WESTWIND 2022 has invited 10 young theatre professionals from German-speaking countries to the 2022 Next Generation Forum.
Since 2009, the “Next Generation” has been invited to WESTWIND. Typically, 40 to 50 young professionals and students from fields such as dramaturgy, directing, acting, dance, music, set design, cultural & theatre education, cultural management, physical theatre, new media, film, scenic writing and German studies respond to the nationwide call for applications.
Under the direction of performer, writer and dramaturge Antigone Akgün, the 2022 participants now constitute their own Next Generation Forum. Within the forum, they will engage in discussions on festival themes, theatre for young audiences and their personal conception of art as well as explore career aspirations and their realisation while setting corresponding goals. Together, the forum members will attend all festival performances and additional events and take part in post-production discussions. WESTWIND 2022 explicitly considers itself a touchpoint between the Next Generation and established theatre professionals. To this end, the 2022 programme will once again include various exchange formats. Among other things, the Next Generation Forum will invite all festival visitors to the Next Generation Showcase on Wednesday, 15 June at 21:30 in Theaterrevier II.
Leading: Antigone Akgün
Assistance: Pauline Weeke
with: Ariana Battaglia, Bella Enderlein, Kathrin Frech, Marci Friebe, Marlene-Sophie Haagen, Laman Leane Israfilova, Robin Plenio, Leonie Rohlfing, Nele Wagener, Merle Zurawski
Antigone Akgün
(*1993) works as a freelance writer, performer and director at German municipal theatres as well as in the independent scene. After training as an actress in Greece, she studied theatre, film & media studies, Greek philology, classical archaeology and philosophy in Frankfurt before obtaining her master’s degree in dramaturgy through the Hessian Theatre Academy. In her artistic work, she addresses the overwriting of canonical literature and strives to render marginalised perspectives visible. In 2021, she was nominated for the Hans Gratzer scholarship at Schauspielhaus Wien with her play “Das Erste Festmahl”, which illuminates the experiential world of non-normative female bodies. In addition, she has headed Berliner Festspiele’s Theatertreffen blog since 2022 and has served on several juries (including Theatertreffen der Jugend, the festival Augenblick Mal!, the cultural department of the city of Munich and the cultural office of the city of Wiesbaden).
Ariana Battaglia
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Ariana Battaglia (no pronoun)
Born in 1995, Ariana has worked as an assistant director at Maxim Gorki Theater and Theater Basel. Their work “Cleite, die Göttin der Potenz” was featured as part of the 4th Berliner Herbstsalon and Queer Week in 2019; their production “Androiden aus Mitteldeutschland” is currently playing at Residenztheater München. Ariana is currently studying applied theatre studies in Giessen with an artistic research focus on the intersection of desire, lust and shame.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Laman Leane Israfilova
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Laman Leane Israfilova
(born and raised in Baku, Azerbaijan)
has been studying acting since 2019 and is currently in her final semester at Landesbühnen Sachsen. Prior to her studies, she performed in the youth club at Schauspiel Leipzig and in a production by Jérôme Bel at Volksbühne Berlin. As an emigrant to Germany, she readily pursues topics such as home/identity, diversity in the theatre and film landscape as well as everyday racism.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Bella Enderlein
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Bella Enderlein
studied theatre arts in Leipzig and has interned/assisted at Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Schauspiel Leipzig and HMT Leipzig, among others. With LOFFT’s young talents grant, she staged the devised production “GIMME GIMME GIMME”. She is now studying for a master’s degree in applied theatre studies in Giessen and is in search of theatre styles and approaches that suit her.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Katrhin Frech
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Kathrin Frech
studied applied theater studies and is currently part of the stage and costume design course at the HfBK Dresden. As a freelancer, Frech has already been present at various festivals with collective projects that revolve around the sweet spot of female dilettantism. In 2021 she was involved in the realization of the international performance festival DISKURS 35 and is part of the hungry eyes festival 2022.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Marci Friebe
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Marci Friebe
is studying scenic arts in Hildesheim. He works at the interface of theatre and audiovisual media. He is particularly interested in autobiographical and documentary staging strategies. During and alongside his studies, he has developed his first artistic works, such as the desktop film “my body is a screen” and, most recently, his collaboration on the multimedia performance “BITE ME”.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Marlene-Sophie Haagen
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Marlene-Sophie Haagen
Marlene studied acting at HMTM Hannover and University of the Arts London. She subsequently worked at Kosmos Theater in Vienna, the municipal theatres of Bamberg and Giessen, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Kampnagel Hamburg and Landungsbrücken Frankfurt.
Together with the theatre collective Widerhall, she realises projects that examine the political past of the city of Frankfurt. She has also written several radio plays, most recently: “Corona Tears”.
(Photo: Lenn Lamster)
Robin Plenio
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Robin Plenio
(*1993 in Höxter) studied musicology, cultural studies, staging of the arts & media as well as new composition techniques in Münster, Hildesheim and Hamburg. Since 2017 he has worked as a freelance musician, composer, performer and media artist. His focus ranges from electronic sound experiments to pop, music programming and sound art. His work has been seen and heard at Sophiensaele, Kampnagel, Uferstudios, Heimathafen Neukölln and Theater an der Parkaue, among others.
(Photo: David-Simon Groß)
Leonie Rohlfing
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Leonie Rohlfing
studied theatre und media in Bochum/Gent and went on to pursue continuing education in theatre pedagogy, obtaining a BuT® certificate in 2022. Accessibility and the opportunity to participate in theatre are particularly important to Leonie in her artistic work. Therefore, Leonie regularly initiates theatre projects for young people and has received several invitations to national youth theatre festivals as a director.
(Photo: David Peters - mischkonsum)
Nele Wagener
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Nele Wagener
born in 1998, is currently studying for her master’s degree in cultural outreach at the University of Hildesheim. She has completed several internships at children’s and youth theatres, most recently at GRIPS Theater in 2021.
In addition to her studies, she is active in cultural education. Her interests lie in making theatrical spaces accessible, disability as an aesthetic practice and digital theatre work.
(Photo: contributed by the participant)
Merle Zurawski
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Merle Zurawski
(*2000 in Oldenburg) is a directing student at ADK Baden-Württemberg, where she is involved in the students’ committee Asta and the Awareness Group. For years prior to her studies, she could be seen onstage as a player and performer and was also able to gain experience as an assistant director and dramaturge at the collectively-run Theaterhaus Jena. As a director, Merle Zurawski always strives to take a queer-feminist, anti-capitalist and discrimination-critical perspective.
(Photo: Anika Sending)
