Last year nearly 300 performances were staged at Drum Tower West Theatre, attracting about 60,000 theatergoers. Plays the theater has produced also toured the country last year, with more than 60 performances, and attracting about 60,000 theatergoers.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"I watched many plays in Beijing, and they brought me a lot of happiness, but many tears, too. I wanted something that was thought-provoking, something that is unique for theatergoers in the capital."

She was utterly determined and fearless, she says, partly because she was unaware of the risks that running a theater presented.

One day in 2010 she visited an abandoned theater hidden among hutong (narrow alleys) in the downtown area of the capital, Gulou Xidajie, or Drum Tower West Street.

"The moment I walked into that rehearsal room I just new this was where I was going to start by own theater," she says.

She chose McDonagh's The Pillowman as the opening play, directed by Zhou Ke. The response was immediate and positive. Since then, Drum Tower West Theatre has become a favorite hangout for the city's young, trendy and theatrically aspiring.

Unlike bigger theaters in Beijing, many with a capacity of more than 1,000 seats and put on big-budget shows, smaller theaters such as Drum Tower West Theatre cater to young theater lovers with artistically pioneering and small-budget plays.

One of Drum Tower West Theatre's most loyal followers is He Yingnan, who watched the play Electronic City, written by the German playwright Falk Richter and performed at the theater by On &On Theatre of Hong Kong in the summer of 2015.

"The theater, tucked away in traditional hutong, offers an idle environment," says He, born and raised in Tianjin, and who now lives in Beijing. "I was also impressed by the theater's productions with high quality in terms of its repertoire."

In addition to loving theater, He is an amateur actor himself, performing in plays that Drum Tower West Theater produces. Last year He toured as an actor with the theater's production of The Pillowman.