TaO!

Workshops, Projects and Reflection Formats for Schools and Groups

At TaO!, we view theatre pedagogy as a playful way to help young people make their own experiences and come up with their own conclusions, rather than a means to educate or impart knowledge through inflexible material. This theatre-pedagogical approach is reflected in all our work, from choosing offers to realising and embedding them.

Interactive introductions and follow-ups to our productions encourage our young visitors to immerse in their very personal theatre adventure, reflect on their experiences and express their opinions. In multi-hour workshop formats, we try to create theatrical worlds in which young participants can try themselves out and practice social skills. Finally, theatre projects with schools and institutions give us the chance to develop performances with young people in which they can present their ideas, visions and opinions to a broad audience.

Theatre pedagogy is one of TaO!’s core fields of expertise, and we continue to test its limits. Digital and multimedia formats let us explore new forms of interaction, while interactive theatrical do-it-yourself formats blur the lines between actors and recipients.

Creative Spaces for Children, Teenagers and Adults

At TaO!, young people from the age of 8, students and adults get the opportunity to creatively express themselves and develop their personalities in a protected environment. Our theatre labs are spaces of encounter and social interaction, in which people can connect with each other in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Theatre acting as an immersive and meaningful leisure time activity promotes social and creative skills.

Our theatre labs are an endlessly rich source of experience and energy. They let us find out what young people really care about, as well as develop and try out fresh ideas. The labs’ protected atmosphere gives our young participants as well as their workshop facilitators and directors the chance to undertake experiments.

Young people from our lab community often develop a high level of identification with our theatre. Many stay involved with TaO! as actors for years, some even venture into other departments such as directing and stage design. Over the decades, numerous participants have also used the experiences and skills acquired in our theatre labs as a springboard to an artistic career.

Exploring and Developing Theatre for a Young Audience

When professional artists and young actors meet at TaO!, their encounters create the friction that is the starting point for our work. The theatrical results are not just performances for a young audience, but rather ways to present perspectives and critically analysed issues of an adolescent generation. Using current aesthetics, they provide insight into the lives and minds of young people, without wanting to educate the audience.

Therefore, moving from a theatre for a young audience to a theatre of a young generation is a logical development that challenges traditional pigeonholing and set structures between viewers and actors. At TaO!, we collaborate with young people in various projects in order to explore and test out new paths for the future of such a theatre.

Our diverse projects include involving young people in the design of our theatre space and its events, supporting and connecting young artists, as well as exploring the medium of theatre in a digitalised society. Long-term goals are collaborative developments and national as well as international networks.