Next summer Maaspoort celebrates its 40th anniversary, so an extra thick Maaspoort Magazine will be hitting the mat this season. With as many as 220 shows, the theater is ambitiously betting on the anniversary year, so extra performances have been booked.
That large number of performances does not include the successful revival of spectacle musical It was Sunday in the South. The coproduction nominated for 7 Musical Awards with Toneelgroep Maastricht will start again from June 5 in De Doolhof in Tegelen.
It Was Sunday in the South is not the only spectacle this summer, on Aug. 24 - Maaspoort's official anniversary day - the Urban Connections Festival descends on the theater and, in addition, an impressive show with urban dance, urban sports, urban music and exceptional talent from the international circus world is being worked on in co-production with various parties from Germany and the Netherlands. "A real urban takeover" laughs programmer Wieke Vrijhoef. "The festival takes place throughout the theater. We are happy to hand over the key on this special day to the theater audiences of the future and are very proud of all those involved and the great enthusiasm surrounding this project."
Current theater audiences are not forgotten in the festivities either; on every fourth day of the month, Maaspoort invites them for a soft price to come to a performance with the question, "FOUR you along?" The series is a mixed program, including the unique opportunity to experience a concert in the midst of PhilZuid's orchestra, attend the premiere THOES by musical stars Suzan Seegers and Renée van Wegberg or go to the theater concert by Karin Bloemen, who also performed at the festive reopening in 2013. The appropriate "Theater Party" by festival sensation Prince S. and the Goat is not missing from the birthday lineup. Thus, the theater celebrates all season long.
In addition, the "regular" program is also bursting with well-known names, such as Claudia de Breij, Daniël Arends, Numidia, Joël Borelli, Theater Rotterdam, Nederlands Dans Theater or Hans Klok, and Maaspoort is continuing to develop as a place for talented creators and social projects, so programmer Vrijhoef is sure there will be more performances to come.
The increase in the number of shows for next season is additionally explained by additional family programming. Since 2022, all shows for children under 13 have been free of charge and this has been massively taken advantage of, something director-director Leon Thommassen is particularly proud of. This initiative also absolutely contributed to the great success of last season, the most successful year in Maaspoort's history, with already 107,000 tickets sold for the theater program - excluding the visitors of It was Sunday in the South. 87 sold-out performances and an average auditorium occupancy of 69 percent. "Those are visitor numbers that make you happy." Thommassen has held his position since 2011 and is looking forward to the anniversary year. "Maaspoort is an indispensable and characteristic part of Venlo, I have seen the organization grow enormously and I am happy with the team and the program we are entering this season with. Through the theater program, but also through all the other activities we do for and with the people of Venlo, you can see that we are getting an ever wider reach. A theater creates real connection in a city, nice to realize that we have been building this together for 40 years."
start sale friends of Maaspoort
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 | 10 a.m.
start sales of season ticket holders
Friday, May 31, 2024 | 4 p.m.
go on sale
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 | 4 p.m.