CHRISTMAS WISHES 2025

It’s flown by, that momentous year of 2025, when Tryater reached the age of 60. We’ve been celebrating it extensively since September 5th, the day the anniversary book “Tryater Spilet” was published. But the celebrations had actually been in the air all year.

In February, the documentary “Yn myn dreamen hear ik dy” premiered in our own theater, to be broadcast a few days later on NPO2 and Omrop Fryslân. A massive project by Murk-Jaep van der Schaaf, about the international Phōnē project, which we had just completed. We watched this beautiful film, which later this year won awards, with a full audience, including our international partners. What a wonderful atmosphere of connection to start the year.

We’ve managed to maintain that feeling throughout 2025, always keeping that anniversary in mind. It’s remarkable, especially in these times, that the cultural sector can keep its head above water. Throughout all those years, even long before my time, Tryater has delivered theater that people will talk about for a long time.

We’ve especially succeeded in this with our performance Foekje this year, as visitors, experts, experienced professionals, and the national press couldn’t stop talking about the gymnasium performance and its main topic, Foekje Dilemma. Smaller in size but no less impactful was the anniversary performance Twa minuten foar oanfang: we heard time and again that people had had such a special experience on the unique route through the backstage areas of theaters and the head of Joop Wittermans.

Our school performances are just as inspiring. Loft, a performance in secondary school about homeschoolers, sparked an enthusiastic discussion among the class. The same applies to Anwar and the Wolf, which opened the year with great success. It proved to be the epitome of connection in the schools: the play about refugee Anwar who encounters a wolf on his journey conveyed a sense of belonging from diverse cultures and languages, offering relatable moments to discuss. It was so well-received that we are also performing it publicly this Christmas break, for the whole family. The performance in the Tryater building focuses on encounters: we bring music, food, customs, and people from all over the world into our homes. Come visit if you’re looking for a special holiday experience!

Through all these initiatives, Tryater has managed to attract many new partners with diverse expertise and backgrounds. These are valuable contacts that we are eager to further develop. Because Tryater is there for everyone. The fact that we received renewed support for the coming years from both the national government and the province last year was also very good news. We didn’t exactly celebrate this, however, as several colleagues received less positive news.

With some concerns about the cultural scene in 2026, but with complete confidence in our own future, we’re leaving the old year in good spirits and heading into the new one strong. Wonderful things are already in the pipeline for that year, such as the large-scale site-specific theatre production Swimbad in Bakkeveen, but also the Ienakterfestival, where, in honor of our anniversary, we’re embracing the amateur theatre world and giving it a platform. For schoolchildren, we’re performing, among other things, Plûns, a beautiful little production. And that’s not even mentioning the upcoming theatre season, for which we’re already hard at work on exciting ideas.

It will also be a special year in other ways, because in April, my colleague Valentijn Fit will be handing over the baton as business director after ten years. To whom and how exactly, we’ll see. But as he himself says, his successor will guide Tryater into the next sixty years with new ideas and fresh energy.

And so, we’ve had an incredibly exciting year, but we also have an intriguing year ahead of us. We’ll take a little break first, but in January, we’ll be rolling up our sleeves again to make 2026 the very best it can be with our organization, players, volunteers, Friends, and visitors.

Happy holidays, and we hope to see you then!

Tatiana Pratley
Artistic Director