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 towards defining notions useful to the first two approaches.

In particular, W produces games, a score writing software, a lexicon of operational notions, workshops and practical sessions, critical seminars, as well as articles and conferences.

W-critique attempts to built and experiment tools for the reception of performances.
It draws on two basic principles : first, to give back to the spectator the task of producing meaning based on what he observes; second, to try and multiply the possible meanings of a performance rather than decyphering a pre-existing content.

The W-critique relies on the W-lexicon, a set of operative notions that attempt to name the different aspects of the reception process of a performance.

The W-critique is implemented within the W-protocoles, real-time observation and interpretation devices for performances.

These protocols, in which the activity of the spectator is formalized so it can become a specific object of study, are developed, tested, and put in practice during the W-critical seminars.