
Gunilla Röör and Ulf Friberg cut the ribbon for the opening of the Universitetsteater assisted by Therése Lindberg and Derek Cespedes Barrientos. Foto: Staffan Westerlund
27 April 2023
University Theater a new experimental workshop
University Theater is a new collaboration between Luleå University of Technology and Norrbottensteatern. “We want to deepen the cooperation we already have”, says Gunilla Röör, theater manager at Norrbottensteatern.
The collaboration between the university and Norrbottensteatern began already when the Theater academy was founded in 1996 at the initiative of Norrbottensteatern. The Theater Academy in Luleå is the only one in Sweden that is adjacent to a theater. Over the years, several actors from Norrbottensteatern have taught in the acting program and many of the students in the programme have been employed at Norrbottensteatern after graduation. One of them is Derek Cespedes Barrientos, who begins the University Theater collaboration by staging his own monologue "Very nice fågelbajs" on the Theater Academy's stage.
An experimental workshop
University Theater will be an experimental workshop where Norrbottensteatern and Luleå University of Technology can collaborate on projects that do not require extensive resources in terms of time and money.
“A theater production normally requires several years of planning. Within the framework of University Theatre, there must be an opportunity to do quick things, sometimes with a planning time of just a few weeks, based on resources and desire. The short lead time means that we can do things that cover current events”, says Gunilla Röör.
The initiators, Gunilla Röör and Ulf Friberg, education leader at the acting program, welcome ideas from the two organisations and emphasize that the acceptance level should be high in University Theatre.
“University theater should be a forum for trying things that cannot fit anywhere else, for example, it could be about creating opportunities for research and performing arts to meet”, says Ulf Friberg.
Economics course became a play
Recently, Ulf Friberg and the first-year students worked on a play written by Johan Sandström, professor of business administration, based on questions that Johan Sandström received from his students in a course on morality and economics. The play was staged on the Theater academy's scene and in the LKAB hall at Porsön. On May 4 at 18.00 the performance is given at Vetenskapen hus. The collaboration was not carried out within the framework of University Theatre, but is an example of what could be accommodated in the concept.
University theater can also be a forum for course activities, for example independent inspirational courses in acting, acting technique as a pedagogical aid for university teachers or as support for students and/or teachers during oral presentations. Gunilla Röör and Ulf Friberg also hope that University Theater can contribute to attracting more people from the university to go to the theater and that the collaboration can create new spaces and contexts for the performing arts, for example pub theater and theater at STUK.
Students and employees at Luleå University of Technology and Norrbottensteatern are welcome to contact Ulf Friberg and Gunilla Röör with questions and project proposals.
Contact
Ulf Friberg
- Senior Lecturer, Education Leader
- 0920-493671
- ulf.friberg@ltu.se
- Ulf Friberg
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