Unterwegs nach Tschevengur (On the way to Chevengur)

In Chevengur the sun is proclaimed the world proletarian, and now it works for everyone, warming and nourishing them sufficiently. The local chairman of the revolutionary committee believes it is entirely possible that with the advent of communism the sun will never stop shining and there will be an eternal summer. As in Andrej Platonov’s philosophical novel from 1929, the O-Team searches for the utopia of the small Russian town of Tschevengur in various locations. The novel serves as a literary backdrop against which alternative forms of artistic and theatrical production are sought in an interdisciplinary collective.

The basis for the performance was developed in February 2010 in a residency at the Künstlerhaus Schwandorf. Under the title “On the Road to Babylon,” the members of O-Team met there and formed the base camp for the journey to Tschevengur. The experiment was then continued in two further stages in Erlangen and Berlin. In the semi-documentary project, the working process of the independent theater group is mixed with the search for Tschevengur’s utopia.

Episode 1: Unterwegs nach Babylon
Künstlerhaus Schwandorf, 12.-21. Februar 2010

Episode 2: Die Goldene Quelle
Arena-Festival Erlangen, 15.-20. Juni 2010

Episode 3: Die hängenden Gärten von Tschevengur
PAST FORWARD, Festival der Plattenvereinigung, Berlin, November 2010

Mit: Antonia Beermann, Folkert Dücker, Marc Eberhardt, Luitgard Hagl, Sebastian Harreus, Samuel Hof, Julia Huber, Anna Lehrer, Nina Malotta, Jelena Nagorni, Markus Nießner, Roman Scheffner, Julia Wallner, Jonas Zipf