Rebecca Rouse’s contribution presents a media archaeological point of view on how the concept of theatre as a laboratory for interdisciplinary practices evolved. The theatre transformed from a nascent workshop-like laboratory to an environment of explicit research, and this was further enhanced by the rise of the artistic research movement. The author describes how she and her colleagues created a virtual reality (VR) production based on Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and her aim as a director to underscore the complexity of Wilder’s story. Rouse concludes that VR can make use of the laboratory of theatre as a fertile space of creativity to advance as a medium of its own.