Author: Olesia Vitiuk

50 YEARS OF MILITARY COUP IN CHILE

50th anniversary of the death of Salvador Allende / 49th anniversary of the Chilean Exile Ensemble at the Volkstheater Rostock
11 September, at 8:00 p.m.
Patriotischer Weg 33
18057 Rostock

With this event, the Volkstheater Rostock commemorates the military coup in Chile and the death of Allende 50 years ago and honors the founding of the Chilean exile ensemble Teatro Lautaro at the house. Readings will include excerpts from Guillermo Calderón’s play COLINA (German translation by Franziska Muche).
More information and tickets under this link.

PLANET B from Yael Ronen & Itai Reicher has been nominated for this year’s Friedrich Luft Prize amongst other nine theater productions from the Berlin and Potsdam area (2022/23 season). PLANET B, directed by Yael Ronen, premiered at the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin on 6 June 2023 and has been acclaimed by critics accross Germany.
The Friedrich Luft Prize, named after the Berlin theater critic, has been awarded since 1992, and since 2021 jointly by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and the Berliner Morgenpost. It honors the best Berlin or Potsdam theater performance and is endowed with 7500 euros. The winning play will be announced on 25 August 2023.

7 MORTAL SINS
Texts from: Helena Adler, Uli Brée, Calle Fuhr, Felix Mitterer, Hubert Sauper, David Schalko, Johannes Schmidl and Lisa Wentz
Directed by: Gregor Bloéb
Shows on July 20 – August 12, 2023
Theater am Birkenberg, Telfs, AT

What is sin? What is virtue? There cannot be a right life amidst wrongs, can it?
The Tiroler Volksschauspiele have commissioned various playwrights to each rethink one sin. Lisa Wentz, who was recently awarded the 2023 Drama Prize by CAA Berlin, reimagines anger whereas Calle Fuhr explores the modern arrogance. In this way, seven short plays emerge between heaven and hell, dystopia and utopia, dance of death and lustful celebration of life at the same time.

Premiere is on July 20, at 8:00 p.m.
More information & tickets under this link (external content)

MAKING IT UP is a story of  Ana and Rita, two make-up artists who are completely broke. When the unpredictable Alex offers them a job, they just have to say yes – to the gig and to a big ol’ mess.
Guillermo Calderón’s flashy, electrifying directorial debut is now on Netflix.

Hessen Film & Media Fund 2023 has awarded Eliza Petkova’s new feature THE WORKER with a Grant for Production Development.

Every June, the SACD Board of Directors honors established and young talents who have made their mark throughout the year, and awards prizes corresponding to the disciplines and repertoires of the SACD in France and Europe.
The Board of Directors, chaired by Anne Rambach, has decided to award 33 author:s again this year. The Upcoming-Talent Prize went to Penda Diouf.

„The five [Emre Aksızoğlu, Anastasia Gubareva, Riah Knight, Lindy Larsson, Vidina Popov] can all really belt out an excellent song, which they do, one timely and versatile Shlomi Shaban hit after another moving the action forward, to much applause, and ultimately even a standing ovation after the earworm finale. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.“ – Sandra Sarala, Exberliner

SLIPPERY SLOPE. Almost a musical
by Yael Ronen & Shlomi Shaban
Directed by: Philipp Moschitz

Premiere on July 6, at 7:30 p.m.
Metropoltheater Munich

A musician who has been canceled is now celebrating his comeback. He wants to save his sweetheart from a greedy producer. A promising newcomer launches her solo career and accuses her ex-partner of a power abuse. An editor stands up for the rights of the oppressed. And a young journalist aims to enveil the Truth. The good guys are the good guys and the bad guys are the bad guys.
But can it really be that simple? Who benefits most from which narrative – and whose narrative ultimately prevails? In this story, everyone uses everyone else, and the search for love and truth is also the aspiration for fame and power.

In German language, w/ songs in English.
Dates & tickets under this link (external content)

DE, feature movie, 88 min., 2022
Script & direction: Erol Afşin

Amal, Omar, and their son Ahmad are a happy Arab family living in Germany. At the playground, they encounter a man named Franz. The situation gets out of hand when Franz insults and attacks Amal because of her headscarf. The case goes to court, but an incident during the hearing changes everything for the family.
Based on real events.

Further screenings & tickets under this link.

Minna von Barnhelm
or the Soldiers’ Happiness
from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Directed by: Ronny Jakubaschk
Costume & stage design: Ran Chai Bar-zvi

Premiere on 18 June at 8:30 p.m. in Dicker Turm, Heidelberg
As part of Heidelberger Schlossfestspiele festival

Tickets & information under this link (external)

“In “Planet B”, Yael Ronen and her co-writer Itai Reicher have not solely made a drama out of the highly topical environmental theme, but rather spun a witty sci-fi comedy in the light, Ronenian twist and development style. […] Errors and confusions, in which edge and center, cause and effect, but above all all all social themes and discourses fly around in the most beautiful way and unleash truths that are stuck in hard, is what makes Ronen’s theater so bright, funny and extremely human.” – Doris Meierhenrich, Berliner Zeitung (the quote originally in German)

PLANET B
World premiere was on June 8
Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin

Text: Yael Ronen & Itai Reicher
Directed by: Yael Ronen

A not-so-distant future: climate change has continued unabated, many species have already extincted, vast land areas are barely inhabitable… A race begins to see who deserves to survive. Welcome to the alien entertainment reality show, where humans compete with chicken, panda, ant, etc. for the repopulation of the Earth as the only surviving species!

Dates & tickets under this link (external)