VII: Open Stage

𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹: 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗩𝗜𝗜: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲
𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟲, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮, 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝗽𝗺
𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗔𝗺𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗺

Featuring performances by Sam Cottington, Toon Fibbe and Bryony Gillard, plus the launch of Playbill’s first Annual Report publication

ACT VII marks our first open call as a platform. Given that Playbill originally began from a perceived lack of presentation spaces focused exclusively on language- and text-based artistic works in the Netherlands, we devised Open Stage as we wanted to hand the platform over to artists working with similar concerns, assuming they were also desiring more opportunities to present their work.

In the process of reading the many varied responses to the call, it became clear that the definition of ‘language-based’ is one that is continually expanded. Not only was this exciting to read and imagine, but it also propelled forth a group of artists that despite being interested in language, through the sheer array of their proposals, collectively undo the rigidity of language and its structures in the first place.

The selected artists—Sam Cottington, Bryony Gillard and Toon Fibbe—come at text and its performativity from different angles, but together present a cross section of artists busy with it as material within their work, beyond it just being a tool for the dissemination of an idea. From appropriating the formal structure of a 90s romantic comedy, to a lipsyncing incarnation of a figure of finance, to a phone with a live actor suspended somewhere between art and theatre awaiting you on the end of the line, the works that will be presented for Open Stage are both wildly different and similarly contemporaneous, fully aware of the technologies through which language is shared, sub-culturally built and, inevitably and alternatively, co-opted.

Additionally, the end of this calendar year brings with it the launch of our first annual report, chronicling the cycle of acts that began Playbill. Spanning our activities from 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, Annual Report 2022–2023 includes a newly commissioned text by Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, an artistic commission by Allison Parrish and audience reports by Jacquine van Elsberg, Samantha McCulloch, Sands Murray-Wassink and Zazie Stevens.

To celebrate the launch of this publication—which sits somewhere between administrative accounting and creative reinterpretations of that very thing—we will end the evening with a toast, during which the publication will be available for the taking.

Please note that Torpedo Theater has a capacity of thirty seats and we unfortunately won't be able to welcome people without tickets and/or sell tickets at the door. The intimacy of the small audience is an inherent part of the setting.

𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦- 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 (𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭) 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘑𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘶𝘥 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦. 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭: 𝘈𝘤𝘵 𝘝𝘐𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦 𝘒𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘴𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮 .