Open Call:
Actors, Improvisors & Collaborators
Foresight Theatre Lab: ‘Geopolitics 2040’
The EU Policy Lab at the European Commission, in collaboration with theatre director Orion Maxted (Center Leo Apostel, VUB, and the Imaginary Institute), are creating a Foreight Theatre Lab, investigating strategic foresight methodologies through theatre and play.
Strategic foresight is a methodology for imagining and exploring multiple possible futures, and for testing how decisions made in the present might play out across different scenarios. In a policy context, for example, it helps us imagine the future and ask which actions taken now might succeed in some futures and fail in others.
This phase of the project will develop and explore a new foresight methodology through games, theatre, situations, and new forms of storytelling that make foresight embodied and alive, responsive and creative, and that can, in turn, help shape future-oriented policymaking.
On this occasion, the process engages with a set of geopolitical scenarios currently being developed, exploring a range of very different potential futures for the year 2040, as part of the European Commission’s 2026 Strategic Foresight Report.
Open Call
We are seeking actors and collaborators comfortable working in a dynamic rehearsal and devising environment beyond scripted performance, and interested in theatre and play as ways of thinking together.
Ideal candidates will have:
Strong improvisation skills in English
Acting skills
Experience co-devising, collaborative writing, co-creation
Strong capacity to play, and reflect
An imaginative approach to complex material
Comfort working in experimental, process-led settings with quick turnaround
Desirable (but not required):
Familiarity with geopolitics or global systems
Experience with foresight, scenario-building, or speculative methods
Interest in art–science–policy collaborations
What the project involves
Collaborative workshops with theatre-makers and foresight practitioners, including European Commission staff.
Translating written future scenarios into performative situations
Helping to develop performances, games, interactive formats, and methodology
The project takes place within a professional artistic and research context, with direct engagement with EU institutions.
Participants will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
This is a collaborative role. We are interested in hearing from people who can propose ideas, methods, questions, as well as those who can perform and play.
Practicalities
Next dates:
15-17 April
Fee:
This is a paid project. Exact fee TBC.
Contact:
To register your interest or attend an audition, please write to us at orion.maxted@vub.be and briefly outline your interest and any relevant experience.