TRAIN – stations, stories and travels

2016

German-Dutch Youth Theater Project
Das Letzte Kleinod and Likeminds, 2016

The young theater makers of Das Letzte Kleinod (Schiffdorf, Germany) and Likeminds (Amsterdam, Netherlands) traveled in mixed German-Dutch groups by train through Lower Saxony and by tram through Amsterdam. They interviewed other travelers and searched for stories of people on the move. Where are you from? Where are you going? What memories, experiences and wishes do you have with you? The teens met different people, different languages, very different stories.

The interviews formed the starting material for the performances. The youngsters worked on the theatrical recordings and played screenings at Geestenseth (D) and Perron Oost in Amsterdam (NL) as station theaters. The interviews were dialogised or worked out as a monologue and implemented with movement, some texts were reproduced as poetry, spoken word or song. The young people edited the lyrics themselves and developed trilingual theater presentations, accompanied by a German-Dutch directorial team.

The Project TRAIN – Stations, Stories and Travels has been supported by Fonds Soziokultur e.V., Landschaftsverband Stade, Landkreis Cuxhaven and the Weser-Elbe Sparkasse.