The makers

Production house PLEIN THEATER

In April, 2019 Production house PLEIN THEATER launched a new initiative: Participation podium DE VRIJE VLOER (‘THE FREE FLOOR’).

This project is conducive to endless variations, limitless excesses, unpredictable performance techniques and, most importantly, everyone can join in!

During DE VRIJE VLOER, unconventional theatre makers create works with people from Oost, who wish to further develop themselves through acting, writing, or dance, based on current topics. The results are presented in November, during the annual VRIJE VLOER Festival!

During the summer our doors are also wide open. During a four-week period, we host an ‘Artist in Resident’, who will have the opportunity to develop a theatre performance, together with neighbourhood residents and other interested parties. Berith Danse, our general manager and artistic director, is the curator for the participants.

Our experienced theatre makers possess unique skills and work histories. Using cultural or personal themes, they are capable of inspiring people to shine on stage. Their backgrounds enable them to understand what it’s like to be an outsider, to represent a minority, and what it means to maintain authenticity.

Participation podium DE VRIJE VLOER is made possible in part by:

Edit Kaldor (Hungary) will set up an artistic laboratory with participants from Amsterdam East who have no previous theatrical experience. There will be workshops, during which the participants will be coached in the development and realisation of theatrical encounters based on their own experiences. Edit works with amateur performers and, in her work, merges reality and fiction in a special way. She integrates various digital media in a refined yet straightforward manner. Kaldor lives in Amsterdam and works all over the world. Her productions, which expand the boundaries of theatrical convention, have been presented in more than 30 countries in Europa, North and South America, Asia and North Africa in recent years.

Gita Hacham (Sweden/Netherlands) is writer, director and visual artist. As a result of her extensive education – from Film academy to Das Arts (Master Theatre) – she has developed into an interdisciplinary maker. She writes plays and scenarios, and directs her own work as well as the work of others. In her Masterclass, Hacham encourages the participants to share their own stories from Amsterdam East. She will also give a Masterclasses “oral story telling”, playwriting trainings, performances, and video lessons.

Dayna Martines Morales (Bolivia) Dayna’s points of departure are the traditional dances of her homeland Bolivia. She seeks connections between old and new culture, identity, ritual and transformation. During these evenings, PLEIN THEATER aims to make dance more accessible. Dayna Martines Morales and Vincent Verburg of ‘Movementalist’ invite people who transcend interdisciplinary dance style and discipline to get together and work on a performance as a group. These are recurrent evenings for a curious audience, who wish to participate in the creation of a new and exciting form of interdisciplinary collaboration between experienced performers, innovative makers and neighbourhood residents who also contribute dance experience from their own culture