On 4 September, together with the Bartiméus Fund, we launched the open call Inclusive Theatre, inviting makers with and without disabilities to collaborate on a new creation: an inclusive, professional site-specific theatre production for Oerol 2027 – an urgent work that should not be missing from the festival. The call welcomed all disciplines and all types of audience experiences.
Sixteen makers submitted their plans. The jury: Malou Gorter, Erik-Ward Geerlings, Ayşegül Karaca, Alicia Hoost and Sabine Pater faced the difficult task of selecting from a range of beautiful, moving, urgent, bold, ambitious and intimate proposals.
The selected makers
Two makers have been invited for a 2026 residency as part of Werkplaats Oerol:
Dominique Stevens – Leeglopen (Running Empty)
Dominique Stevens’ Leeglopen explores what it feels like to slowly run out of energy, allowing audiences to step into the daily choices and struggles faced by people with disabilities. Dominique creates from her own lived experience: “I run empty every day. I see about a third of the normal field of vision and have no depth perception. That makes me visually impaired. I have to work so much harder to see everything, which means my energy drains much more quickly.” Dominique collaborates with Theater Werkplaats and is currently in conversation with a dance company.
Toni Kritzer – we read our pain like coordinates
The second selected maker is Toni Kritzer, who works at the intersection of ecology and storytelling. Toni develops we read our pain like coordinates in collaboration with other queer and disabled artists. They explores how the climate crisis makes us ill, and what ‘crip’ wisdom can teach us about caring for an injured natural world. Through dance, voice, and storytelling, they aim to create a sensitive encounter between people, animals, plants and the landscape. Toni is chronically ill and disabled.
Residencies in 2026
As part of the Oerol Werkplaats, both makers will be invited for two multi-day residencies on Terschelling in the first half of 2026:
- a development residency in the lead-up to the festival
- presentation residency during Oerol 2026 (12–21 June)
With these trajectories, Oerol and the Bartiméus Fund take a new step in the development of inclusive site-specific theatre, placing multivocality, accessibility and artistic innovation at the forefront.
