BAAL novo
BAAL novo Theater Eurodistrict was founded in 2005 as a cross-border theater and has existed since then as the only bi-national theater in Europe, with a French association based in Strasbourg and a German association based in Offenburg. BAAL novo, as the theater of the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict, is located in the entire Franco-German border region. As a regional theater, it is also the only professional ensemble theater in Ortenau, the largest district in Baden-Württemberg, between Freiburg and Karlsruhe.
Under the directorship of Edzard Schoppmann, a 10-person team works in the areas of direction, stage and costume design, theater education, management, administration, project and school management, public relations and event technology. Around thirty actors are regularly engaged in production and are part of the BAAL novo ensemble. In the Offenburg Theaterwerk, 3–4 new theater productions for children, young people and adults are created every year. The professional actors with and without a migration background come from Germany and France. Once a year, BAAL novo stages a socio-cultural project that citizens of the region are involved in developing. Finally a trilogy with the participation of refugees.
The children's pieces and some adult pieces are staged bilingually. That means the performers jump between the French and German languages with ease. The dramaturgy of the pieces makes it possible for the pieces to be understandable even without knowledge of foreign languages. The artistic challenge here: How do you manage to implement subjects, dialogues and scenes under multilingual aspects for (monolingual) viewers in a dramaturgical, theatrical and staging way that is exciting and with a high artistic quality?
All theater activities and educational theater offers for and with children and young people are brought together in the Young Theater area. This also includes BABEL, the theater educational project newly founded in Lahr in 2015. Located in the youth culture center Schlachthof, BABEL Young Theater BAAL novo creates creative spaces for encounters between children and young people from different cultures and social classes.
Founded as a Franco-German theater, BAAL novo - Theater Eurodistrict now makes theater for all generations and for all people living in the Eurodistrict. As a theater for border crossers and bridge builders, BAAL novo wants to enable encounters for people of all cultures.
BAAL novo has opened its first own gaming facility in Neuried directly on the banks of the Rhine and on the border with France. The project is conceived as a meeting place for Germans and French, at the same time as a European laboratory and lighthouse project for the Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau. The unusually oval venue with 160 seats on the top floor of the European Forum on the Rhine was built for BAAL novo by the architect and investor Jürgen Grossmann.
Artistic orientation
In the early years, bilingual German-French productions were in the foreground, from 2008 the repertoire was expanded to include an intercultural theater, and the international ensemble grew more and more beyond its German-French origins. In the course of this internationalization, Edzard Schoppmann worked as a director at Russian and Ukrainian theaters (State Academic Russian Drama Theater of Bashkortostan Republic, Troicki Theater Kremenchuk) from 2012 onwards. In 2014, in collaboration with the “Théatre de la Grenouille” from Biel / CH, the German-Swiss co-production “Anima - A Road Theater” was created. In the course of regionalization, the repertoire was further expanded: research projects, intercultural projects, children's and youth theater, drama, comedies, street theater, including many world premieres. The artistic signature of BAAL novo has always included music and dance. With all the joy of movement and musicality, BAAL novo is originally a spoken theater that has the desire to find words for a limitless audience.
Awards
- Jihad mon amour was awarded the German-Dutch children's and youth playwright's prize.
- Together with Jörg Menke-Peitzmeyer , BAAL received a project grant from the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2010 for the piece development "Türkiye'ye Hos Geldiniz - Welcome to Turkey"
financing
When it was founded, the financial basis for the new independent theater was created with start-up funding from the EU Interreg program. After the EU funding expired, the state of Baden-Württemberg became the main sponsor of the theater, complemented by the city of Offenburg since it was founded. In 2015, BAAL novo was recognized as a regional theater of the Ortenau district and the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict, institutionally funded by the entire border region, the state of Baden-Württemberg and local authorities. In addition to the city of Offenburg, the city of Lahr and, on the French side, the Région Grand Est, the Département du Bas-Rhin and the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg are among his sponsors.