The primary mission of TOTEM Theatre is the advancement of Finnish children’s culture. The theatre actively works towards this goal by producing performances for children aged 6-12 as well as through audience outreach.
TOTEM’s main expertise lies in contemporary theatre aimed towards primary school children that deals with current issues from the perspective of a young audience. TOTEM develops its stage language in collaboration with its artistic teams. In terms of its aesthetics and program, the theatre situates itself beyond the mainstream of traditional children’s theatre by focusing instead on modern and innovative performance art.
The annual artistic team is selected by a guest director invited by TOTEM to work with them. The directors range from industry veterans to recent graduates from a younger generation of artists, who contribute their innovation and daring to the work TOTEM does. Directors, playwrights and dramatists who have worked with TOTEM include Atro Kahiluoto, Anna-Mari Karvonen, Essi Räisänen, Katariina Numminen, Tuomas Laitinen, Juha Hurme, Tuomas Timonen, Pilvi Porkola and Janne Saarakkala.
The theatre does most of its work through touring performances. TOTEM goes where their audience is, with visits to schools in its hometown of Espoo, as well as the central Helsinki area and other areas in Finland. What makes TOTEM’s work especially valuable and unique is the way it contributes to the normalization of artistic experiences by bringing theatre to school gyms and art into the everyday lives of students.
The theatre produces one work annually, which is then performed for local Finnish- and Swedish- speaking audiences. The theater also performs by invitation overseas and in international children’s theatre festivals. Each year, TOTEM reaches about 12000 through performances and 4000 through workshops.
BOOK US
TOTEM tours around Finland and can also be booked to festivals, schools and events abroad. Our prices are very moderate, as the plays only have two actors. We tour with the same play for a whole year. For the last information about the play and our schedules, please contact us!
CONTACTS
TOTEM Theatre
Lillklobb – Klobbskogsvägen 9
Fi-02630 Espoo
Finland
tel: +358 (0)50 547 0047 (Mon-Thu 10-16, Fri 10-14)
e-mail: info (a) totemteatteri.com
www.totemteatteri.com