News

Since 2000, the NESTROY Prize has been awarded for outstanding achievements on Viennese and other Austrian stages.

In 2022, author Lisa Wentz received the Nestroy Prize for her play ADERN and now AZUR ODER DIE FARBE VON WASSER (AZURE OR THE COLOR OF WATER) is nominated for Best Play, which premiered at the Theater an der Josefstadt.

Director Jakab Tarnóczi is nominated for Best Newcomer for his production of the Austrian premiere of RUTHERFORD & SOHN (by Githa Sowerby) at the Schauspielhaus Graz.

There are also nominations for acting performances in the following productions:

• Stefanie Reinsperger as Best Actress in, among others, Fritzi Wartenberg‘s production of the world premiere of ELISABETH! (by Mareike Fallwickl) | Burgtheater
• Jörg Ratjen as Best Actor as Wolfram in the Austrian premiere of Marius von Mayenburg‘s ELLEN BABIĆ | Burgtheater
• Felix Kammerer as Best Supporting Actor in the role of Banic’s assistant in the German-language premiere of Ayad Akhtar‘s DER FALL MCNEAL | Burgtheater

The award ceremony will take place during the Nestroy Gala 2025 on November 23, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at the Volkstheater Wien.

On 25 October, Ran Chai Bar-zvi received the Kurt Hübner Directing Award at the Eysoldt Prize ceremony in Bensheim.

He received the award for his production of BLUTBUCH, based on the novel by Kim de l’Horizon, at the Staatstheater Hannover (premiere in December 2023). The decision was made by Almut Wagner, head dramaturge at the Residenztheater and sole juror for the Kurt Hübner Directing Prize.
“Ran Chai Bar-zvi always handles even large, existential material with lightness and an incredible instinct for entertainment, […] yet he never runs the risk of trivializing the serious core of the plays,” emphasizes Almut Wagner – as in ‘Blutbuch’, the work for which Ran Chai Bar-zvi receives the prize.

The award has been presented to young directors by the German Academy of Performing Arts since 1991 as part of the Eysoldt Prize ceremony in Bensheim. The prize is endowed with 5000 euros.

BLUTBUCH by Kim de l’Horizon (stage adaptation by Ran Chai Bar-zvi and Michael Letmathe) will be performed again at the Staatstheater Hannover on November 15, 2025.
Tickets are available here.

THE BROKEN JUG (German: DER ZERBROCHNE KRUG)
by Heinrich von Kleist
Director: Yana Eva Thönnes

The director reinterprets Kleist’s comedy, which should really be a tragedy. It deals with sexual assault, abuse of power and a young woman who doesn’t dare to speak up. Yana Eva Thönnes breaks Eve’s silence, moves the action from the courtroom to Marthe’s house and has Eve invite her friends to a pyjama party.

The premiere takes place on October 25, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at Theater Freiburg.

Kiss Kiss Wolf ⁽ ¨̮⁾˚‧♡

(2024, 17″)

In the short film by lynn t musiol, the darkrooms of the Filmfabrik Wolfen become a film set for lesbian eroticism; the socialist factory becomes a safe space and hotspot for queer-lesbian love.

 

 

WO IST WALD?

Performance in Laut- und Gebärdensprache
Concept: makemake produktionen
Stage Design: Mirjam Stängel

The Vienna premieres will take place at DSCHUNGEL WIEN on October 22, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Further performance dates and tickets can be found here.

HOLSTEIN MILCHKÜHE by Satoko Ichihara

Belle Santos is one of the most exciting costume designers and performance artists. She has worked with directors such as Ran Chai Bar-Zvi, Leonie Böhm and Lucia Bihler. This is her first collaboration with Japanese author and director Satoko Ichihara.

The Swiss premiere took place on 18 October 2025 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.

Further performance dates:
20., 28. und 30. Oktober
2., 6., 12., 14., 18., 21. und 28. November
1. und 5. Dezember

RICHTERSKALA 7,8

by und with Elif Bilici and Özge Dayan-Mair
Directed by Martina Gredler

Produced by diverCITYLAB in cooperation with MEDEA PRODUCTION – Verein für transdisziplinäre Kunst
Coproduced by Theater am Werk

Additional performance dates: : October, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28 and 29, 2025 | 7:30 p.m.

Tickets

 

VOLKSVERNICHTUNG ODER MEINE LEBER IST SINNLOS
A Radical Comedy by Werner Schwab

Directed by Fritzi Wartenberg

After her phenomenal success with ELISABETH!, Fritzi Wartenburg now stages Schwab’s radical comedy at the Burgtheater.

‘Frenetic applause for this model example of a Schwab production.’ – DER STANDARD

‘In her production, Fritzi Wartenberg has brought out something else that was often overlooked in the past: the terrible plight of all these despicable characters. And that is art.’ – Die Presse

The premiere took place on October, 18 2025 at the Akademietheater.

Additional performance dates:
21./30. Oktober 2025
03./10. November 2025

MACBETH by William Shakespeare

Text adaptation and direction: Marius von Mayenburg

In his newly dramatised version of Shakespeare’s play, director and playwright Marius von Mayenburg creates an apocalyptic and dystopian world centred around the serial killer Macbeth for the Norwegian stage.

The premiere will take place on October 17, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the Nationtheatret (Hovedscenen) in Oslo.

BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE SEA

by and with Yousef Sweid
Director + Co-Author: Isabella Sedlak
Produced by  Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin

Palestinian-Israeli actor Yousef Sweid dives into the chaos of identity, truth, and family life in Between The River And The Sea. Raised as a Christian-Arab kid in Haifa, now raising two Jewish-Arab kids in Berlin, he unpacks his in-between-ness – where contradictions clash and slogans fail. With biting humour and raw honesty, Sweid weaves personal stories, political reflection, and absurd everyday moments into a sharp, unflinching solo performance.

BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE SEA will be shown as part of steirischer herbst ’25 on October 12, 2025 in Graz (Dom im Berg, Schloßbergplatz).