, and how helpful a pilot performance was for her team to tackle some big issues.

Smartphone Plays
Essay

Smartphone Plays

a New Theatrical Genre

6 May 2015

Erin Mee discusses the emerging genre of smartphone plays.

36.5 / a durational performance with the sea
Essay

36.5 / a durational performance with the sea

21 April 2015

Sarah Cameron Sunde explores the issue of water rising on our planet, explores the drastic changes through art, and implores people to consider the water.

I Fall in Love All the Time
Essay

I Fall in Love All the Time

9 April 2015

The author shares her thoughts on Gideon Irving and the Foundry Theatre’s Living Here: a map of songs.

Communicating Vision
Essay

Communicating Vision

Readings and Read-dos

30 March 2015

In this installation, Liane Tomasetti explores how tricky a first reading of a new site-specific play is, and how important it is to listen to all the community members involved.

Inviting Them In
Essay

Inviting Them In

Writing as an Act of Communion

11 March 2015

Romanian playwright Peca Ştefan discusses a project to research and engage with residents to tell the stories of towns throughout Romania.

Building a Bridge
Essay

Building a Bridge

Stakeholders and Practitioners

17 February 2015

In this installation, Liane Tomasetti talks about the initial brainstorming sessions exploring what they were going to make, and what the partnerships could look like.

Avant-Home-and-Garden
Essay

Avant-Home-and-Garden

Site-specific Theatre and the Politics of Public and Private Space

30 January 2015

In this installment, Kate Kremer discusses the difference between public and private space, and the kind of theatregoing experience one can have in situations with unfamiliar rules.

A Balancing Act
Essay

A Balancing Act

Community, History, and Playmaking

21 January 2015

Liane Tomasetti’s first post in her series on creating a site-specific theatre project at a historical site in New Jersey, where she considers point of view, integrity, and expectations. 

Site Work to WorkSites
Essay

Site Work to WorkSites

Peculiar Works Project Illuminates the Insides of the City

16 December 2014

3Christs is an adaptation of a study about therapeutic experiments with three men who believed they were Jesus Christ at Ypsilanti State Hospital in the 1960s. Performed in Judson Memorial Church, 3Christs exemplifies the essence of Peculiar Works Project.

Biking Beyond Linear
Essay

Biking Beyond Linear

Past and Future in The Kirkbride Cycle

14 October 2014

Haley Honeman writes about The Kirkbride Cycle, a site-specific musical performed at Fergus Fall State Hospital, a deinstitutionalized asylum in Minnesota.

Photo from Much Ado About Nothing.
Neighborhood Shakespeare in Chicago’s North Side Parks
Essay

Neighborhood Shakespeare in Chicago’s North Side Parks

23 September 2014

Dani Snyder-Young covers audience behavior and experiences at park performances of Shakespeare in Chicago.

Photo from Liquid Culture.
Six Ways of Thinking about Liquid Culture
Essay

Six Ways of Thinking about Liquid Culture

20 August 2013

Andrew Alexander offers tools for appreciating the art and value of live performance while reflecting on gloATL's 2013 public art project, Liquid Culture.

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Performative Unity in the Hungarian Arts
Series

Performative Unity in the Hungarian Arts

A dazzling performance art scene is being born in Hungary, which, though quite small, boasts artists from all walks of life. Puha means “soft” in Hungarian, and PUHA stands for Performative Unity in the Hungarian Arts. It is an ambitious project by theatremaker and performer Zsófia Kozma and choreographer-performer Bíborka Béres that brings makers and creators of the Hungarian performance art scene together for discussions. From dancer to set designer, jazz musician to game designer, we talk with all sorts of people about thoughts, approaches, challenges, and ideas in their work. They sit down to explore topics like climate change, gender, queerness, improvisation, and public space in order to replace division and competition by fostering unity and dialogue in the field.

Getting Down with Barrio Stories
Series

Getting Down with Barrio Stories

A series discussing the collaborative and creative process of Barrio Stories.

My Tension Experience
Series

My Tension Experience

Designer Megan Reilly writes on her experience as part of a piece of immersive horror theatre.

Site-specific Theatre Series by Liane Tomasetti
Series

Site-specific Theatre Series by Liane Tomasetti

A series taking an in-depth look at the process, start to finish, of working collaboratively on a site-specific theatre project with a community to animate a historical site.