Frangiskos Kakoulakis is greeted loudly as he enters the new rehearsal hall of Freie Bühne Munich. As a graduate of the in-house acting academy, he meets many familiar faces here, but the rooms are less familiar to him. “When I was at the Freie Bühne we were still in Kult 9,” he says. The district center had to give up the stage as its headquarters last year after its lease expired. Now the creative district on Dachauer Strasse offers a new home for the theater association, which trains young people with physical and mental disabilities.
Since 2014, the Freie Bühne has been offering a multi-stage acting program – from the first taster day to workshops lasting several weeks and three-year acting training. Once a year, the ensemble brings its own production to the stage, alongside regular exhibitions. The institutional theater funding of the city of Munich supports the inclusive association with around 120,000 euros.
The first floor of the house, which previously served primarily as a file store, is now not only the new venue for the inclusive ensemble, but also provides space for the special needs of disabled participants: the club management has set up a separate rest room at the back of the floor. A music room, a costume room and a rehearsal room with a mirrored wall also lead off the hallway. The Freie Bühne has also set up a small writing workshop, with which the trainees are trained in creative writing, as well as an office in which theater history is taught. The new rooms made it possible to work more efficiently in small groups, says Verena Regensburger, the new artistic director: “It’s great for our scene studies in particular.”
With the new location, however, not only previous working methods could be improved, but also new ideas could be put into practice. Practical exercises on film acting are also planned in the music room in the future. Actors and actresses will also be invited regularly to give the young ensemble an insight into later working life. For all those who have already decided on another profession and want to keep acting as a hobby, the association’s inclusive “Acting Club” offers weekly rehearsals, during which they will work more on their own productions in the future.
However, the plays are not performed in the headquarters, but on external stages. The Munich Kammerspiele, which have already recruited three other alumni in addition to Frangiskos Kakoulakis, lend their venues – a cooperation that the Freie Bühne intends to expand further. Director Angelica Fell believes that performers with disabilities deserve far more attention: “They should conquer the stages and make art inclusive.”