TheaterArche

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The TheaterArche is a theater in Vienna's sixth district that has been running and playing the former premises of the Ludwig furniture factory and the Theater Brett in Münzwardeingasse 2A since 2019 . Artistic director and managing director is the Viennese director and actor Jakub Kavin.

The TheaterArche was nominated for the Nestroy for the inaugural production of its own house, ANSTOSS - Ein Sportstück .

history

OUTSIDERS and the founding of the association

The stage work typical of the TheaterArche began in 2015 with the development of the OUTSIDERS play by the urban cube association . In the production, which was realized in cooperation with the refugee aid organization UNHCR , the Probation Aid Neustart and the refugee project Ute Bock in the former anchor bread factory , actors from various social backgrounds worked, including later founding members and cooperation partners of the TheaterArche, such as the dancer and Wheelchair performer Cornelia Scheuer and the Syrian actor Johnny Mhanna . The staging (text: Jakub Kavin and Thyl Hanscho based on an idea by Kavin and Vera Schwarz, director: Kavin) was intended to create a “reflection of society that is becoming increasingly radicalized” . The success of the production laid the foundation for the later self-definition of the TheaterArche as well as for its inclusive basic claim.

Subsequently, the association “TheaterArche” was founded and began its work under the new name.

Work as a free group

The first official production by TheaterArche, Wir Hungerkünstlerinnen. We hunger artists. (Text: Kavin, Hanscho und Ensemble, Director: Kavin) premiered on October 20, 2016 in what was then Theater Brett. The TheaterArche presented itself to the Viennese theater audience three years before the opening of its own house. The very large, inclusive and diverse ensemble (with over 30 participants as well as the voice storm Augustin choir ) and the direct incorporation of current social issues (in this case, among others, the financial scandal of the Vienna Burgtheater around Matthias Hartmann , of "salary modalities at the Wiener Festwochen " and the “Kafkaesque struggle for funding” , with which the ensemble also reflected its own situation) further established the later style of TheaterArche.

In 2017 and 2018 the TheaterArche used the premises of the Delphin Theater in Blumauergasse 24 in Vienna's second district and during this period brought three in-house productions with a smaller cast: Das Schloss nach Franz Kafka (directed by Kavin, played by K. Johnny Mhanna, who fled from Syria ), RM Rilke - How is it possible to be there based on texts by Rainer Maria Rilke (director: Kavin) and THAT'S REALLY EVERYTHING based on Daniil Charms (director: Vilmos Nagy). In the absence of funding from public authorities, all three productions were financed exclusively through crowdfunding and performance income.

Opening with ANSTOSS

At the end of 2018, Kavin took over the premises of the Theater Brett, which he renovated and redesigned with his own funds and with the voluntary help of the entire ensemble. The new theater was opened on January 29, 2019 with the production ANSTOSS (text and direction: Kavin). With this production, Kavin returned to a large ensemble (17 participants) and once again addressed social scandal issues, this time it was about "top-class sport as a reflection and aggravation of society" . The spectrum ranged from doping in top-class sport to the "dark side of the economic miracle football" to the cases of abuse in Austrian skiing that Nicola Werdenigg made known in 2017 . At individual play dates, Werdenigg also took part in her own role on stage and shared her experiences and opinions on the topics discussed in the play with the audience. On other performance days, changing star guests, mainly from the world of sports, took on this interactive function.

After the game series with ANSTOSS , numerous theater projects from the independent scene in Vienna were performed in the TheaterArche until summer 2019.

Despite the still precarious situation of the theater, there were already two more in-house productions in the 2019/20 season: MAUER (text collage: Kavin, based on a play by Thyl Hanscho, director: Kavin), and Blinde Nacht , world premiere after Simon Kronberg (Director: Christoph Prückner). It is planned to continue hikikomori (ideas Jakub Kavin, Text: Thyl Hanscho and Sophie Reyer , directed by Kavin), a solo performance of singer and actress Manami Okazaki ; this project should also be seen as a guest performance in Japan .

On October 14, 2019 it was announced that ANSTOSS has been nominated for the Nestroy 2019 as the best off-production.

Goal setting and self-image

The TheaterArche sees itself as “an open theater as a reflection of an open society” . The theater does not have a permanent ensemble, but sees itself as an “intercultural, interdisciplinary and inclusive platform for artist networking on and behind the stage” . Regular contributors have included actors, musicians, visual artists, writers, psychologists and philosophers, as well as people of different social and national origins, mother tongues and physical characteristics.

With the TheaterArche, in addition to the in-house productions, a barrier-free and variable venue for Vienna's independent theater scene is to be created that enables inclusion at all levels. The room should be open for an intercultural and interdisciplinary exchange. The theater's performance hall is 170 m², the seating is variable and, as the foyer and performance hall are on one level, also barrier-free.

reception

"Most diverse house in Vienna"

- "Der Standard", January 23, 2019

“What the group offers is highly professional, entertaining and a successful change in the diverse Viennese (off) theater scene. Fresh, free and unfortunately financially underfunded. Must see!"

- "Kulturfüchsin", May 12, 2018

literature

  • Margarete Affenzeller: "Anarchy with clear rules". Article about the opening of the TheaterArche in: “Theater der Zeit”, May 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage of Cornelia Scheuer
  2. ↑ Report on Johnny Mhanna on the homepage of UHNCR
  3. ↑ OUTSIDERS documentation on the TheaterArche homepage
  4. ↑ Hunger artist documentation on the homepage of the TheaterArche
  5. ↑ Preliminary report on the opening in the Wiener Zeitung on January 10, 2019
  6. ↑ ANSTOSS documentation on the website of the theater's Ark
  7. ↑ WALL information on the TheaterArche homepage
  8. ↑ "Blind Night" information
  9. ↑ HiKiKoMORi preview on the TheaterArche homepage
  10. ↑ Nestroy nomination for ANSTOSS on the official website of the Nestroy Prize
  11. ↑ Self-description on the TheaterArche homepage
  12. ↑ Self-definition of the theater on the homepage of the TheaterArche
  13. ^ Ensemble of the TheaterArche on the theater homepage
  14. ↑ [1]
  15. ↑ [2]