W is a research collective that studies action in a performance setting. What does it mean to act as others watch? What characterizes the relation we call theater?

To answer these questions, W simultaneously develops three complementary approaches: a practice, which builds tools and techniques for the actor; a critical method, which suggests reception guidelines for the spectator; and a theory, which works to define notions useful to the first two approaches.

In particular, W produces games, a lexicon of operational notions, a critical seminar, a theoretical apparatus, articles, conferences, research sessions, as well as school visits.

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W Sessions are periods of research that are devoted to W Practice. They are run by Joris Lacoste and Jeanne Revel and bring together actors, dancers, performers, students and researchers.
W research pivots on three inseparable parts: practice, criticism, and theory. It shifts constantly between these dimensions, alternately theorizing practice, theoretically practicing criticism, or practically criticizing theory.

W Sessions explore these three dimensions while resolutely emphasizing the first, namely the point of view of action and the actor. Each part draws on different practical tools (W Handbook, W Notation, W Method) as developed during previous research and takes great pains to question, perfect and add to them. This happens essentially through developing and experimenting with a certain number of games (W Games) that formalize the question of improvisation and interpretation, notating action and executing scores.