Academy for Inter-Generational Vision

Artists are invited to an international academy to look at the specifics of theatre with and for children. Up until now directors, authors and choreographers have worked principally for an “adult” audience, now they are looking at the different aspects of writing and producing for children. Using the background of individual artistic work whilst looking towards a young audience, the Labs offer time and space to consider questions of material, aesthetics and perception in a practical manner. The central question is how or whether ways of story-telling are in fact generation-specific. The Labs are not about writing or producing plays but about experimental approaches, where the individual artistic practice is confronted by the child's point of view.

Lab I Claudia Castellucci (Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Italy)
Lab II Richard Maxwell and Sarah Michelson (New York City Players, USA)
Lab III PeterLicht and S.E. Struck

Organised by the ITI in cooperation with Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim
Programme director: Andrea Zagorski

Crossing Borders – Panel discussion with the artists of the international Academy for Inter-Generational Vision

In the days before the symposium Play Young, the ITI invited international theatre artists for a one-week Academy for Inter-Generational-Vision. The New York director Richard Maxwell, Italian director Claudia Castellucci (Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio) as well as author PeterLicht (working in cooperation with the director S.E. Struck) have so far worked primarily for adult audiences. During the academy they are exploring the various aspects of writing and producing for children. The panel discussion with the artists that “crossed the border” from adult to children’s theatre exposes difficulties that arise from working for different audiences. The discussion is a launching point for the symposium, which takes inspiration from bordering genres and work fields and thus attempts to sharpen the focus on the work at hand.

German-English focus group “Material”

Imposing on the audience – Looking for new material for children

The search for new material is a concern for many producers of children’s theatre: for the dramaturges and directors in the theatres, the editors in the theatre publishing houses, and others. Looking at the current season’s children’s theatre programmes, some tendencies are obvious: inspired by the independent theatres’ unique way of producing their own plays, now the established playhouses have started developing their own plays more frequently as well. Besides, children’s theatres have been showing adaptations of children’s books. Content-wise, the children’s theatre aims at socially relevant topics. However, when comparing the German-speaking children’s theatre with foreign texts in the genre and with children’s books, it becomes apparent that foreign authors take fewer precautions when confronting children with more drastic content. Using the presentation as a starting point, the focus group discusses which topics can still be made accessible for the children’s and youth theatre.

German focus group “Dramaturgy”

Dramatic or post-dramatic: Basic questions on drama in children’s film, theatre and literature

The question whether a child responds to stories that follow classical dramaturgy or to narrations of association has repeatedly been a point of interest in discussion of dramaturgy. Hans-Thies Lehmann, a literary scientist, describes “post dramatic” theatre as a theatre that has abandoned the practice of solely relying on the literary dramatic text. Instead, this theatre develops an aesthetical approach in which, during the performance, the text is placed in a specific relation to the action on stage. The panel contains dramaturges, directors, and authors who in their work have to make such decisions as well as shape and revise their basic concepts. The starting point is the presentation, in which dramaturgical models for narration in children’s film will be discussed.

German-English focus group “Aesthetics”

On the borderlines of narration between film and theatre, adult and children’s theatre

Compared to the German-speaking regions, in the area of children’s theatre abroad a more frequent appearance are the so-called “border crossers”: theatre directors working both in children’s as well as adult theatre. This way of working demands an open-mindedness to moving across interdisciplinary areas. It facilitates a greater variety of modes of narration as well as the courage to more personal aesthetic signatures. Which specific ways of narrating does the children’s theatre require and when is there no sense in distinguishing between the generations? Why is there a lack of formative signatures in the German children’s theatre? In what ways is the scene abroad ahead of Germany’s? Just recently, German children’s theatre has opened itself up to a spectrum of new artistic forms of expression and thus to different modes of narration. When the question of the effects of dance, performance or musical theatre is posed, the answer always revolves around the possibilities and restrictions of abstraction and artistic thrift. Where are the limits and possibilities of different ways of narration? The presentation will provide ideas from children’s film, it will discuss sample modes of narration, and draw conclusions concerning the aesthetics in children’s theatre.

German Focus Group “Reception”

Media competence – Forms of narration for the children’s theatre

From what age on do children have the capability to identify with a fictional character? And how does a child relate to the portrayed subject matter? Is it really the case that a child can demonstrate ironical distance only at the age of twelve, at the end of childhood, as studies suggest? Unlike earlier, children today are introduced to different media from early on. A modern childhood is radically different from those of previous generations. The consequences that follow from these circumstances will be discussed in the presentation from a paediatric psychological perspective.

“Spaces of Knowledge” with installation by Peggy Mädler

What ideas of the child and of childhood come to the mind of an adult who was once a child himself? What roles do individual childhood experiences play for the construction of certain images, what are the influences of the social and legal frameworks and of the understanding of space and time? A performance space is created by means of various installations and a “kitchen conversation” a space that might revive memories, a space that plays with assumptions – and in which knowledge is represented by a sense of imagination that can vary widely depending on the perspective of the viewer.

Panel: School of Seeing – Narrating in Film, Television and Literature

Bernd Sahling (children’s film director), Miriam Gabriela Möllers (ambassador for international children’s and youth literature), Isol (children’s book author and illustrator)

A significant challenge for theory and practice of the children’s theatre is reflecting about the theatre work’s effects on the audience in relation to its aesthetics. In comparison with bordering artistic areas, such as the visual arts and cinematics as well as television, the theatre is not as far developed concerning the question of its effects. The panel unites producers from the areas of children’s literature, film and publishing and combines current discussions from the bordering areas. Deriving from the results of Saturday’s focus groups, the question will be posed: What are the most urgent topics of discussions pertaining to “material”, “dramaturgy”, “aesthetics” and “reception” in bordering artistic areas?

“Sleeping Beauty” (“Dornröschen”) by the Brothers Grimm by and with Maria Neumann

When Sleeping Beauty becomes fifteen years old, an evil spell shows its power and she falls into a deep slumber. For one hundred years, a thorny hedge grows around the castle, until a prince arrives and rescues the princess. Maria Neumann changes into all of the fairy tale figures, while the poetic language of the fairy tale narration remains. But the story would not come to an end, if not the children would help and play along…