SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

In the post-pandemic era, social isolation is habitualzing online social interaction rather than offline, face-to-face social interaction in our daily life. Furthermore, as Lieberman and Schroeder note, the shift from offline to online socializing has meaningful and measurable consequences for every aspect of human interaction, “from how people form impressions of one another, to how they treat each other, to the breadth and depth of their connection” (2000, 1). In this signature work thesis statement, I claim that using an immersive theatre approach in my drama adaptation of traditional chinses work-Peony Pavilion, can help participants be more aware of two different types of social interactions (offline and online) their social outcomes from a more personal and emotional perspective. To achieve this performance outcome, I raise three modes of immersive theatre, which are “immersive interior mode,” “immersive contextual mode,” and “inter-personal immersive mode,” according to various “interactivity” staging strategies with examples of Sleep No More, Flames.
Situated about both the scholarly literature of theatre performances with new audience-performers relationship and theatrical practice of presenting original drama versions of chinses classical xiqu works on stage, this interdisciplinary creative project is a great attempt of “Staging Invisible world,” “Modern and chinses classic theatre expression combination,” and also “The redefinition of audience and performers relationship during the pandemic. Furthermore, I would conduct measurable surveys to collect the audience’s opinion about whether our performance helps them reflect on how online and offline social interaction changes their opinion about intimate relationships during the social isolation period.