Teatteri Avoimet Ovet (Open Doors Theatre), founded in 1998, is a small, cosy theatre with seating for 107, located in Museokatu Street in the Töölo district of Helsinki. The concept on which Open Doors bases its work is to create thought-provoking drama productions that are of high quality, in terms of both content and artistic presentation, and that also live up to the principles of our manifesto – feel, sense, perceive. The repertoire is enriched with visiting music performances, poem reading evenings and discussion events.
Open Doors Theatre considers it particularly important to stage premières of new, small-scale Finnish plays and concerts. The simple, yet inventive theatrical aesthetics of our productions have already become a concept. Above all we focus on the content of the performances and the actors’ work included in them. Our intimate theatre makes it possible for the audience to get close to the heart of the matter and for the performers on the other hand to get close to the audience. The ensemble, consisting of freelance actors, is gradually establishing itself, and our permanent staff are firmly committed to Open Doors’ policy, which highlights content and quality.
The main focus of the repertoire is on our own production: in both the spring and autumn seasons we produce one première, and during the season we present about 30 performances of each. In addition to our own repertoire we arrange visiting productions that are in line with our concept – usually one to five per season.
Open Doors has 4 permanent full-time staff members (director, producer, organiser-seamstress-bar manager, lighting and effects engineer) and 8 regular part-time staff (ticket sellers, bar staff). During 2010, 25 artists were engaged for the theatre’s own productions. In addition, 78 artists appeared in joint and visiting performances. Annually about 125 performances are staged for a total of more than 10,000 theatregoers.