Theater in Design

A participatory design technique using professional actors to portray users with disabilities or older adults, allowing design teams to engage with user needs without directly involving potentially fragile individuals. Developed by Newell and colleagues at the University of Dundee, the approach leverages actors' ethnographic skills and training to present user scenarios in powerful, memorable ways. Actors work from carefully researched scripts and can respond to designers' questions in character. This method removes ethical concerns about burdening vulnerable users while allowing designers to probe more deeply than might be appropriate with real users, building empathy through performed narratives.