Thu Hoài Trần is a freelance theater director and dramaturge working at the intersection of theater, science and empowerment. Previous theater works are in the field of participatory-political theater, which Trần realized among others at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Pathos Munich, Berlin Ringtheater and Staatstheater Nuremberg. Recurring elements of the artistic-research works are the performative testing of anger, mourning and practices of resistance and solidarity. In early 2020, Trần co-founded the Institute for Affirmative Sabotage with Miriam Yosef, which aims to productively intervene in cultural enterprises and practices. The Institute’s first play, A Reminder That We are Many, premiered at the Staatstheater Nuremberg in 2021. In the fall of 2021, this play appeared in DRAMA Magazine for scenic literature. Trần is part of the bildungsLab. This association of mostly female scholars* of color intervenes and publishes in the field of education and mediation critical of racism and hegemony. In addition, Trần writes articles on, among other things, the need for a radical diversification of urban theater. In the context of political education, Trần regularly gives lectures and workshops on topics such as the critique of racism, intersectionality, and empowerment. 
At Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Thu Hoài Trần was involved as dramaturg in Auf dem Mars sieht die Welt so aus (2023), directed by Marque-Lin and in The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy (2024) by Ariel William Orah. As a director, they were involved in the Extended Cooperation workshop (2025), financed by the prize money from the 2023 Theaterpreis des Bundes. The production Your Baggage Unattended, for which Trần was responsible, has been part of the repertoire since fall 2025.