Workshop, open to students and professionals, from the fields of architecture, design, construction and allied disciplines

Conceived and conducted by Shubhra Raje and Mare Trevathan, the ten-day long ReFresh workshops draw on the discipline of site-specific devised theatre in order to reveal the pleasures and possibilities of the built environment otherwise hidden due to habitual use on the one hand, and deeply entrenched architectural paradigms, on the other. Rather than conventional tools used to measure, analyze and determine value in architecture, the participants will inhabit the campus through play in ways that emphasized an active, performative experience of space instead of a literate reading of it. In collaboratively devising short in-situ performances over the course of the workshop, participants will use the architecture of the campus as a creative partner and an instrument of investigation, rather than the more traditional setting or a backdrop for the story or narrative. 

The workshop and the resulting performances (which will be open to public), are architectural meditations which help in the rediscovery and activation of built environments, thereby acting as precursors to design. Such an approach gives the participants ways to formulate an argument and convey complexity by underplaying more established cultural and historical narratives in favor of individual journeys, shifting the frame of reference. 

Shubhra Raje: Shubhra is an architect and educator working in environments that engage diverse issues, multiple constituencies and varying scales, from interior design and architecture to creative urbanism and conservation. Her work is about the possibilities within the constraints of each project, and the weave of relationships that generate those constraints.

Mare Trevathan directs, acts and teaches site-specific theater at institutions such as the Tony-award winning Denver Center for the Performing Arts, University of Colorado and myriad theaters and schools across the United States. Mare has narrated over 550 audiobooks for the U.S. Library of Congress and audible.com. She has studied with Anne Bogart, Augusto Boal and Kenji Suzuki (among others).