Animal Letters
by Toon Tellegen, translated from the Dutch by Mirjam Pressler | stage adaption by Frank Soehnle
puppet theatre for 14 year olds and older | Original title: „Briefe vom Eichhorn an die Ameise“ | duration: 60 minutes
Director and stage design: Frank Soehnle
| Costumes: Mila van Daag
| Puppets: Kathrin Sellin and Frank Soehnle
| Composition and sound: Johannes Frisch
Make-up: Nadine Wottke | Directing internship: Annalena-Madita Scheika and Franziska Heimbrodt
Cast: Svea Schiedung, Melissa Stock, Paul S. Kemner, Tomas Mielentz
Premiere: 13 September, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.
“Animal Letters” is about writing letters; the squirrel writes letters to the ant and gives them to the wind to send. The sparrow teaches the animals how to write, the mole writes letters to himself. The elephant writes to the snail asking for permission to dance on his house – very carefully, of course. The firefly can only make itself understood to the moth. And the aphid only just escapes its loneliness. Toon Tellegen‘s short stories are utopian miniatures about empathy and community. Director, puppet designer and puppeteer Frank Soehnle – known for his unmistakable style and imaginative characters – and his team tell us about the winding paths of communication, the desire for connection and the lightness and heaviness of encounters in an absurd and comical way in this play for ages 14 and up.
The realisation of this production is supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt.
Performance rights: Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Hamburg
Book rights: Toon Tellegen, Briefe vom Eichhorn an die Ameise. Translated by Mirjam Pressler
© 2001 Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München
Puss in Boots
based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm | stage adaption by the Ensemble
puppet theatre for 4 year olds and older
Director: Sonja Keßner | Designs: Nadine Wottke | Composition and sound: Kinbom & Kessner
Premiere: 16. November, 2024, at 3 p.m.
A poor miller has three sons. When he dies, the eldest gets the mill and the middle son the donkey. The youngest gets the tomcat, which he immediately wants to turn into a pair of fur gloves. But the tomcat can talk and promises the miller‘s son a way out of poverty. He asks for a pair of boots and sets off to catch a sack of partridges for the king. The curious tomcat becomes the favourite of the court, is allowed to go in and out, and finally succeeds in defeating the great sorcerer of the land with a trick, making the miller‘s son an earl and finally king.
This Grimms’ tale is an entertaining classic and at the same time a story about rebellion and cleverness.
The realisation of this production will be supported by Ingenieurbüro Susann Schwarzenau.
Panicman
by Hartmut El Kurdi
puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older
Director: Naemi Friedmann | Stage design and costumes: Sarah Wolters | Puppets: Melanie Sowa and Mario Hohmann | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Premiere: 21. February, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
Nine-year-old Jennifer is at home alone. No need to be scared, Jennifer thinks, and works through her secret list which is full of things she wants to do. At some point, however, it does get a bit creepy being all alone at home and she starts to get scared. Then she suddenly discovers someone who is even more frightened than she is. In the wardrobe sits Panicman, who has transported himself from a galaxy far, far away directly into Jennifer‘s wardrobe and is seeking refuge from his pursuer Bullyman. Of course, he will catch up with him very soon…
Performance rights: henschel SCHAUSPIEL Theaterverlag Berlin
Macbeth!
Co-production between Theater Waidspeicher and Theater Erfurt
by Giuseppe Verdi and William Shakespeare
music- and puppet theatre for 16 year olds and older
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Stage design and costumes: Mila van Daag | Puppets: Kathrin Sellin
Premiere: 10. April, 2025 at Theater Erfurt/Studio.Box
The co-production by Theater Waidspeicher and Theater Erfurt is dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi‘s musical portrait of the social climber and power-hungry Macbeth and combines the material with texts from Shakespeare‘s dramatic original. Macbeth becomes intoxicated with power and brutality and rises from soldier to King of Scotland. But from the very beginning he is surrounded by visions and fictions, witches and the dead speak to him and his end is as ghostly as his rise.
Wolf’s Eyelashes
based on a Japanese folk tale | stage adaption by Kristine Stahl and Sonja Keßner
puppet theater for 5 year olds and older
Director: Kristine Stahl | Designs: Bärbel Haage
Premiere: 21. June, 2025, at 3:00 p.m.
Akiko is the warm-hearted daughter of a blacksmith. Out of resentment and envy, her stepmother makes sure that her father chases her out of the house and into the world. Deep in the forest, she meets a she-wolf. The animal takes pity on Akiko and gives her an eyelash with which she can recognise the true nature of humans. And indeed, with the eyelash in front of her eyes, all passers-by are transformed into the strangest creatures. Only one remains unchanged despite the magic of the eyelash…