May 17 will see the premiere of the stage show The Incident, a solo performance by June Yanez at ITA (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam) that simply asks: how big can you dream when society does not give everyone the same space? June Yanez stands alone on stage, on no more than one square meter, giving voice to ten people at once. That sounds like a trick, but it is theater that is about something.
Yanez plays Guadalupe, an almost 16-year-old woman of color with humor and resilience. But she also plays everyone around her: teachers, parents, friends, people who make her life smaller or larger. Yanez is an actress, playwright and musician, joining the ITA Ensemble from 2026. In a way, this production is her introduction: she also came up with the concept. That gives it something personal, something you feel.
The text was written by Leila Sahir especially for this performance. Sahir is a writer, director and poet, and known as the head writer of the NPO series Sihame. Her debut film Love Me, Love Me Not was released in 2025. The inspiration for The Incident comes partly from Omroep Human's NPO series Klassen, which portrayed inequality in Dutch education, and from the educational work of former alderwoman Marjolein Moorman. This is no casual background: class differences and inequality of opportunity are at the heart of the story.
June Yanez plays ten roles in one square meter, but the story of Guadalupe is much bigger than that one small stage.
The Incident plays at two locations: at ITA on Leidseplein, located in the historic Stadsschouwburg, and at the Bijlmer Parktheater in the Bijlmer. That second location is no coincidence. A story about inequality of opportunity and the right to dream also belongs in a neighborhood where that is felt daily. June Yanez plays ten roles on one square meter, but the story of Guadalupe is much larger than that one small stage.