Plein Theater and Puppetry Workspace present the first edition of the QUEERING PUPPETS FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM from 23 to 27 March 2022!

QUEERING PUPPETS FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM gives the stage to genre-transcending forms of visual theatre and puppetry. A fusion of craft and technology, where traditional categories are dissolved before the eye of the beholder. During this multi-day festival, for once the focus is not on people, but on things. With what characters and objects are we surrounded? How does the imagination bring them to life? The non-human will come to the fore in various, hybrid forms.

The initiative

During yet another 2021 lockdown, Cat Smits (puppeteer, theatre maker) and Berith Danse (Plein Theater director, theatre maker) decided to realise their dream of creating a new theatre festival. The premise of this festival is that humans are neither the centre of the world nor the theatre floor. It is the imagination that brings things to life.

Queering Puppets Festival Amsterdam is a co-production of Plein Theater and Puppetry Workspace in collaboration with Cultuurticket.nl. Plein Theater is Amsterdam Oost's stage with a current and diverse programme for children, young people and adults. Puppetry Workspace is a community-based network of puppeteers, object and visual theatre makers, actors and programmers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Programme

The festival will take place in and around the Plein Theater in Amsterdam Oost. There will be leading and
engaged performances and films by Ariel Doron, Cat Smits Company, Duda Paiva Company, TAMTAM Objektentheater, Ulrike Quade Company, TG Winterberg and a
exhibition by ArtCollective BetweenTwoHands. There will also be workshops, a club night, and Cultuurticket.nl will open an online stream of puppetry and visual performances for the Festival. On 26 March, there will be fringe programming for the neighbourhood on Sajetplein from the EAST& initiative. On 27 March, International Theatre Day, the official opening of Buque Azart in Ecuador, sister stage of Plein Theater, can be followed on live stream.

Ambitions

The ambition is to make Queering Puppets Festival Amsterdam an annual festival. During this first edition, speed dates will be organised in which we want to discuss with each other and with people in the field about how to make a quirky festival like this annual
can organise. This prospect also includes the new theatre incubator De Dapper, which will open in 2023 in the former Muiderpoort Theatre. This development is run by PodiumPartners Foundation (Plein Theater) and supported by Bureau Broedplaatsen and the City of Amsterdam.