This is JES!
Junges Ensemble Stuttgart!
The theatre for young audiences in Stuttgart.
Theatre and dance theatre productions that deal with the reality of our lives, question these realities and encourage the formation of opinions.
Offers and artistic cooperation with young people, where expertise and points of view meet and new perspectives emerge.
An open theatre house in the centre of the city, with space for ideas, conversations and experiments.
A place for encounters, for exchange, for utopia — for people from Stuttgart and theatre folk from all over the world.
Come by, write to us, talk to us — we are curious to meet you!
JES for everyone
The JES is conceived as a place of respectful togetherness. To make this possible, the following house rules apply:
We want a theatre where everyone feels comfortable.
We look forward to exchange, dialogue and debate about the artistic work and what we experience.
We want these discussions to be fair and not hurtful.
We do not tolerate personal injury, sexist, racist, ableist, anti-religious, xenophobic, homophobic, queerphobic, transphobic or anti-constitutional acts, statements and symbols.
We also do not tolerate discrimination and misanthropy of any kind.
By buying a ticket and visiting JES, you agree to our house rules.
History of JES
Junge Ensemble Stuttgart (JES) was founded in 2004 after long discussions about the contemporary structure of a theatre for young audiences and has since been Stuttgart’s independent children’s and youth theatre, funded by city and state.
From the very beginning, it was important to founding director Brigitte Dethier to build the house on three principles and to link these principles with one another again and again: to work with the professional ensemble for primarily young audiences, to work with children and young people for audiences of all ages, and to create an international network.
JES has also been a regular guest at national and international festivals from its inception, and has been invited to important festivals such as the biennial children’s and youth theatre meeting Augenblick mal! in Berlin, the Assitej World Congress, the Theatertreffen der Jugend, the Deutsches Kindertheatertreffen or most recently the Mülheimer Theatertage.
In addition, as host of the BRIGHT VIEW festival every two years, the JES itself has been and still is the focus of international children’s and youth theatre. Its good international network regularly leads to artistic cooperation with theatre-makers from all over Europe.
Three image films have documented the work of the JES so far
Das JES — ein Imagefilm
Das ist das JES! Spielzeit-Trailer
JES Imagefilm
In 2022, Brigitte Dethier handed over the directorship of JES to Grete Pagan, who in turn started as an intern at the BRIGHT VIEW Festival and was then assistant director at JES for three years. After studying directing in Hamburg, she worked as a freelance director for many years, including at JES, as a translator, as a curator (including Augenblick mal!) and as an organiser of the BRIGHT VIEW Festival.
We are JES!
Funding
General funding of JES — The Junge Ensemble Stuttgart is supported by the City of Stuttgart and the State of Baden-Württemberg.
Bright View Festival — The “Bright View Festival”, which takes place every 2 years at JES, is supported by the City of Stuttgart and the State of Baden-Württemberg .
The 2022 edition of the festival was also supported by:
Agentur für Kinderarbeit — The project “Agentur für Kinderarbeit (Agency for Children’s Work)” is funded by the Centre for Cultural Participation and the Festival of the Cultural Region Stuttgart in 2022.
Unbändig — The production “Unbändig” was funded by the programme “Kunst trotz Abstand (Art despite Distance)” of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.
Ritter ohne Furcht und Adel — The production “Ritter ohne Furcht und Adel” was funded by the “Kultur Sommer 2020 (Culture Summer 2020)” programme of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.
Deep Inside — The production “Deep Inside” is a co-production of cobratheater.cobra and JES as part of the project “Haus der digitalen Antifaschist*innen (House of Digital Antifascists)”. It was funded by the Fonds Doppelpass of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Federal Cultural Foundation).
Die beste Geschichte — En iyi hikâye — The production “Die beste Geschichte — En iyi hikâye” was funded by the Fonds Soziokultur.
Partners
Arbeitskreis Junges Theater Baden-Württemberg (Work Group Young Theatre Baden-Württemberg) — Free interest group committed to the artistic and structural development of children’s and youth theatre in Baden-Württemberg
ASSITEJ (Association Internationale du Théâtre pour l’Enfance et la Jeunesse / International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) — the national and international lobby for theatre for children and young people
Deutscher Bühnenverein, Landesverband Baden-Württemberg (German Stage Association, State Association Baden-Württemberg) — our employers’ association & regional as well as national theatre network
KJTZ (Children’s and Youth Theatre Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany) — our national centre for the interests of children’s and youth theatres
Diakonie Stetten / Open help — regular partner for inclusive theatre work
FITZ The Theatre of Animated Forms — theatre neighbour in the area and partner for the festivals BRIGHT VIEW (JES) & Imaginale (FITZ), among others
Forum der Kulturen Stuttgart (Forum of Cultures Stuttgart) — regular partner not only for the Made in Germany and Made in Stuttgart festivals
Forest House — regular partner for forest theatre projects
University of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart — Networking Theatre for Young Audiences with the Next Generation
Stuttgart Youth Welfare Officet — long-standing partner in the day-care centre project for language promotion
Children’s Office of the City of Stuttgart (Child-friendly Stuttgart): Maria Haller-Kindler, our children’s representative
University of Education Ludwigsburg
Schauspiel Stuttgart — cooperation partner for EINMISCHEN
Stuttgart Theatre Solidarity Association
StolperKunst/Initiative Hotel Silber
Theater Rampe — Theatre partner amongst others for the festivals BRIGHT VIEW (JES) & 6 Tage frei (Rampe) as well as the cooperation EINMISCHEN
Civic Foundation Stuttgart
BuT (Federal Association for Theatre Education)
dg (dramaturgical society)
DTF (German Turkish Forum) — regular partner for workshop and play club offers
KSI e.V. (Cultural and Social Initiative for Young People and Children)
Mach dich stark! (Empower yourself!) — initiative for children in the Southwest
Partnership for Democracy
Foundation Geißstraße
Stuttgart Children’s Foundation — Taking children to the theatre: our theatre sponsors