In May 2007, New York City will provide the setting for the best of Danish children’s theatre, which is slowly achieving world renown.  Over the course of two weeks, a variety of children’s theatre groups – the state ensemble Corona La Balance, Gruppe 38, Refleksion/Teater MY, Carte Blanche and Sofie Krog – will be performing at one of the world’s most prestigious theatres, the New Victory Theater.

This is a unique opportunity to expose Danish children’s theatre to a very discriminating and demanding audience. New Victory Theater is New York’s oldest (1900) and only theatre for children and their families.

“Danish children’s theatre is sophisticated, inventive and, especially, thought-provoking.  So, it fits right in with New Victory’s profile and desire to challenge our audience,” says program director Mary Rose Lloyd, who has put the program together and selected the 5 participating children’s theatre groups along with the Committee for Performing Arts of the Danish Arts Council.

The final pieces have now fallen into place
The project has been underway since 2004, and an agreement has now been entered into with New Victory Theater.
The chairperson of the Committee for Performing Arts Rhea Leman, who originally comes from New York City, is convinced that great interest in Danish children’s theatre will be generated there. ”Danish children’s theatre groups have so much expertise and history behind them that I am certain audiences in New York City and professional performers there will show great interest.”

A total of 42 Danish performances will take place at the New Victory Theater and, in connection therewith, a seminar aimed at professional actors, directors, producers and managers will be held. The goal is to communicate Danish views of aesthetics and ethics in children’s theatre and, at the same time, to create and bolster networks between North American and Danish stage artists and other professionals.

Rhea Leman has no doubt that Danish children’s theatre is something special. ”The guest performances at the New Victory Theater are about presenting a special tradition in the Danish performing arts – Danish children’s theatre, which is based, among other things, upon a dialogue between the theatre and children as an audience.  It is interesting for both children and adults, because the subject matter is so distinctively different and more serious than may be seen elsewhere.”

The Committee for Performing Arts is behind a large part of the financing
The project is a part of the Committee for Performing Arts’ deliberate strategy to strengthen and develop Danish children’s theatre.  That is why the project is a great venture for the current Committee for Performing Arts – not least, financially.  The project is also supported by funding from the collaboration agreement between the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on international cultural exchange. 
The project will be carried out in close cooperation with the New Victory Theater in New York, which will also contribute financially to the implementation of the project.

For additional information, please contact:
Rhea Leman, Chairperson of the Committee for Performing Arts of the Danish Arts Council,
tel. 2243 9747

Ane Alsløv, Project Manager, Centre for Performing Arts, The Danish Arts Agency
tel. 3374 4582

Read more about: The New Victory Theater

Links to relevant children’s theatre groups:

• Carte Blanche: Performance "Mit loft under Himmelen" [“In the Box Room”].
• Corona-La-Balance: Performance "Elefant og Krokodille" [“Elephant and Crocodile”]
• Gruppe 38: With the installation performance "Du må være en engel Hans Christian.." [“Hans Christian, You Must be an Angel”]
• Teater Refleksion/Teater MY: with the performance "Himmelsange" [“Songs from Above”]
• Sofie Krog Teater: with the performance "DIVA"