Thomas Janssens - The Forest School

Looking differently makes the difference. In 1926, the Russian psychiatrist Groenja Soechareva secretly founds The Forest Schoolop - a remote place where eleven neurodivergent children are allowed to live freely. She does not describe them as ‘disturbed’ but as gifted, and introduces the term autism years before Kanner and Asperger do. Her work is censored. She herself disappears into the Gulag. Her name is erased. A hundred years later, director Thomas Janssens, recently diagnosed with autism, brings together a number of neurodivergent performers. He wants to bring Groenja’s project back to life. Who were those children? What if their future had been given space? Together they explore the big questions: Who determines the norm? What happens when labels disappear? And will the world now embrace the ideals of The Forest School? By and with Evelien Bosmans, Thomas Janssens, Ann Omloop, Lucas Smets, Britta Tegenbosch, Danté Van Den Broeck, Kato Van Dyck, Heidi Van Immerseel, Oscar Van Rompay, Hade Vlieghe, Tanya Zabarylo Techniek Lukas Vanhoutte Lichtontwerp Mark Van Denesse Kostuums Judith Van Herck Scenografie Casimir Franken, Nikolas Lestaeghe, Stevie Van Haver Muziek Kaspar Schellingerhout Dramaturgie Daan Borloo Met support of the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian federal government, the Vlaamse Overheid, Nationale Loterij, Literatuur Vlaanderen, Stad Antwerpen