For many years, freedom was seen primarily as a promise. Today, however, it is the line of conflict along which wars are waged. Nowadays, freedom is threatened by war, despotism and lies. Yet one thing is clear: people seek freedom. They want to live freely. And from 21 to 28 March 2025, Europe will be a guest in Stuttgart. Schauspiel Stuttgart invites you to a new festival that focuses on the freedom of art. The first edition in 2025 will focus on Eastern Europe, where art and the free press are under particularly fierce attack, called into question and, in some cases, prevented altogether by the ongoing war in Ukraine. In Poland and Ukraine in particular, culture is being misused as a propaganda tool and a means of repression. In both countries, the threats to artistic freedom and the constraints and restrictions to which theatre work is exposed are constantly increasing. Schauspiel Stuttgart has invited theatres and artists from both of these countries and from the Czech Republic to show their work in Stuttgart. Five international guest performances and one in-house production mark the cornerstones of a discourse space dedicated to the burning issues of our time and, facing war and repression, explores our artistic options for action between activism, documentation and catharsis.