WESTWIND – 34th Theatre festival for a young audience in North Rhine-Westphalia

In May 2018, seven festival directors and theatre-makers from Chile, England, Ireland, Lithuania, Croatia, Spain and Mexico travelled to Cologne at the invitation of the International Visitors Programme for the annual NRW Theatre Meeting for Young Audiences, WESTWIND Festival. In addition to a selection of productions from North Rhine-Westphalia and international guest performances, the renowned theatre festival offered the guests an extensive supporting programme with workshops and discussion formats.

Festival organisers and participants, including Jutta M. Staerk, artistic director of the Cologne COMEDIA, and director Manuel Moser, met to exchange ideas with the group of visitors. A networking lunch with those responsible from the Marabu Theatre (Bonn) and the performance group pulk fiktion (Cologne) also provided opportunities for professional discussion and getting to know each other better.

At the Consol Theatre in Gelsenkirchen, the guests were met by Christiane Freudig, managing director, and Andrea Kramer, artistic director of the theatre. In Herne, the group met Gabriele Kloke and Frank Hörner from theaterkohlenpott. The Mülheim KinderStücke and a meeting with those responsible for the festival, director Stephanie Steinberg and staff member Janna Röper, finally led the group of visitors to the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim.