Grabeland

In the organizer's words:

Silk is elegant, light and shimmering.
Silk is strong - a rope made of this material can carry greater weights than a metal cable of the same strength.
Silk stands for discipline, patriotism and success in war.

Gelsenkirchen, 1936: Schorsch and Gustav, coal miners, have a silkworm breeding club. In the boom year, silkworm breeding is to be financially supported by the Nazi city administration in order to make Germany self-sufficient in the production of silk. The city planted countless mulberry trees - and a large-scale breeding facility for 500,000 silkworms was built on ditch land. Schorsch and Gustav sense their chance to escape the hard work underground and the poor conditions. Only Lotte, Schorsch's wife, has an uneasy feeling about this, but her objections are drowned out by all the work and the rousing marches with Hitler salutes. Germany is facing prosperous times under the Führer!
When the Second World War broke out a few years later, the Ruhr area became the "armory of the Reich". The Reich War Ministry also continued to promote silkworm breeding, as the valuable threads were needed for the production of parachutes, among other things. During the war years, silkworm breeding proved to be even more lucrative than hoped.
Although the all-encompassing destruction and Nazi extermination ideology can no longer be denied as the war progresses, Gustav, Schorsch and Lotte continue to profit from the war - the couple even move into a larger house that previously belonged to a Jewish family. But what price will they have to pay for their economic enrichment in the end?

The award-winning author Nora Bossong already published a novel about the Ruhr region in 2012, Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (Limited Liability Company), in which she takes on an industrialist family from Essen. In 2023, she was the Brost Foundation's Ruhr Metropolitan Writer and used this opportunity to research her first theater text. With Grabeland, she is working on a piece of critical local history. Intendant and director Kathrin Mädler will stage the premiere in a stage world designed by set designer Franziska Isensee.