#Entscheide dich!
A music theater project by and for young people on themes from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale Die kleine Meerjungfrau
The Opernhaus Zürich Hashtag Projects are a central component of our educational outreach efforts and the most intensive and comprehensive way of bringing young people into contact with music theater and dance. Over the course of an entire school year, young people from a graduating class have the opportunity to develop their own full-length play and present it to the public on our studio stage once it is finished. An experienced team of artists from the fields of dance, theater and music accompanies the students on their journey from the development of the play to the staging and choreographic realization, through to the premiere.
Whether it's young people on the cusp of adulthood or people working in the arts, the same principles apply: we are constantly forced to make decisions. We constantly have to decide for or against something, choosing from an abundance of possibilities, and we are confronted with the question of whether the impulses we follow are viable and sustainable. The decisions we make have far-reaching consequences and can have a lasting impact on our lives and personalities.
The Little Mermaid in Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairytale has to make a fateful choice: she wants to shed her tail fin and leave the underwater world behind, in order to find happiness on land. Inspired by Andersen’s story, which is also the theme of the new ballet production Of Wind, Light and Waters in the 2024/25 season, the project #Entscheide dich! Is all about life-altering decisions that might not be reversible. The little mermaid sacrifices a lot to realize her longing into reality, and becomes part of an unknown, strange world. How far would you go to realize your dreams? Where are your limits? Are you ready to make sacrifices for your dreams? Is the price you must pay worth it? These questions will be the focus of the new theater and dance piece that will be staged with and by young people in June 2025.
Supported by 
Dates & Tickets
July 2025
Biography
Elisa Alessi, Stage and costume design & Aesthetic overall concept
Elisa Alessi
Elisa Alessi, 1981 in Basel geboren, lebt in Zürich und arbeitet als freie Szenografin, Bühnenbildnerin, Kostümbildnerin, Innenarchitektin und im Objektdesign. 2008 hat sie das Studium der Innenarchitektur und Szenografie an der Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel mit der Abschlussarbeit bei Frédéric Dedelley abgeschlossen. Im Bereich Innenarchitektur und Design arbeitete sie im Studio Hannes Wettstein und bei Ushi Tamborriello. Nach einer Regie- und Bühnenbildhospitanz bei Andreas Herrmann und Max Wehberg am Luzerner Theater war sie von 2010 bis 2013 am Konzert Theater Bern als Bühnenbildassistentin tätig.
Viele Arbeiten im Bereich Schauspiel, Tanz und Musiktheater entstanden am Konzert Theater Bern, am Theater Orchester Solothurn, am Deutschen Theater Göttingen sowie in der freien Theaterszene (Theater am Hechtpkatz in Zürich, Schlachthaus Bern, Theater Roxy Basel). Sie arbeitete unter anderem mit den Regisseuren David Benjamin Brückel, Olivier Keller, Jan Stephan Schmieding, Ragna Guderian, Katharina Ramser, Dieter Kaegi und Volker Hesse sowie den Choreografinnen Cathy Marston und Tabea Martin.