On Tour

Cheers for Fears on Tour (2015)

Cheers for Fears and the Freie Werkstatt Theater invited students from NRW to participate in the first Cologne edition of Cheers for Fears on tour on 28 March to exchange artistic works and aesthetic positions and to see the results of the experimental format Künstler*innenroulette.

Programme overview

  • 4:00 – 7:00pm: Workshop presentations and feedback discussions
  • 7:00-8:00pm: “Which way is theatre going?” Discussion round on the development of the understanding of art in the study of the scenic arts
  • 8:00-9:30pm: Künsterroulette. Showings followed by a talk


All events were open to the public.

Studio presentations

Three workshop presentations opened the programme on Saturday at 4 pm. On display were works by students from Bochum, Essen and Cologne. Laura Brechmann, at the time a student of scenic research at the Ruhr University, presented her action/installation EinLagerUng [em, [Das Gesagte von Beuys wird unterbewertet] , Lorenz Nolting, at the time an acting student at the Folkwang University of the Arts, his performance solo Deutschland den Hunden and students from the Cologne Theatre Academy presented a work in progress from the rehearsals of their production Wer weiß, was er will. After the presentations, there were feedback rounds in which the audience participated.

Discussion round

The discussion round “Which way is theatre going?” placed the students’ works in the discourse on the self-image of the scenic arts. The situation of training for the scenic arts in Cologne was also discussed. Robert Christott, director of the Theatre Academy Cologne, was a guest.

Künstler*innenroulette

In addition, the FWT edition served as a test lab for a format that we tried out for the first time: two small teams competed in Künstler*innenroulette which were put together by drawing lots from the applications. These ensembles began their work, based on a theme, Friday 27 March on a rehearsal stage at the FWT. The results were shown and discussed with the audience on Saturday, 28 March, at 8 pm.