»Hawaii – von hier aus« nach dem Roman »Hawaii« von Cihan Acar – eine öffentliche Performance im »Hawaii« -Viertel

In the organizer's words:

"Hawaii - from here"
based on the novel "Hawaii" by Cihan Acar
a public performance in the "Hawaii" district

Saturday, 27.06.2026 at 8 pm (premiere)

Friday, 03.07.2026 at 8 pm

Saturday, 04.07.2026 at 8 pm

Meeting point: Quartierszentrum Augärtle (Ellwanger Str. 15/1, 74076 Heilbronn)

Heilbronn calls itself a "city of 150 nations". But how do these many worlds actually come together? Cihan Acar's novel "Hawaii" tells the story of a neighborhood in which social tensions, belonging and exclusion become visible - and serves as the starting point for the participatory theater project of the English Theatre Society Heilbronn.

After an accident, soccer star Kemal has to reorganize his life and drifts through Heilbronn - from a Turkish wedding to a betting shop, to a strip club, into a street fight between right-wingers and migrants, to his family in the Hawaii district. The novel tells of homelessness, longing and loneliness - and of people who live in the in-between.

Over a period of six months, people from Heilbronn and international students will develop a scenic adaptation of the novel. The participants contribute their own stories, experiences and visions of the future: Where do borders separate us? And where do we meet? What could the "Hawaii" district - or Heilbronn as a whole - look like in 20 years?

These questions give rise to a hybrid theater format that combines Acar's novel with personal perspectives. "Hawaii - from here" creates spaces for exchange and encounters and makes the diversity of Heilbronn tangible.

Stage direction and concept: Leni Karrer and Sezin Onay
Production management: Tobias Frühauf and Philipp Wolpert

With Fabienne Acker, Yomna Baffoun, Paula Benscheid, Jazné Chetty, Ilnur Gayetov, Meric Gülcehre, Ishita Jain, Nina Kohmünch, Beate Köppel, Moris Libman, Thomas Nakas, Lara Nast, Naniq Schiewer.

A cooperation between Theaterschiff Heilbronn and the TUM Campus Heilbronn, the Coding School 42 Heilbronn and Heilbronn University.

Funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, the City of Heilbronn and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.