A local performance troupe is making headlines in Germany as it travels and performs in Rockville’s sister city of Pinneberg and in the German capital.

The Finest!, a multicultural troupe of actors, dancers and steppers, performs in parades and community events in and around Rockville.

The troupe was invited to perform in Germany after a delegation from Pinneberg saw The Finest! perform in 2010 as part of Rockville’s 150^th anniversary celebration, Rotraut Bockstahler, a past president of the Rockville Sister City Corporation, wrote in an email.

The performance “took the hearts of the [Pinneberg] mayor and the delegation,” said Bockstahler. “Following their invitation, The Finest Performance Troupe is presently in Pinneberg and hosted by families of the German American Society Rockville Pinneberg.”

An account of the group’s first performance appeared July 27 in the Pinneberger Tageblatt.

“Engaging, highly emotional and with a message: ‘The Finest’ coming from Pinneberg's US-American Sister City Rockville, presented a mix of dance, skit and theater performance to an audience at City Hall, which was filled to capacity,” the Pinneberger Tageblatt reported, according to a translation of the German-language newspaper. 

“The 13 through 24-year-old performers brought with them excerpts from their repertoire 'Be the Change'. This play deals in short scenes with problems of drug and alcohol abuse, peer pressure and domestic violence. Under the title ‘A Change Gon' Come’ the group, which mainly consists of African-American performers, presented scenes from the life of former slave Harriet Tubman.”

The troupe is scheduled to perform again today and also planned to perform at a street festival in Berlin, Bockstahler said.

Rockville’s sister city relationship with Pinneberg dates to 1957 and includes a student exchange and other programs.

Click here for more information about The Finest!

Click here for more information about the Rockville Sister City Corporation.