Jury statement

“Few municipal theaters are as open to the independent scene as Theater Oberhausen. This can be experienced as part of the Doppelpass cooperation (with the collective geheimagentur, which invented the lecture musical ‘Sweat Shop’ here in 2014/15) or in the cooperation with the Mülheim Ringlokschuppen and the urban exploration project ‘54th City,’ for which four independent groups created theatrical visions of the future of the Ruhr region at the beginning of the season. With an outstanding ensemble behind him, in recent years artistic director Peter Carp has repeatedly succeeded in establishing remarkably advanced aesthetics in the city and attracting international directors to his theater (in 2014/15, for example, Andriy Zholdak, Bram Jansen and Simon Stone). The balancing act between artistically challenging styles and regional connections is particularly productive here.” – Jury statement