A huge congratulations to Matin Soofipour Omam for winning the German Children's Theatre Prize 2024 for her Young Europe IV classroom play ‚Room Rumours’ (‘Raumrauschen’)!
‘Room Rumours’ is a participatory play taking pupils on a journey of discovery in an interactive theatre experience that explores power, responsibility, and the effects of words.
This classroom play was developed as part of ETC’s award-winning artistic collaboration programme, Young Europe IV, dedicated to expanding the canon of European theatre literature by writing new texts on diverse, inclusive themes written for young audiences.
The jury lauded Matin Soofipour Omam’s work for “its wonderfully authentic way of showing how naturally words can follow people,” adding that the play puts a finger on “wounds that are familiar to everyone whose reality is not normatively provided for in a social consensus.”
“[‘Room Rumours’] invites everyone - and really EVERYONE in the room - to fill these gaps with their lives. No matter what language they use.“
Matin Soofipour Omam was awarded the most important German state prize for dramatic literature for children, worth 10,000 euros, in the presence of Ina Hartwig, head of the department for culture and science for Frankfurt am Main.
Alongside her, the German Youth Theatre Prize 2024 went to Julia Haenni from Switzerland for her play "angst oder hase".
Marc Nellen, head of department at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, emphasised:
"With their characters, the nominees show children and young people who go their own way courageously, confidently, and strongly and assert their identity. They have had such success with their plays among young people because they have not worked for young people from the beginning, but with them: Together with young people, they develop the gigantic potential of what theatre can be and give."
The awards ceremony was attended by 160 guests from Frankfurt's city politics, the city's cultural scene, and artists from theatre for young audiences from all over Germany.
Matin Soofipour Omam works as a senior dramaturge at the Theater an der Parkaue Berlin, a state children and youth theatre, which will be affected by Berlin's planned 12% cut in the culture budget, consequently jeopardising the important educational artistic work that was just awarded.
Christina Schulz, director of Theater an der Parkaue, which faces a cut of 800,000 euros of the planned nine million euros in subsidies, said: "In order to save this amount, we would have to cancel all premieres in 2025 and partially cancel our repertoire. The theatre clubs would have to close. Cultural educational work would no longer take place."
