Westwind Festival

From 01. – 08. June, the Westwind Festival presents the ten most noteworthy children's and youth theatre works from all over North Rhine-Westphalia. Young audiences can look forward to engaging with the featured performances and discovering the valuable contributions theatre makes to an open society and our future, while enjoying moments of pure fun and lightheartedness and making new friends along the way. The festival’s host venues are the Maschinenhaus Essen, the Schauspiel Essen, and PACT Zollverein. The NRW competition is complemented by international guest performances, a vibrant festival campus offering interactive play activities, and workshops, as well as an extensive program of supporting events.

Program at PACT

Photo: Birgit Hupfeld

Sun. 02.06.24 15 hMon. 03.06.24 10 h

Let’s discover what both surrounds and fills us all. Everything is made of air – including us. In a very special garden, we accompany the guardians of the air at work, discovering astonishing beings and plants, diving with them into the sea, and soaring into the skies. So, take a deep breath and prepare to be amazed by breathtaking objects that will let you see air with different eyes.

Photo: René Löffler

Tue. 04.06.24 09:30 hTue. 04.06.24 11 hTue. 04.06.24 15 h

Participation is the driving force behind the performance ›Ich kann’s nicht lassen‹. Children and adults join four dancers on stage to collectively delve into the dance style Krump and actively shape the unfolding of the piece. Together, they engage in a choreographic game developed by Janne Gregor in collaboration with Krump professionals and multiple Berlin school classes.

Photo: Reinout Hiel

Wed. 05.06.24 19 hThu. 06.06.24 17 h

An explosive narrative unfolds around a colorful-smoking cardboard house, its inhabitants and the neighborhood: an elegant walking table in high heels, a man who just wants to take out the rubbish, a frustrated fuse box and a very long pair of pants play out big and small dramas with varying degrees of potential for disaster.