Theatres join forces and take on co-producer role

The Coproducers is an initiative of 12 theatres whereby they act as co-producers of productions by theatre makers who are no longer starting, but also not yet established. By corona there is a gap in the career development of younger creators, last year the Council for Culture and State Secretary for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu sounded the alarm. This season pushes The Coproducers the latest performances by Nastaran Razawi Khorasani and Vanja Rukavina. Superposition by Rukavina will premiere at de Schuur in Haarlem on 9 November.

Each season, the programmers of the participating theatres of De Coproducers, the partnership of 12 Dutch theatres, select two creators to support for a minimum of three years. Through the financial contribution and marketing efforts of De Coproducers, the theatre makers get extra playtimes and the theatres focus on audience building in their cities. The aim is for the makers to become a fixture with both venues and audiences. "The Coproducers brings the triangle of makers, theatres and audiences much closer together. Space and enough time to make, present and build an audience. This set-up works in all directions." Says Hanno Tomassen, chairman of The Coproducers.

Last season the trajectory of Cherish Menzo (DARKMATTER) and The Poetry Boys (Yy). This theatre season come Nastaran Razawi Khorasani with the show This is not a dance and Vanja Rukavina with Superposition there. Rukavina reveals, "Thanks to the support of The Coproducers, I was able to realise a passion project about the ability to empathise with others. An, in my opinion, important and urgent topic. We have to keep trying our best to understand the other, no matter how far away they seem to be from us. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to show this story to a large audience." This is not a dance is currently touring the Netherlands and Superposition will have its premiere on 9 November.

About The Coproducers

The Coproducers is an initiative in which 12 flat-floor theatres work together as co-producers to help an idiosyncratic and up-and-coming generation of theatre makers to the next step in their careers. The Coproducers directs that makers who are in between nascent and established establish lasting relationships with theatre and audiences. With the support of Fund 21 EXTRA, there is additional focus on growing audience reach. Makers previously supported by De Coproducers are Club Gewalt, Nineties Productions, SHIFFT/ Jasper van Luijk, Hulst & Tarenskeen and Anoek Nuyens.

The coproducers are Theater Bellevue (Amsterdam), Frascati (Amsterdam), Schuur (Haarlem), Corrosia (Almere), Theater Kikker & Podium Hoge Woerd (Utrecht), De Lieve Vrouw (Amersfoort) De Verkadefabriek (Den Bosch), Theater Ins Blau (Leiden), De Nieuwe Vorst (Tilburg) and the flat-floor theatres of Het Nationale Theater (The Hague), Theater Rotterdam (Rotterdam) and Zwolse Theaters (Zwolle).