Festival Junges Theater Lünen

Festival Junges Theater Lünen — Of legal age in 2026

The Festival Junges Theater Lünen (JTL) celebrates its 18th edition in 2026 — reaching legal age. From June 22 to 26, 2026, the Heinz-Hilpert-Theater at Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 41 in Lünen will open its main stage to young theatre creators from the entire Hellweg region. A whole week of young theatre — experimental, vibrant, without barriers.

Who is making theatre here?

The JTL is explicitly not an established acting festival. The focus is on young theatre ensembles — school theatre groups, youth clubs, independent youth ensembles, student theatre. They all get the opportunity to perform on the professional main stage of the Heinz-Hilpert-Theater — professional lighting, professional sound, professional stage technology, in front of a real audience. For many young actors, this is the biggest stage they have ever stepped onto — and thus a formative moment in their theatre lives.

Susanne Hocke and Jan N. Schmitt — the minds behind the festival

The artistic directors of the festival are the actress, director, and theatre educator Susanne Hocke and the theatre educator Jan N. Schmitt. Both work at the Heinz-Hilpert-Theater and at the Förderverein Theater Lünen e.V., which has supported the festival since shortly after its founding in 2008. They select the participating groups, support them during rehearsals, and prepare their performances.

Hellweg Region as the catchment area

The festival draws from the Hellweg region — Lünen, Dortmund, Hamm, Unna, Soest, Werl, Bönen. This geographical anchoring makes the JTL a regional hub for theatre education. Schools and theatre groups submit their plays; a jury makes the selection. This creates a festival program every year that showcases the entire theatrical spectrum of the Hellweg youth.

Experimental and unfinished — and that's a good thing

Those attending the festival should not expect perfectly choreographed pieces. Vibrant, experimental, bold — these are the adjectives the JTL claims for itself. Some pieces are classic drama, others move between dance and performance, some are pure text work, others rely on video, music, movement. This stylistic openness is the appeal of the festival — you never know what to expect.

Lünen — Theatre city in the northern Ruhr area

Lünen is a district town in the Unna district with around 87,000 inhabitants, bordering Dortmund to the north. The city is surprisingly rich in culture for its size — the Heinz-Hilpert-Theater as a municipal theatre, the Kinofest Lünen in November, a vibrant cultural office. The Festival Junges Theater is one of the most important showcases of this cultural and theatre city in the northwest of the Ruhr area.