GenZ Don't Cry

Junge Triennale, Music theatre

18.9.-21.9.2025

Turbinenhalle an der Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

Immersive 3D sound theatre by and about Generation Z.

Challenging are the times in which the teenagers and young adults of Generation Z are starting their independent lives. At the same time, they are confronted with a whole set of prejudices: that they are lazy, demanding, over-sensitive and always on their phones. GenZ Don’t Cry portrays the voices of people born between 1995 and 2010. Their thoughts can be experienced through headphones which also can be used to seal yourself off from the world and its crises.

In GenZ Don't Cry, visions of the future blend with flashbacks to an indistinct past and a virtual reality. Somewhere within this intangible temporality, ten young people encounter Cassandra, an operator in a futuristic planetarium. She runs simulations and makes prophecies, which the ten young people reject and proest against. Is this where the future is being negotiated? A supernova being programmed? What value do visions have, and how close do they actually have to be to reality?

The audience itself plunges into a 3D-soundscape that is created live on stage and performed by young people from the Ruhr region. Through the ears, an immersive sound and theatre experience unfolds for everyone aged 14 and older.

Produced by Ruhrtriennale.

Festival Stories

In conversation with Ruhrtriennale dramaturgue Britta Schünemann
“Whoosh! – You get drawn straight in”

Cast

3D Sound Concept and Direction
- Sounddramaturgien-Kollektiv (Dominik Breinlinger, Julian Kämper, Felix Kruis)
Author and Dramaturgical Consultant
- Mehdi Moradpour
Co-Director, Stage and Light Design
- Wolfgang Menardi
Composition, Music
- Gîn Bali
Costumes
- Julia Nussbaumer
Acting
- Mira Fajfer
Choir
- Jwanzeen Al-Sello,
- Efrahim Bakir,
- Ikram el Kasmi el Meftah,
- Nicolas Lochthowe,
- Schlo Meurer,
- Flynn Ohland,
- Eva Seli,
- Luca Sommer,
- Julian Sonntag
Assistant Director
- Helena Jackson
Production Manager Ruhrtriennale
- Johanna Freytag
Technical Project Manager Ruhrtriennale
- Frank Böhle
Technician
- Sascha Brandt,
- Carsten Funke,
- Jan Kunz,
- Franzi Luhn,
- Benjamin Reich,
- Andreas Semmler,
- Christoph Stenftenagel,
- Stephanie von Porbeck
Kostümassistenz Ruhrtriennale
- Ines Koehler-Klünenberg
Dressing and Costume Team Ruhrtriennale
- Chantal Baumann,
- Marion Felix-Groll
Hair and Makeup Team Ruhrtriennale
- Pia Norberg,
- Rebecca Rühle

Supporters Ruhrtriennale

Main Funder RAG-Stiftung.

Funded by the Stiftung Mercator.

Relaxed With ... Gîn Bali / Genz Don't Cry (14 + 21 September)

Happy Sundays

On Sundays it’s time to go to the theatre. Not alone, but with the whole family! While the adults are busy watching the afternoon performance of GenZ Don't Cry on 21 September, the children take part in a workshop led by a theater educator. With fun games and using a variety of methods, they explore the topics presented in the performance. Tickets can be booked directly in the web shop.