The In (仁) in my name signifies the beauty of a fully realized person. My work begins with In (仁)—a way of understanding humanity not as an abstract value, but as something enacted through choice, care, and action. For me, In is not a metaphor or a theme; it is a practice. It shapes how I think, how I collaborate, and how I make theatre.

I approach theatrical design as a process of inquiry rather than illustration. Each project begins with questions: What does this work ask us to notice? What assumptions does it inherit? What has been erased, softened, or normalized—and can that be disrupted? I am less interested in providing answers than in constructing aesthetic conditions where discovery, discomfort, and beauty can coexist.

Questions are central to my process. They function as tools for listening—to collaborators, to performers, to materials, and to myself. Through questioning, I dismantle structures that no longer serve the work and rebuild with intention. Design becomes an active negotiation between the visible and the unseen, the composed and the unstable.

I consider the audience’s journey as part of the work itself—from anticipation and arrival, through spatial orientation and attention, to what lingers after departure. Space is never neutral; it carries weight, tension, and memory. Every decision—material, line, height, angle, color—is deliberate, and every alternative shapes the work’s beauty.

Collaboration is fundamental to my practice. I value clarity of intention alongside openness to difference. Rather than imposing a singular vision, I seek to build shared language through trust, listening, and sustained dialogue. Theatre, for me, is not a product but a collective act of meaning-making.

This manifesto is not fixed. It evolves with each process, each collaboration, each failure and revision. It exists to resist complacency—to keep the work honest, perceptive, and alive. I return, repeatedly, to one question that continues to guide my practice:

What makes a person truly human?

Currently pursuing Stage Design (scenic) MFA at Northwestern University.

Contact ainndoo@gmail.com for more info.