The success of 'Avondvrienden'
- Theatre
- Education in Art
That beautiful things can come about when you use the freedom within the Artisteducator in Theatre & Media (before: Theatre in Education) bachelor's course in Zwolle as you wish, is evident from third-year student Manouk Hooimeijer’s performance series Evening Friends. What began with reading the book Night Guests grew into a successful project that fellow students enjoy contributing to.
Improvisational Theatre
Manouk already organised and directed the first performance of Evening Friends during her first year of Artisteducator in Theatre & Media. “I was inspired by the method in the book entitled Night Guests, a concept for improvisational theatre by Yorick Zwart, Niels Croiset and Koen Wouterse.” This method only provides a rough storyline. The actors are given some information about their own character a week in advance; the rest arises on stage. The audience does know the background of all the characters and follows in suspense as the narrative unfolds on stage.
“The first time was immensely exciting, with a handful of audience members.”
Entrepreneurial daredevil
Manouk wanted to try out one of the cases from Night Guests with the class. “My classmates were keen on that. I chose a narrative from the book and we staged it after school.” Evening Friends 1.0 was a fact. A handful of students were the audience that evening. Meanwhile, the theatre’s auditorium is bulging with more than a hundred audience members, and more and more students want to participate in the performances. Manouk: “Already after the first performance, I received many applications, including from fourth-year students. I was terrified at the time being a first-year student telling a fourth-year what to do!”
Theatre maker behind the scenes
During the performances of Evening Friends, Manouk directs the actors and instructs the technique people on proper lighting. She now writes and directs her own narratives for the performances. That is her passion. “Acting is not my ambition. Just let me be part of the narrative behind the scenes. During my favourite performance of Evening Friends, I wanted to learn to play with the lights. As you don’t know how the narrative unfolds, I was at technique constantly giving instructions while directing players on my phone. ‘Stay off for a while’ or ‘Take that off the stage,’ WhatsApp says then. I was overwhelmed by the response and help from others that night. It just worked, making it an incredibly cool night.”
“I want Evening Friends to narrow the gap between the field and students.”
Grow further
With her entrepreneurial nature, Manouk shows what becomes possible when you make the most of the freedom within the course. “You are encouraged here to follow your own path. Evening Friends stands for fun and connection. In the new year, alumni and actors from the field will hopefully join the cast. Ideally, I would like to take Evening Friends outside ArtEZ, now the performances are still staged in the theatre at school. The method is not mine, but I have mastered it and regularly consult with Yorick of Night Friends to see what he thinks of it. There have been performances that were so good that I would like to continue working on them to see what will happen if I write a script from them. Evening Friends started out as ‘just’ something fun, but I’ve found that I can grow much further with this.”
Artisteducator in Theatre & Media Zwolle
The Artisteducator in Theatre & Media course in Zwolle trains you as an artist educator in theatre and media with a teaching qualification. As an artist educator, your teaching is shaped by your artistry. And conversely, who you are as an artist is determined by your qualities in working with people. You know which stories need to be told. You are an innovative lecturer who understands the necessity of creative thinking and teaches others to adopt a critical perspective based on their own backgrounds.
