Making theatre for young audiences. Sure. But what does that mean concretely for the work of theatre-makers? What kind of theatre? How young or young at heart should the target audience be? What we put on stage is intended to inspire, delight, question, critique and entertain; to have something to do with ourselves and the audience. Perhaps that is the goal. But the path to the stage is not always smooth and certainly not straight. Who actually decides who gets to have their say, who is meant and what we are allowed to see? What structures make things (im)possible? Where are they good? Where do they need to be questioned?
Since 2009, the "Next Generation" has been invited to WESTWIND. Typically, 40 to 50 young professionals and students from fields such as dramaturgy, directing, acting, dance, set design, cultural & theatre education, psychology, sports/physical theatre, new media, film, scenic writing and German studies respond to the nationwide call for applications.
Although most things are different this year due to the pandemic, including – or, perhaps, first and foremost – theatre, 10 young people are set to come together under the direction of author and dramaturge Annalena Küspert to watch and discuss theatre for children and teens and to gain insight on their own (current and future) artistic work. They are the "Next Generation 2021" and an integral part of the WESTWIND symposium. They will attend all performances and accompanying events as a group and are invited to experience WESTWIND as a lively place of exchange with seasoned and established theatre professionals.
Direction: Annalena Küspert
Assistance: Céline-Sofie Ilbertz
with: Selma Böhmelmann, Martin Heim, Tobias Horstmann, Nora Cosima Kühnhold, Sefa Küskü, Gaye Mutluay, Saskia Scheffel, Carmen Schwarz, Christoph Steć, Zafer Tursun
Annalena Küspert
born in Switzerland and raised near Lake Constance, she studied German and English literature in Germany and Great Britain. She worked as a dramaturgy assistant during her studies and as a dramaturge upon graduation. She is currently employed at Junges Nationaltheater Mannheim in addition to working as an author since 2017, sometimes in collaboration with her husband Konstantin Küspert. Her works have premiered at theatres in Osnabrück, Münster, Constance and Chemnitz, among others. Her youth play “am wasser” was longlisted for the German Youth Theatre Award in 2020.
Selma Böhmelmann
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Selma Böhmelmann
Born in 1996, she grew up with the suspension railway and studied cultural studies and political science at Leuphana University. She has completed various internships and assistantships at places such as Schaubühne, the festival Augenblick mal! and Volksbühne Berlin. Since autumn 2020, she has supported Simone Dede Ayivi as an assistant and dramaturgical collaborator and is studying to obtain her master’s degree in theatre at FU Berlin.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Martin Heim
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Martin Heim
"I love theatre in all its diversity."
Diploma in cultural education (University of Hildesheim) and performer in the fields of children’s and musical theatre, among others. 2010 career change to childminder, followed by parental leave as a gay father of two foster children. Commissioned works for Cologne puppet theatres as an author and a composer.
My interest in “social access & participation” extends to barrier-free, non-heteronormative children’s and youth theatre – including for audiences under 3 and their caregivers.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Tobias Horstmann
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Tobias Horstmann
(27) is a state-certified childcare worker who is currently in the sixth semester of his theatre education programme at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. From 2014 to 2018, he regularly collaborated on outreach projects and youth club productions at Theater Lübeck. As an educator, he has primarily worked in the area of outpatient child and youth welfare for boys and young men.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Céline-Sofie Ilbertz
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Céline Ilbertz
born in Leverkusen in 1997, has been studying at HBK Braunschweig since 2017. Since 2016, she has worked as a management assistant at StadtGeschichten in Staufen im Breisgau. In addition to her studies, she works on projects at TPZ and LOT in Braunschweig. She spent the 2019/20 season as an intern at COMEDIA in Cologne. Céline is part of the artistic collective cindy+cate.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Nora Cosima Kühnhold
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Nora Kühnhold
completed her directing studies at HfMT Hamburg in February 2021 with an original production for young audiences on queer politicisation and desire. Important impulses for her work come from her collaboration with Raúl Reyes, whom she assisted for one and a half years in Tucumán, Argentina. In 2019, she completed an internship at the São Paulo Goethe Institute. Her interests include feminist theatre and improvisation-based theatre works from Argentina and Brazil.
(Photo: Laura Levin u. Madeleine Palm)
Sefa Küskü
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Sefa Küskü
(24) was born in Wanne-Eickel. He discovered his passion for dance and theatre in 2014, when he first appeared on stage in a dance theatre club. In the same year, he was able to perform his first children’s and youth play at Theater Kohlenpott in Herne. “Leider Deutsch” ("Unfortunately German") was invited to Westwind Festival in 2015. Since then, Sefa has performed at various theatres throughout NRW. Since 2018, he has been enrolled in the acting programme at Schauspielschule der Keller in Cologne.
(Photo: Markus J. Bachmann)
Gaye Mutluay
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Gaye Mutluay
I am Gaye and come from Bielefeld. I have been performing on stage since my primary school days. I am currently studying to be a primary school teacher. In addition to my studies, I have started a theatre education training programme. From 2013 to 2019, I worked with the theatre group 3ST in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock in the areas of acting and theatre education. Since then, I have headed theatre education projects with children in Bielefeld and the surrounding area.
(Photo: Sascha Vredenburg)
Saskia Scheffel
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Saskia Josefine Scheffel
(*1996 in Dresden) is studying cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim, where she has got involved in Initiative Probebühne and the university’s student council.
Saskia Scheffel is a member of the Secret Dramaturgical Society, through which she has assumed responsibility for coordinating discussion events for various theatre festivals.
Her work in the collectives SuperDrive and mate ebene serve as the aesthetic practice component of her studies.
(Photo: Sarah Holzmann)
Carmen Schwarz
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Carmen Schwarz
After studying directing in Salzburg, I moved to Cologne and now work as a freelance director. In my work, I focus on questions of communal life: our capacity for utopia, longing for optimisation and tolerance of irritation. This gives rise to different formats from theatre magic" to participatory games. A special focus of my work is on productions for young audiences. My dream is to one day stage a play in my mother tongue, Porto-German – why not?
(Photo: Heide Prange)
Christoph Steć
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Christoph Steć
is currently studying media arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. His work encompasses theatre, film and video arts. After many years of involvement in the theatre collective "spinaTheater - junges ensemble Solingen"”", he now serves as an autodidactic theatre educator and passes his experience on to teens and young adults through participatory projects at Theater der Keller in Cologne.
(Photo: Luisa Bäde)
Zafer Tursun
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Zafer Tursun
grew up in Cologne. After studying German and sociology at the University of Mannheim and gaining acting experience at Nationaltheater Mannheim, he returned to Cologne. From 2016, he worked on productions at Theater der Keller, Schauspiel Köln and the Nibelungen Festival. 2020 saw the premiere of his debut production, an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “Ein Hungerkünstler” (“A Starvation Artist”). In the 2021/22 season, Zafer Tursun will direct at Schauspiel Essen.
(Photo: Hieronymus Rönneper)
