Community theater project explores stories of Tartu's Annelinn district
Over the last few weeks, director Jaanika Tammaru has been collecting stories from residents of Tartu's Annelinn district. The stories will be used as part of "Through the City" (Läbi Linna), the fourth edition of a traveling theatrical performance about different districts of Tartu and the lives of local people.
The urban space project "Through the City" (Läbi Linna) has now been running for over four years. Having previously explored stories from Tartu's other districts of Karlova, Supilinn and Ülejõe through community theater, in 2024, the project will reach its final destination in Estonia's "City of Good Thoughts" – Annelinn.
"We deliberately left Annelinn as the final district to be staged. It is the largest district in Tartu and is cozy and spacious, narrow and layered all at once. Here, lots of different nationalities and cultures live side by side – and on top of each other. It needed the experience gained from the productions about the three previous districts," explained Jaanika Tammaru, director and conceptual director.
According to Tammaru, an important part of making the production about Annelinn is the collection of local oral traditions, so that the resulting work reflects the reality of people from the district's life stories.
Residents are encouraged to send any thoughts or personal stories about the district that they would like to be considered for the project, to the production team via the dedicated website here, or alternatively, post them in one of the collection boxes in Annelinn, before April 14.
"My aim is to give spectators the feeling that behind every anonymous window in Annelinn is a real person with a rich soul," Tammaru said.
The four-part production exploring different parts of Tartu will not be the last of its kind for the "Through the City" project team, however, it will be the final production in Tartu.
Using the applied theater methodology developed by director Jaanika Tammaru, the project will move on to explore other locations in Latvia and Germany.
The next stop after Annelinn is an exploration of the border town straddling Estonia and Latvia, in "Through the City: Valga+Valka." After that, the project will focus on Darmstadt, Germany.
The project "Through the City: Annelinn," which is part of the Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture program, can be seen on the streets of Annelinn from June 1 to 15.
More information is available here.
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Editor: Neit-Eerik Nestor, Michael Cole
