Curtain up - stage clear! At the end of April this year we organized another Workcamp together with the Open Air Theater Heidenheim.
In the 2024 summer season, 2 plays will be performed here: 'Annie' - an orphan who, in search of a reunion with her biological parents, finds a new home with a rich businessman under the care of his assistant - and 'The Robber Hotzenplotz' - the story of Kasperl and Seppel, who try to catch the robber Hotzenplotz in order to get back Grandma's stolen coffee grinder. The stage and the set had to be renewed accordingly: In the end, the backdrop should look like New York and a small German village at the same time - a challenging task.
Here Tim tells you about the camp in the open air theater:
"Heidenheim an der Brenz. A small town with 40,000 inhabitants that has its own story to tell.
We, that is Dorota, Iryna and Tim, met there as leaders and trainees for the Workcamp. Some of you may know Heidenheim because, to our surprise, the football team of this small town plays in the 1st Bundesliga. For all those who are not from Germany, here is a hint: All places in Germany (it seems) have a football club. It is our national sport. But neither we nor our participants had any more contact with this topic.
Our group's destination was a hill further on. Here, less "Ole, Ole" was sung and instead more "Annie..." and "Tomorrow, I love you tomorrow". If you look confused now, you probably weren't there.
In the period from April 22nd to May 6th, seven of us from Italy, Ukraine, Poland and Germany met in the Heidenheim open air theater. We came together and gave the non-profit association a helping hand. We would like to show you what that means below, with pictures.
What exactly is an open air theater? Well, I (Tim) always explained it as a normal theater building where the entire stage area is outdoors, in nature. To give you a better idea, we have added one or two pictures here.
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| Heidenheim Open Air Theater Stage |
Stage; picture from the stands Stand; picture from the top platform (scaffolding) |
Our tasks in the camp were very varied and diverse, which is why we are trying to give a little overview.
While in the second week we only worked on the stage set or painted, the first week was filled with manual and tidying tasks. We dug, collected leaves, sawed boards, built and painted boxes, mixed and poured concrete and tar. We were also allowed to try out machines such as leaf blowers and high-pressure cleaners. Of course, all of this wasn't (just) for our fun. The tasks, as we were told on site, had various backgrounds. The digging was intended for new power lines that were to be laid underground. The boards were painted (also by us) and used for a new gate and a new bench. Concrete and tar were used to fill holes in the area, for example to build a sandpit. A small digression at this point.
The Nature Theater Heidenheim is a non-profit association which, apart from a small handful of people, is completely run by volunteers.
This means that most of those present spend their free time on the grounds of the theater while they rehearse dance, song or their text. The association does this not only with a lot of effort, but also with a lot of love and joy. We also became part of it very quickly. We were introduced to all the people who regularly appear, were given an insight into the make-up and costume area and were allowed to attend the rehearsals and, at our request, sing along. In addition, the work we did was well received. People came up to us and thanked us, which made us very happy. We are still in contact with the project partners weeks after the camp and our group reunions are supported (e.g. with a place to sleep).
We as a team, but also as participants, would like to say that we really liked the shared dormitory. We actually didn't use it very often (except for sleeping), but the fact that extra beds and electricity were moved there for us was just lovely!
We spent most of our time together in the kitchen, in addition to the stands.
We were equipped with everything we wanted. Large frying pan, giant pots, coffee machine (!), kettle and lots of cutlery and crockery. Also a fridge, stove (4 stove tops) and an oven. We cooked for ourselves, taking turns regularly and everyone introducing specialties from their own countries. The shopping trips mostly took place to the nearby Netto and were carried over on foot. There was also the option of taking the theater's minibus, but none of us were particularly motivated to go. What I found very nice was the internal agreement that all leisure activities (except lunch/dinner) were a "can" and not a "must". For example, I (Tim) could stay at home and discuss tasks for the following days while others went shopping.
Last but not least, we would like to praise the toilet and bathroom situation! Although the bathrooms were not near where we slept, they were still in the same building. There was also a cloakroom adjacent to the shower area (theater). These rooms have recently been renovated (in the last 5 years) and looked accordingly. After a long day at work and lots of dust and paint on us, we were always very happy when we could get under the warm rain shower. It was really heavenly!
All in all, we were excited by the variety of tasks and never bored.
The ambience changed daily, also due to our building and painting work, the work was rewarded with many thanks and we were warmly welcomed. We learned how to use different machines, mix colors and climb high.
We recommend this camp to participants, trainees and (first time) camp leaders. We thank the project partners for their hospitality and look forward to attending the performance of "Annie" in the next few weeks.
Warm regards
Tim, Iryna and Dorota"
Would you like to read more stories from camps? Here you can find all the reports from our volunteers.