Chee-Hann Wu
Assistant Professor Faculty Fellow
Theatre Studies
New York University
Ph.D. in Drama & Theatre
University of California, Irvine
(A joint program with UCSD Theatre & Dance)
Keywords: #theatre #performancestudies #puppetry #activism #technology #VR #Taiwan #AsianStudies #AsianAmericanStudies
ABOUT ME
Hi there! I am Chee-Hann. I am currently an assistant professor faculty fellow (postdoc) in theatre studies at NYU, and editor of Taiwan Insight, an online academic magazine curated by the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Research Hub. I got my Ph.D. in drama and theatre at UC Irvine. I also make socially engaged art. I am proudly from Taiwan!
My research focuses on puppetry and its ability to reenact/retell memories, experiences and trauma that have been suppressed, and further serve as a force for transitional justice. My dissertation and current book project, Puppetry: A Performative Reenactment of Taiwan, considers puppetry as a means of mediated communication through which I look at Taiwan’s cultural and sociopolitical environment, colonial history, as well as its path to democracy.
I am also very interested in the transnational ecology of video games and VR through the lens of theatre and performance, among many other things!
Some of the performance projects I was involved in focused on Asian and Asian American experiences, drawing attention to the issues of (im)migration and the stigmatization of mental health within the community.
I love teaching! I'm teaching "Performing the Nonhumans" and "Performing the Future: Theatre, Technology and Beyond (honors seminar)" in fall 2025.
I've also taught "Development of Drama," "Intro to Theatre Studies," "Transpacific Asian Theatre," and "Asian American Theatre and Pop Culture."
Aside from research and teaching, I am the program co-chair of the IEEE AIxHEART (humanities, education and arts) conference (2024-25), and I currently serve on the Board of the North American Taiwan Studies Association (2023-26).
EDUCATION
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2017 - 2022
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
(A joint program with UC San Diego)
Ph.D., Drama & Theatre
Dissertation: Puppetry: A Performative Reenactment of Taiwan.
Advisor: Dr. Daphne Lei
Irvine, CA, U.S.A.
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2014 - 2016
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
M.A., Drama & Theatre
Thesis: From the Rest to the West: Staging Differences and Redefining Intercultural Performances.
Advisor: Dr. Stefano Muneroni
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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2010 - 2014
NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY
B.A., Foreign Languages and Literatures
Taipei, Taiwan.
RESEARCH & TEACHING
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I am currently teaching an upper-level undergrad course, "Performing the Nonhumans," and an honors seminar "Performing the Future: Theatre, Technology and Beyond".
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I've taught "Transpacific Asian Theatre" in 2023-24 and "Intro to Theatre Studies" in spring 2024-25 at NYU.
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I was an instructor/teaching associate of "Development of Drama" (Theatre Histories) at UCI. Check out my sample syllabus!
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My experience in teaching assistantship includes "Performance Now," "Intro to Theatre," and "Culture and Performance" at UCI.
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I have worked as a research assistant for several projects, such as "Investigations on Southeast Asian Puppetry," "How to Teach about Taiwan: Findings from the Taiwan Syllabus Project," "Indian and South African Postcolonial Performance" and "The History of Dress and Décor."
RESEARCH & PAPERS
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My dissertation, "Puppetry: A Performative Reenactment of Taiwan," considers puppetry as a means of mediated communication that narrates Taiwan’s cultural and sociopolitical development, early Chinese migration, Han Chinese settler colonial, Japanese colonial, and postcolonial martial law experiences from the eighteenth century to the present. It was awarded UNIMA-USA's Nancy Staub Publication Award in 2025.
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My journal articles "VR, Spectacle and the Haunting—The Man Who Couldn’t Leave" and "Puppets, Trauma, and Performative Remembering: Flip Flops Theatre’s Lala: the Singing Bear (2019) and I Promised I Wouldn’t Cry (2019)" were published in Verge: Studies in Global Asias and Asian Theatre Journal respectively in fall 2025.
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Some of the papers I have presented at conferences include "A Virtual Encounter with the Lost Past: The Undelivered Letters," "Puppetry and the Performative Reenactment of Taiwan: Collective Activism in Mediated Space," "A Response to Trauma through Puppetry and Performative Reenactment," "(Re)making of Taiwanese Subjectivity through Puppetry," "Finding A Way Back Home (if there is any): Puppet and Its Double Theater’s Homecoming," "Rewriting the Topography and Historiography of Taiwan through Dance: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s Formosa" and more.
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Here is a piece I wrote for Puppetry International 50, titled "Stewing An Alternative Epic—The Soup of Reincarnation" (UNIMA-USA, 2021).
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I have also contributed to a chapter in Women and Puppetry
Critical and Historical Investigations (Routledge, 2019) -
As the former program director of North American Taiwan Studies Association 2020-21, I co-wrote "‘Keywording Taiwan’: Report of the 26th North American Taiwan Studies Association Annual Conference, Online, 20–21 May 2021" with Dr. JhuCin Rita Jhang, which was published in International Journal of Taiwan Studies (August 2022).
OTHER WRITINGS
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I love popular writing! The themes include but are not limited to traditional culture, theatre, exhibitions, cultural events and games. Many of my articles can be found on Taiwan Insight. See the selected articles below!
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FOOD IS POLITICS, AND SO IS TRAVEL (Apr. 2025)
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EXPLORING INTELLECTUAL INTIMACY IN RELATIONSHIPS (Print; in Chinese), ARTCO (Mar. 2025)
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WINTER BLUEBIRDS: KPOP IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (Jan. 2025)
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WHAT ARE THE REAL QUESTIONS BEHIND ‘WHY TAIWAN HAS NO AAA GAMES' (Nov. 2024)
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ISLAND IN BETWEEN: AN ETERNAL FRONTIER? (Apr. 2024)
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A GLANCE AT TAIWAN’S ARTS AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IN 2023 (Feb. 2024)
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NATSA: REPOSITIONING TAIWAN (Sep. 2023)
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TAIWANESE HORROR GAMES AND THE GHOSTS FROM THE PAST (Sep. 2023)
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IT’S TIME FOR THE GHOST MONTH! (Aug. 2023)
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A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TAIWAN AND CANADA (Jun. 2023)
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TAIWANESE LITERATURE BEYOND TAIWAN (Apr. 2023)
THEATRE EXPERIENCE
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Dramaturg
I am passionate about dramaturgy. I have worked as a dramaturg for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (2017), Model Minority Syndrome (2018), The Refugee Hotel (2019), and most recently, a devised piece To Keep Our Roots Alive (2021).
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Director
My directing experience includes The Blue Room (2014), The Bear (2015), Almost, Maine (2017), and "US Census Pop-up Performance with Irvine Playwrights Workshop" (2020; sadly this was canceled due to COVID-19).
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Performer
Though I am extremely stage shy, I have performed in Babel en Bhablóin (2016), a devised piece about body, language, cultural code and violence by Josh Clendenin, and presented a puppet piece I made as a part of the I Dream Therefore I Am: Asian Immigration as Creative Muse (2019). I also performed with Taiwan Puppet Troupe for the Lantern Festival in Costa Mesa, CA (2018).
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Theatre Admin
I worked as a project specialist for the 2016 Asia Pacific Traditional Arts Festival (hosted by National Center for Traditional Arts, Ministry of Culture, Taiwan; organized by Puppet & Its Double Theater) , and served as the executive producer of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). I also have experience as an English-Chinese interpreter for theatre workshops, and a translator for theatre-related pieces.
This is from the show The Bear (Anton Chekhov)
I directed at the 2015 Taipei Fringe Festival.
Venue: Drip Cafe, Taipei. Photos by Yi-Chen Han.
This is from The Blue Room (2014) by David Hare.
Venue: NTU Theatre. Photo by Sheng-jung Huang.
Performance with Taiwan Puppet Troupe in 2018.
Venue: Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Julianne and George Argyros Plaza in Costa Mesa, California. Photo by Spencer Grant.