International projects
TRUST – TRUth on STage
TRUST – TRUth on STage is a European cooperation project that brings together theatres and investigative journalists to explore how theatre can contribute to public dialogue, critical thinking and democratic debate. In response to growing disinformation, polarisation and anti-democratic sentiment across Europe, the project develops new models for journalistic theatre that connect audiences with urgent contemporary issues. As part of TRUST, De Toneelmakerij collaborates with investigative journalists Daphne van Paassen and Anne Lisa Giesen on research into online misogyny, anti-feminist algorithms and the digital environments that shape the lives of girls and young women. The findings of this research will form the basis of I’m Just a Girl (14+), a new theatre production by de Toneelmakerij. TRUST is led by the European Theatre Convention (ETC) and Schauspiel Köln, and brings together nine theatre partners across Europe: Schauspiel Köln (Germany), Ivan Vazov National Theatre Sofia (Bulgaria), Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II (Portugal), Volkstheater Wien (Austria), Folkteatern Göteborg (Sweden), Örkény Theatre (Hungary), National Theatre Prague (Czech Republic), CDN – Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers (France) and De Toneelmakerij (The Netherlands). The project runs from 2026 to 2028 and is co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme.
Young Europe V – Sick
European collaborative project Young Europe V now enters its second season. Young Europe V brings together theatres, playwrights and young audiences from across Europe to create new theatre for a new generation. This fifth edition of the long-running collaboration focuses on care dramaturgy: exploring care, interdependence and solidarity as artistic and social practices, and asking how these themes can shape both the stories we tell and the way we make theatre. Following project meetings and exchanges in Berlin and Gothenburg, the participating playwrights are now developing their texts towards full productions. At de Toneelmakerij, playwrighter Nina van Tongeren and dramaturg Paulien Geerlings are creating Sick, directed by Mart van Berckel. A new production about friendship, care and living with chronic illness. Through the story of two best friends, the performance explores what it means to support one another and how care can exist in unexpected ways.
Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity 2024
The performance Patchwork Girl has won the Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity 2024: the grand prize of the prestigious Ars Electronica Festival, one of the world's biggest art and media events. The international expert jury was full of praise for our performance. Patchwork Girl was chosen from 3,000 international entries from over 80 countries and, in addition to the Golden Nica, wins 10,000 euros.
ACuTe
With our production Rabbit Hole, De Toneelmakerij is one of the 14 partners of ACuTe, a pioneering and large-scale European project on theatre and new technology. ACuTe investigates the use of new technologies within theater in three categories: new dramaturgy, stage design and audience engagement. Rabbit Hole focuses on how we tell stories in theatre and on how audiences interact with those stories.
Suriname
Outside Europe, we are developing a lasting relationship with theater makers Idi Lemmers and Maggie Schmeitz in Suriname. They were involved as writers in our Keti Kati project In Kleur 2023. In the following years, they will both make a production in Suriname, with artistic and business support from de Toneelmakerij. There is a great need among Surinamese makers to tell their own stories in their own country under their own conditions. However, there is hardly any infrastructure and a lack of (financial) resources. Youth theater company BonteHond in Almere, is also active in Suriname. We are in ongoing dialogue with each other and are exploring the possibilities of working together.