Indrek Koff’s children’s book staged by Helen Rekkor in Dresden

Today, on May 29th, 2026, the open-air production “Ausgebüxt! Wo sind die Kinder geblieben?” (Eng. “Escape! Where’d the Kids Go?”) by the Estonian stage director Helen Rekkor will premiere at theater junge generation (tjg.) in Dresden, Germany. The performance is based on the children’s book “Where’d the Kids Go?” by the Estonian author Indrek Koff.

“In Koff’s book, the children decide together to leave the city because life there has become too gloomy and rule-bound. Instead of looking inward, the adults decide to bring the children back home by hook or by crook (and what all they can come up with!), but their efforts are in vain. For the children to be persuaded, something else must change entirely.

Director Helen Rekkor worked with the dramaturg and the cast on Koff’s text, adapting it to a new linguistic and performative space. The production is staged at Sonnenhäusel, located in Dresden’s large city park, on a stage surrounded by the rustling forest, and during the performance, you may truly get the feeling that these children are hiding somewhere very close by,” writes Mihkel Seeder, one of tjg.’s artistic directors.

The stage adaptation for Indrek Koff’s story was created by Oliver Meyer, Helen Rekkor, and the cast; directed by Helen Rekkor; with Oliver Meyer as dramaturg; set design by Jenny Barthold; music by Manuel Thielen; and theater education by Sophia Keil. The cast includes Ulrike Sperberg, Mirko Näger-Guckeisen, Delia Fiordilino, Bettina Sörgel, and Gregor Wolf. The production is suitable for children ages 4 and up.

The premiere of Koff’s piece marks the end of Mihkel Seeder’s and Ulrike Lessmann’s first season as tjg.’s artistic directors. It also marks the end of Helen Rekkor’s year as tjg.’s artist-in-residence, resulting in the theatre’s repertoire now featuring two productions with Estonian influences: “Ausgebüxt! Wo sind die Kinder geblieben?” and technological performance “PL[AI]”.

More information is available on the tjg website.

In the picture: scene from the production “Ausgebüxt! Wo sind die Kinder geblieben?”. Photo by Klaus Gigga