Low-End Resilience Theory

A fter Hurricane Harvey had struck Houston a couple of years ago, homes were partly destroyed, neighborhoods damaged and livelihoods affected, the edifices of the theatre district flooded, and for some time, performance operations had to be outsourced. When I returned there in December 2017, the Houston Grand Opera stage crew had just completed building two mobile sets for their repertoire, to be rolled out into the temporary “Resilience Theatre” constructed at Brown Convention Center, a vast Pompidou-like structure commonly used for commercial expositions. The story of the resilient theatre resonated around this city, as a number of arts organizations and cultural venues opened their doors to give refuge to others more afflicted by the natural disaster.