Story Sharing Universum: I’m So Here

The main theme in I’m So Here is the individual and cultural identity from the perspective of the newcomer.

In this strange place I ended up in...
do I look the same?
do I feel the same?
do I think the same?
do I act the same?
is this still me?

How have I been received in the country and society where I moved or fled, and how has it affected me? What do I carry with me from my background and how do I and my identity change in the new culture and who then have I become? The texts of the performances are based on the life stories of the working group.

In I’m So Here we invite you to experience a variety of stories and scenes like... The Iraqi Panther- Hunter meets the Finnish-Bolivian gringo... the best home-made Yugoslavian pop-music ... the Bollywood diary... Pakistani street theater style agitation and many other inspiring and unlikely numbers in this heartwarming event.

Originally performed in Theatre House Universum, February 2022.

Performance language: English

Directed by Max Bremer, Markus Luukkonen and Åsa Nybo
Music director: Salla Markkanen
Set design: Anna Uschanov
Light and video design: Tuomas Honkanen
Graphic design: Juha Mustanoja
On the stage: Alaa Altamimi, Ahmed Fahady, Amjad Sher, Anthony Van Cleave, Diego James, Ekaterina Meriläinen, Maria Kramar Von Numers, Namrata Sethi, Salla Markkanen
Produced by Story Sharing Universum & Theatre House Universum

Duration: 1 h 45 min, incl. intermission.
Recommended age: + 12
Tickets à 15/8 € from Lippu.fi or at the door 1,5h before.

The Story Sharing Universum project wants to promote the meeting between people from all over the world, with diverse backgrounds and realities. The project started at the Theatre House Universum in Helsinki and aims to reduce prejudice, fear and racism and to promote equality, tolerance and inclusion through stage art and storytelling.

In the year 2014 we created the participatory theater performance Under The Same Roof and developed the Story Sharing Café -concept . Our multicultural working group of ca 20 people from all parts of the world have organized numerous Story Sharing Café performances and storytelling workshops in cooperation with many partners all around Finland.

In 2017, we were awarded the title Theater Achievement of the Year by the Finnish Theater Center and in 2018 we received the Stina Krook Foundation's award for our work. The producers and directors of this project are professional theater- and storytelling artists Max Bremer, Markus Luukkonen and Åsa Nybo.