REPLAY by Yael Ronen
Director: Yael Ronen
German translation: Irina Szodruch

The world premiere takes place on December 14, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. at Schaubühne Berlin.

PLANET B
by Yael Ronen & Itai Reicher

Premiere on December 13, 2024 at Theater and Orchester Heidelnberg
Director: Cilli Drexel

In the not-so-distant future, climate change has continued unabated, many species are already extinct, vast areas are barely habitable… A race begins to see who deserves to survive. Welcome to the alien entertainment reality show in which humans compete with chickens, pandas, ants, crocodiles and foxes to recolonize the earth as the only surviving species.
Dates & tickets

Ran Chai Bar-zvi receives the Kurt Hübner Directing Prize for his production of “Blutbuch”, based on the novel by Kim de l’Horizon, at the Staatstheater Hannover. 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
Premiere was in December 2023 at the Staatstheater Hannover.
Dates & tickets

THE WHALE
by Samuel Hunter
Translated & directed by: Stephan Hoffmann

December 6, 2024 – Start of the tour of the Konzertdirektion Landgraf at Theater Nienburg.

Charlie is in his mid-40s and teaches college students English literature. Exclusively online, with the camera switched off. Because Charlie is extremely overweight. He lives in isolation and has long since lost touch with his ex-wife and his 17-year-old daughter Ellie, who is difficult to raise.
Charlie’s interaction with the outside world is limited to home visits from his nurse friend Liz, who finds Charlie’s physical decline difficult to bear, and from the young missionary Elder Thomas.
When the consequences of the illness become life-threatening, Charlie finally makes contact with Ellie.

The film adaptation of “The Whale” (D: Darron Aronofsky) won Brandon Fraser the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2023.

On November 15-22, 2024, the Black Nights Film Festival took place in Tallinn for the 28th time. The film THE WORKER by Eliza Petkova (in development)  was presented as part of the Baltic Event Co-Production Market and won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award for Best Project.
Jury’s statement: “With the experience of immigration within Europe as a starting point, this project takes us, and the protagonist, on an unexpected journey. A journey during which the director invites us to rethink the meaning of community and masculinity.”

THE WORKER (dt. “Der Arbeiter”)
Director & screenplay: Eliza Petkova
Producer: Nicolas Kronauer
Produced by: ROW Pictures GmbH, Fourmat Film GmbH
Germany, Bulgaria

After a mine collapse, Georgi – a Roma man and a father in his late twenties – leaves his family in Bulgaria for Germany. He switches jobs, facing exploitation as an undocumented worker. His desire to maintain the image of a luxurious life in rich Germany leads him to construct a facade far from his truth.

THE ARSONISTS
(dt. BIEDERMANN UND DIE BRANDSTIFTER)
by Max Frisch

Director: Fritzi Wartenberg
at Berliner Ensemble

Premiere is on November 29, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Further dates & tickets

PLANET B
by Yael Ronen & Itai Reicher

Premiere on November 23, 2024 at Theater Magdeburg
Director: Nick Hartnagel

In the not-so-distant future, climate change has continued unabated, many species are already extinct, vast areas are barely habitable… A race begins to see who deserves to survive. Welcome to the alien entertainment reality show in which humans compete with chickens, pandas, ants, crocodiles and foxes to recolonize the earth as the only surviving species.
Dates & tickets

GRAND HORIZONS (Dt. ROSIGE AUSSICHTEN)
by Bess Wohl
German translation by lynn t musiol & Christian Tschirner

Premiere at Theater Bielefeld
Director: Dariusch Yazdkhasti

After fifty years of marriage, Nancy says out of the blue at the dinner table: “I think I want a divorce.” Her husband agrees and continues eating undisturbed. Her two sons, on the other hand, don’t like the decision at all. They try to change their parents’ minds – and in doing so, they are fighting for themselves: one wants to save his image of family, the other fears cracks in his traditional role as a man and soon-to-be father. In the end, despite the divorce, everyone starts talking and listening to each other. And suddenly there it is: the possibility of loving each other!

Steffen Link is nominated for Best Play – Nestroy Author Award with his debut DER VEREIN.
The award ceremony will take place on November 24, 2024 at the Volkstheater Vienna.
Click here for the jury’s statement

DER VEREIN (en. The Club) by Steffen Link
Free for a German premiere
The world premiere was in March 2024 at Schauspielhaus Wien (director: Theresa Thomasberger)

A housing estate on the edge of a small town – Stefan grows up in this idyllic terraced house. Between family strife and everyday school life, a third factor determines the teenager’s life: his parents have joined a free Christian church. The sheltered community has grown over the years. Who wouldn’t want to have the Savior himself as their best friend? But this friendship is not a gift. The members have to bear witness to each other about their lifestyle, their dreams and their desires. Those who disappoint Jesus are in danger of falling deeply. And Stefan must fear that this is exactly what will happen to him. Because he dreams of theater, and he desires men, which pleases neither the Messiah nor his club.

The 76th edition of PRIX ITALIA took place in Turin from October 1 to 4, 2024 under the title “Loud and Clear”. The production “EXZESS: A Techno Opera” by Noam Brusilovsky and Tobias Purfürst won in the “Radio & Podcast Music” category.

EXZESS: Eine Techno-Oper
Libretto: Noam Brusilovsky
Composition: Tobias Purfürst
Production: rbb

Jessica and Brian, a tourist couple, visit Berlin’s most famous techno club. They are happy to have made it inside this huge industrial hall shrouded in legend. Their plan: dance, take drugs, indulge in the sound. A few hours later, Jessica is found by the club staff, collapsing on the floor. The diagnosis: intoxication with high doses of ecstasy. She is dead within a few hours.
The radiophonic techno opera EXZESS tells the story of dying in a club. In an uninterrupted techno set, the protagonist Jessica (Susanna Hurrell) sings her dying aria. The tragedy is that Jessica is fully aware that her organs are gradually failing and that time cannot be turned back. As in classical opera, dying becomes spectacular in this technoid epic.

MONOPOLY – Eine Besteigung des deutschen Schuldenberges
from & by Calle Fuhr
at Theater Magdeburg
Co-produced by Festival OSTEN

The recession is in full swing, there is a lack of money in the next federal budget and Calle Fuhr wants to make his contribution to stabilizing the German economy. Because – if every citizen donates something to the state, he thinks – the debt hole can close quickly! But it’s not that simple.

The premiere takes place on September 21, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at Theater Magdeburg.
Information & tickets

VERLANGEN (DESIRE) by Lisa Wentz
an adaptation of DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS by Eugene O’Neill
German translation: Lisa Wentz
Director: Cilly Drexler

Three brothers long to free themselves from their father’s tyranny. While one of them wishes to inherit the barren farm, the others are in a gold rush. The struggle for power and love begins when Agnes – the old man’s new, young bride – enters the yard.
With VERLANGEN (German for desire), Lisa Wentz tells Eugene O’Neill’s DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS from a radical, feminine perspective.

The premiere took place on September 14, 2024 at Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck.
Information & tickets

LIEBES ARSCHLOCH (orig.: “Cher connard”) by Virginie Despentes
Stage adoptation: Victoria Weich
Direction, set design, costume: Ran Chai Bar-zvi
at Theater Münster

The 76th edition of PRIX ITALIA will take place in Turin from October 1-4, 2024 under the title “Loud and Clear”.
The competition features the production “EXZESS – A Techno Opera” by Noam Brusilovsky and Tobias Purfürst (category: Radio & Podcast Music).

EXZESS: A techno-opera
Libretto: Noam Brusilovsky
Composition: Tobias Purfürst
Production: rbb

Jessica and Brian, a tourist couple, visit Berlin’s most famous techno club. They are happy to have made it inside this huge industrial hall shrouded in legend. Their plan: dance, take drugs, indulge in the sound. A few hours later, Jessica is found by the club staff, collapsing on the floor. The diagnosis: intoxication with high doses of ecstasy. She is dead within a few hours.
The radiophonic techno opera EXZESS tells the story of dying in a club. In an uninterrupted techno set, the protagonist Jessica (Susanna Hurrell) sings her dying aria. The tragedy is that Jessica is fully aware that her organs are gradually failing and that time cannot be turned back. And as in classical opera, dying becomes spectacular in this technoid epic.

Two new performances by the critically acclaimed New York duo Julia Mounsey & Peter Mills Weiss can be seen at this year’s edition of Noorderzon Festival:

24 – 29 August, 2024 – WHILE YOU WERE PARTYING

A heady mix of vulnerable positions and hammer blows, a fresh and funny, uncompromising theatrical world that digs deep into the ugly side of us to reveal the humanity behind it.

27 – 29 August, 2024 – OPEN MIC NIGHT

A eulogy to an imaginary DIY hangout where crossing boundaries is the norm and no one cleans the toilets. With cheap beer!

More information & tickets

VACA (Cow) by Guillermo Calderón
Directed by: Guillermo Calderón

Guillermo Calderón is one of Chile’s most prominent playwrights. In his play VACA (“Cow”), three realities collide: a half-broken theater stage with a socially irrelevant program, a cheaply equipped TV-studio with radicalizing talk shows and a workshop of bicycle suppliers struggling for their own existence. And the whole thing revolves around a sick cow that suddenly gives too much milk!

The world premiere will take place on August 25 at 4 p.m. as part of the Kunstfest Weimar.
On August 26, following the performance (8 p.m.), Thomas Oberender, Chairman of the Goethe Medal Commission, will talk to Guillermo Calderón and Carmen Romero Quero, “Teatro a Mil” Foundation.
Information & tickets

Bitter Fields – Eine Recherche-Revue
by & with les dramaturx

les dramaturx ask themselves whether there really is a connection between the rise of the political right and climate change, and come to the bitter realization that they themselves are much more involved than they would like.

Guest performances on June 21 & June 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Duration: 70 min
Hochzeitssaal @ sophiensæle Berlin
Tickets

spinne
a monologue by Maja Zade
Director: Maja Zade

spinne (spider) is a monologue about the difficulty of talking to each other despite different political views and  lifestyles.

The premiere will take place on June 20, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. at Schaubühne Berlin.
Information & tickets

Erol Afşin’s feature film IT’S BURNING will screen at the London Raindance Film Festival! Based on a true story, the movie portrays an Arab family living in Germany whose life has been turned upside down after a racist attack.
IT’S BURNING is nominated for Best Debut Director, Best Director Feature and Best Performance in a Debut.

The Raindance Festival is the largest indie film festival in the UK and will take place for the 32nd time from June 19 – 28, 2024 in London’s West End.
Dates, venues & tickets

MONOPOLY – EINE REISE IN DIE HÖHEN UND TIEFEN DER GELDTHEORIE

ENDGAME by Juri Strenburg
Director: Marco Damghani

A play about soccer, the corrupt machinations behind the scenes and a determined person who finds him:herself in the right place (VIP box of the Berlin Olympic Stadium) at the right time (July 14, 2024 – final of the European Football Championship).

Premiere on June 14, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Studio of Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin
Tickets & infos

ÖDIPUS IN DER GIFTFABRIK –
EINE KLEINE GESCHICHTE DES ARTENSTERBENS

Lecture Performance by les dramaturx
In cooperation with Theater Magdeburg

On June 6, 2024 at 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Rathaus Wolfen, Hörsaal
Free entrance, in German language
More information

ALPHABET
Director & set designer: Calle Fuhr

Inspired by the New Yorker’s story “Climate Change from A to Z”, author and director Calle Fuhr has created his own ‘climate alphabet’: the result is a cartography of the climate crisis from the invention of the carbon footprint, over climate denialist lobby organizations, to solutions that have been existant for years!

The premiere takes place on June 6, 2024, at 8 p.m.
More information & tickets: link

MONTE ROSA by Teresa Dopler
Directed by: Fritzi Wartenberg

Fritzi Wartenberg stages the Swiss premiere of Teresa Dopler’s MONTE ROSA: a play about alpinism, climate change, meritocracy and youth mania.

The premiere will take place on May 25, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Information & tickets

Eliza Petkova’s new feature THE WORKER has been invited to the Brussels CoPro Market, where it will be presented to potential co-producers as part of a selection of 9 films in the “Up-and-coming Producers” section.

THE WORKER portrays of a young Roma from the Bulgarian province who sets off on a journey to Germany in quest for money and happiness.

THE WORKER
A feature film by Elza Petkova
Production: Rohfilm Factory (Karsten Stöter), Fourmat Film (Nicolas Kronauer)

STATE OF AFFAIRS
by Yael Ronen & Roy Chen
Director: Yael Ronen
at Thalia Theater Hamburg

A play about interpersonal entanglements, private and collegial sensitivities and the question of the responsibility of art in times of crisis and war.

The premiere will take place on May 4, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. at Thalia Theater Hamburg.
Tickets & info

The Munich Volkstheater has announced the program for this year’s “radikal jung” festival:
included are the productions DAS GROSSE HEFT by Ágota Kristóf (directed by / stage adaptation by: Ran Chai Bar-zvi) and DAS KRAFTWERK – Ein Theaterabend über Wasser, Kohle und die Ewigkeit by Calle Fuhr (directed by: Afram Tafreshian).

DAS GROSSE HEFT plays on Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
DAS KRAFTWERK – a Theater Evening about Water, Coal and Eternity plays on Monday, April 22, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.

The aim of the festival is to promote the new generation of theater makers, to follow their thematic and aesthetic preferences and to present a modern theater landscape to both a professional audience and a broad public. The jury consisted of: Jens Hillje, Christine Wahl, C. Bernd Sucher and Florian Fischer.

The festival will take place from April 19 to April 27, 2024.
Program & tickets: link

HOUSE OF KARLS
A very entertaining rap spectacle about Charlemagne
from & with Dlé
Director: Florian Hertweck
Music & text: Dlé (Florian Hertweck, Malcolm Kemp, Tim Knapper)
at Theater Aachen

MALINA
from Igenborg Bachmann
Stage adoptation: Fritzi Wartenberg
Directed by: Fritzi Wartenberg
am Berliner Ensemble

AUFSTIEG UND FALL DES HERRN RENÉ BENKO
from & with Calle Fuhr
in cooperation with  DOSSIER
at Volkstheater Wien

In his play, Calle Fuhr uncovers the evil machinations behind property speculation, gentrification and fraud. As he unveils one scandal after another in the most entertaining way, one can’t help but stunning. At the end, you begin to ask yourself who can actually be trusted.

KEIMZELLEN by Rébecca Déraspe
Director: Michael Steindl
German translator: Gerda Poschmann-Reichenau

Aude and Lou are best friends. For 35 years they have been able to find solace in each other’s sorrows. Now Aude is pregnant and her fetus has trisomy 21. Lou insists on an abortion, Aude wants to keep the child.
The two ruthlessly argue about life and their own values – a declaration of love to female friendship.

The premiere will take place on Friday, March 8, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets & further dates: link

DER VEREIN (THE ASSOCIATION) by Steffen Link
Director: Theresa Thomasberger

There’s not much to do in a small German town, which is why a group of adults get together to form a Bible reading group. Gradually, the self-appointed pastor becomes a fanatical leader who makes decisions about the lives of the members of his ‘association’.

The world premiere will take place on Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. at Schauspielhaus Wien.
Tickets & further dates: link

Following its successful premiere at the 40th Munich Film Festival, Erol Afşin’s drama IT’S BURNING (ES BRENNT) has toured through national and international festivals.
The debut will screen for the first time in Berlin on February 20, 2024 at Maxim Gorki Theater at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets available under this link.

IT’S BURNING
D, feature, 88 min., 2022
Directed & written by: Erol Afşin

Amal, Omar and their son Ahmad are a happy Arab family living in Germany. In the playground, they meet a man named Franz. The situation gets out of hand when Franz insults and attacks Amal because of her headscarf. A court case is initiated. During the hearings, an incident occurs that will completely change the family’s life.
Based on a true story.

Scenes from the marriage of Martin and Katja – he is a coach, she is a therapist, both now are astronautics trainees – who fly to Jupiter in a space capsule…

The premiere will take place on February 16, 2024 at 8:00 pm.
Tickets & further dates under this link.

The Crash
A financial tragicomedy in two acts

Libretto: Seth Bockley
Composition: Russell Hepplewhite

It is 2008 and the US real estate bubble bursts. The Lehman Brothers investment bank announces insolvency. What follows is a global financial crisis and the search for the culprits.
British composer Russell Hepplewhite and American librettist Seth Bockley create a blackly humorous farce about a system that enabled a few players to amass wealth at the expense of ordinary people.
In English language with German surtitles.

Premiere on Februar 9, 2024 at 8:oo p.m.
Tickets & futher dates under this link

BUCKET LIST by Yael Ronen and Shlomi Shaban is one of the ten most remarkable productions invited to the Theatertreffen 2024. This was announced by the jury, consisting of Eva Behrendt, Janis El-Bira, Valeria Heintges, Martin Thomas Pesl, Katrin Ullmann, Theresa Luise Gindlstrasser (was involved until the end of 2023) and Sascha Westphal, on January 26, 2024.

The musical BUCKET LIST reflects on human memory mechanisms and questions artificial interventions in these mechanisms. The evening unfolds like gaps in the memory of a man for whom nothing seems the same after October 7, 2023.

BUCKET LIST premiered on December 9, 2023 at the Schaubühne Berlin in co-production with Théâtre de Liège.

Link to the complete jury’s statement.
Link to tickets & dates at the Schaubühne Berlin.

Roman Wegera’s short film WHEREVER PARADISE IS has its TV premiere on January 27, 2024 on ARTE and can be streamed afterwards in the arte-Mediathek.

WHEREVER PARADISE IS
Script by: Roman Wegera
Directed by: Roman Wegera
DE, 28 min., 2023

For Anja – a Russian-German teenager, – Germany is nothing more than a gray backdrop. During the day she skips the school and makes up gangster scenes with her little brother, at night she eats sausage or challenges her boyfriend’s courage. Anja dreams of leaving for America one day, meanwhile the Russian-Ukrainian war in is also making itself noticeable in Germany.
As one day her mother receives a phone call, Anja decides to take care of herself and her younger brother.

BLUTBUCH by Kim de L’Horizon
Director, set & video designer: Ran Chai Bar-zvi

What happens to a person when their tyrannical grandmother dies? Does a formative piece of a family history become buried or is one suddenly empowered to rewrite their own biography, to reinvent their identity, even their mother tongue?
Director and costume & set designer Ran Chai Bar-zvi stages Kim de L’Horizon’s cult novel BLUTBUCH (German premiere), exploring new narrative forms and switching between genres.

The premiere will take place on December 15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets & more information

BUCKET LIST by Yael Ronen & Shlomi Shaban
Directed by: Yael Ronen

In BUCKET LIST, Yael Ronen reflects on memory mechanisms: What would we to keep in memory before kicking the bucket? Can memories of unpleasant, painful and conflict-ridden events be readjusted with technological help? And if we start to artificially edit our personal memories, what does this step mean for the entire collective memory culture?

This musical marks Yael Ronen’s second collaboration with Israeli songwriter Shlomi Shaban. The duo impressed critics and audiences alike with their hit production SLIPPERY SLOPE at the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin (invited to the 2022 Theatertreffen).

The premiere of BUCKET LIST is on December 9, 2023 at 8 p.m. at the Schaubühne Berlin.
Further dates are: 13 Dec., 14 Dec., 15 Dec., 16 Dec. 2023, at 8 p.m.
Tickets & info

MITLÄUFER (Followers) from Noam Brusilovsky
Directed by: Noam Brusilovsky
Research & Text Assistance: Lotta Beckers

With this research project, author & director Noam Brusilovsky works for the first time at the Munich Residenztheater. MITLÄUFER (Followers) is a historical examination of the contradictory biographies of those who reached the top echelons of the theater due to close cooperation with the Nazi regime.

The play premieres on 9 November 2023 at 8:30 p.m.
Following dates & tickets

Following its successful premiere at the 40th Munich Film Festival, Erol Afşin’s drama IT’S BURNING (ES BRENNT) is currently touring through festivals in Germany and Turkey. At the 37th Braunschweig International Film Festival, the debut will screen in the “New German Films“-category on November 7 and 11, both at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets available under this link.

IT’S BURNING
D, feature, 88 min., 2022
Directed & written by: Erol Afşin

Amal, Omar and their son Ahmad are a happy Arab family living in Germany. In the playground, they meet a man named Franz. The situation gets out of hand when Franz insults and attacks Amal because of her headscarf. A court case is initiated. During the hearings, an incident occurs that will completely change the family’s life.
Based on a true story.

Ádám Czászi’s second feature film THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES celebrates its German premiere at the Cottbus Film Festival. The film, which bitterly portrays the exploitation of a Romani theater troupe, is running in the competition with two screenings: on November 10th, at 5:00 p.m. in the Stadthalle & on November 11th, at 4:00 p.m. in Weltspiegel (Saal 2).
Tickets & information

THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES

Directed by: Ádám Császi
Written by: Ádám Császi, Balázs Lengyel
HUN, 2022, 93 min.

After the successful premiere at the 40th Munich Film Festival, Erol Afşin’s drama IT’S BURNING tours through festivals in Germany and Turkey.
At the 3rd Oberschwaben Film Festival, Afşin’s directorial debut wins the Audience Award.

IT’S BURNING (ES BRENNT)
DE, feature, 88 min., 2022
Written & directed by: 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.

THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES

Directed by: Ádám Császi
Written by: Ádám Császi und Balázs Lengyel
Hungary, 2022, 93 min.

A white director is rehearsing a play with five marginalized Roma actors. His play is supposed to reflect on their true life stories of abuse, drug addiction, and crime. However, instead of portraying the depth of their experiences, the actors are being exploited and their pain is being capitalized.

THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES
23 October 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Screening & FAQ at Babylon Berlin

Eliza Petkova, Shirin Sabahi and Zora Rux are three female filmmakers from Berlin and the current fellows at Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto. On October 20, at 4:00 p.m., they will show selected works from their cinematic oeuvre. Thus, Eliza Petkova will present her feature film ZHALEIKA (Director: Eliza Petkova, BG/DE, 92 min., 2016).
The artists will be available for direct exchange afterwards.

3 x Berlin
Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa
Kyoto, Japan

Premiere DAS GROẞE HEFT by Ágota Kristóf
Directed by: Ran Chai Bar-zvi
at Volkstheater Munich

In search of his brother, a now grown-up twin reflects on their joint childhood in times of war, hunger and misery.
Ran Chai Bar-zvi directs for the first time at the Munich Volkstheater and incorporates into the narrative Ágota Kristóf’s two other books, “The Proof” and “The Third Lie”.

Premiere on October 1, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets & more information

MONTAG
from Kate Tarker

Director: Lily Sykes
German by Cornelia Enger

German premiere on 29 September at 7:30 p.m.

Faith and Novella live in a small German town near an American military base. The two friends hide in Novella’s basement apartment and fantasize about an attack – probably fatal. Novella, a sex worker of Turkish descent, is disgusted by the contempt of her neighbors, and she is afraid of her ex-partner’s violent jealousy. Faith rebels against the hierarchies of the military. For seven sleepless days, they’ve been training, building barricades from the furniture and dancing until exhaustion to Beyoncé and club music.
A comedy about obcessions and a cheer for female friendship!
Further information and tickets

DAS KRAFTWERK
A theater evening about coal, water and eternity

by Calle Fuhr, in cooperation with CORRECTIV
Director: Aram Tafreshian

Premiere was on 23 September 2023
at Staatstheater Cottbus

Carla, a young journalist, returns to her hometown Cottbus. Shortly before his death, her late grandfather left her a folder with documents about the LEAG company, around Vattenfall, the Jänschwalde power plant, the Baltic Sea and the Gigawatt Factory. Carla’s research begins, and she encounters completely different characters: an activist whose home has already been dredged twice, a young man who is committed to LEAG’s green future. And the CEO of the company, who in turn has to ensure supply security in the event of a coal phase-out.
An interwoven story about the coal industry, based on exclusive research by the investigative journalistic collective CORRECTIV on the region’s water supply.

Dates & tickets

The radio play FAUST (HAB’ ICH NIE GELESEN) by Noam Brusilovsky is nominated for the Prix Europa, category: Audio Fiction.

For naturalization in Germany, Israeli-born theater director and audio-play author Noam Brusilovsky needs a confirmation of his outstanding artistic achievements in Germany from his employer the ÖRR. In return, the employer demands that Brusilovsky spontaneously steps in for a colleague and stages Goethe’s “Faust” as a radio play in the shortest possible time. Brusilovsky, however, has never read the classic – THE German-language oevre – which in no way prevents him from getting involved in the deal!

FAUST (HAB’ ICH NIE GELESEN) by Noam Brusilovsky
Duration: 75 min.
With: Bibiana Beglau, Itay Tiran, Walter Kreye, Matthias Leja, Almut Henkel a. o.
Music: Tobias Purfürst
Director: the author
Production: SWR / Deutschlandfunk 2022

The award ceremony will take place on Fritag, October 27, 2023 at the Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin.
Accreditation & Information

Over the next three months, Eliza Petkova will be staying in Artist Residency at Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, where together with screenwriter and director Zora Rox she will be working on a joint project consisting of several short films. The results will be presented to the public in December in the presence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany. The residency program is funded by the Goethe-Institut Japan.

CRUISING MYTHOLOGY searches for queer-feminist concepts in Greek mythology and makes an attempt in transferring them into today’s life practices through performances, installations and lectures. What can we learn about plants and animals from the adventure dyke Artemis? What does the six-armed Scylla tell us about polyamorous relationships? What does the song of the sirens reveal about male fears? Varios topics and theses related to antiquity will be examined for their usefulness for the city of tomorrow.

Symposium at Schauspielhaus Hamburg
16 – 23 September 2023

Tickets are availbale from ow on under this link (external)

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.

„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)

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)

The 24th edition of the poesiefestival berlin will take place from June 9 to June 16, 2023 at Akademie der Künste on the Hanseatenweg.

Panel WRITING VIOLENCE on language of violence, w/ Athena Farrokzhad amongst others on Saturday,  June 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Panel WRITING MOTHERHOOD on describing existential questions of motherhood and its archetypes, w/ Athena Farrokzhad amongst others on Wednesday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m.

poesiefestival berlin is a project by Haus für Poesie in cooperation with Akademie der Künste and is supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and by Deutscher Literaturfonds e.V. as part of the “Neustart Kultur” program of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Full festival program & tickets under this link (external)

Eliza Petkova has finished shootings for hew new film SILENT OBSERVERS in Bulgaria. The project was supported by EURIMAGES and is now in the postproduction phase.

Tag XYZ is a text about the vicissitudes of political action and activism, about dreading collectives and yet sensing the urge to leave your own comfort zone, and about the dilation of your pupils in the dark.

Wolfram Lotz in conversation with Lorenz Just
On Wednesday,  7 June at 7:30 p.m. in Roter Salon, Volksbühne Berlin

Natalia Sinelnikova’s feature debut WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD had its world premiere at Berlin International Film Festival in 2022. It finally toured through over 20 international festivals.
It will preview at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg in Brooklyn on May 22 before opening at Manhattan’s IFC Center on May 26. The film will then screen at LA’s Lumiere Cinema on June 2, with more cities and dates to follow.

4 May 2023, 8:30 p.m.
DYKE DOGS SALON: »Vollversammlung/Prololesben«
A queer-lesbian cultural party by Lynn Takeo Musiol, Eva Tepest & guests

Tickets and information under this link

ANOUK & ADOFA from  Marco Damghani will be on view on 30 April and 1 May as part of Autor:innentheatertage at Deutsches Theater Berlin. The play is a production of Schauspiel Leipzig and has been running to sold-out audiences ever since.

ANOUK & ADOFA
Written & directed by Marco Damghani

Marco Damghani tells sensitively and honestly the story of a young couple trying to fulfill their lives, goals and dreams, even though they keep coming up against social limits. But both are also struggling with their own inner demons and these struggles put pressure on the relationship.

On view on 30 April at 6:30 p.m. and
on 1 May at 4:00 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m.

Premiere on 28 April 2023, 7:30 p.m.
From Calle Fuhr, in cooperation with DOSSIER
Directed by: Calle Fuhr

With THE EDITORIAL Calle Fuhr has written a Hollywood-worthy thriller: we follow a team of journalists who uncover a major scandal. Based on true events around the journalist collective DOSSIER, Calle Fuhr leads us into the machinations of the environmentally destructive corporation (OMV), which uses taxpayers’ money to support corruption, washes its hands of the matter by subsidizing high cultural institutions, and undermines the freedom of press through targeted advertising policies and bullying.

THE TROJAN WOMEN, adapted from Euripides
In German
Direction: Lucia Bihler
Costume: Ran Chai Bar-zvi

For THE TROJAN WOMEN, director Lucia Bihler and her team search for a contemporary narrative method to make the ancient material about the three surviving women and their fate after the 10-year siege of Troy tangible in a sensual way. Thus, in the first part of the play, the audience becomes part of the Trojan women’s home on stage, before being able to observe the suffering of the characters from the safe distance of the auditorium.

Premiere on 28 April at 7:30 p.m.
More information & tickets unter this link.

Director and screenwriter Sueheyla Schwenk shot four episodes of the coming-of-age mystery series FEELINGS, presented at Berlinale Series Market 2023, produced by Studio Zentral for ZDF.

16-year-old Alva has the feeling of being different and not belonging to the world around. After moving to the countryside, she meets Esma, who doesn’t care about what others think. FEELINGS portrays teenage self-doubt and the power of friendship, hope and love.

Screenings take place on:
Fr., 14.4. at 6:00 p.m. in Acud
Sa., 15.4. at 5:45 p.m. in Babylon

Tickets under this link

Podcast KEIN KOMMENTAR
with Alina Schaller, Ashwien Sankholkar, Calle Fuhr

Since 2020, the journalists of the Austrian investigative magazine DOSSIER (including Ashwien Sankholkar) have been researching the OMV group and its former CEO Rainer Seele. There was hardly any critical reporting on the billion-dollar corporation before – because OMV is one of the biggest advertising partners in the Austrian advertising business and a major sponsor. However, it is not possible to advertise in the DOSSIER magazine due to it’s ad-free policy.
That’s why the research collective decides to embark on a high-risk investigation of the OMV’s shady businesses…

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music & Podbean.

The film THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES by Ádám Császi will have its Hungarian premiere on 6 April 2023. It shows rehearsals for a play about Hungarian romani lead by an outlived white director at a fictional Berlin city theater.

The world premiere of the film was in November 2022 at the Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn.

MEISTER ROECKLE
A fairy tale based on Karl Marx

After bitter fields, it is now les dramaturx‘ (Lynn Takeo Musiol and Christian Tschirner) second production at the Theater Magdeburg. Visitors can expect a political fairy tale about Karl Marx’s preliminary studies for Capital, retold and performed by the two authors.

Premiere: 1 April 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets & information under this link (external)

We congratulate Eliza Petkova on the 20th Sofia Meetings Award for her project in development DISSONANCE (BG). Eliza and her producer Veselka Kiryakova have been granted a script consultancy in the amount of 5.000 Euro with Steven Goldsmith, an Irish-American script doctor and writer.

Disney+ has announced a new in-house production. HABIBI BABA BOOM, written by Sascha Vredenburg and Omar El-Saeidi, is produced by Bantry Bay.

ICH KANN ALLES FÜR DICH SEIN will be Fritzi Wartenberg’s second work at the Berliner Ensemble. After her successful production of THE WRITER by Ella Hickson, she seeks a historical approach to the themes of gender, feminism and representation in her new directorial work.

After works in NYC, Basel and Stockholm, a new work by Guillermo Calderón appears. A piece about Chile and Germany, new beginnings and colonialism, folk songs and missionary work.

Director: Guillermo Calderón

“In speaking of these deep, lingering wounds that colonialism and racism have inflicted, and how she speaks of them, Diouf does the only thing that can perhaps help heal trauma at least a little bit: She brings them out of the repressed, the concealed, the forgotten into our consciousness, and she does it in such a poetic and empathetic way that when we listen to them, they also deeply touch white people, descendants of the European colonial powers, and move them to think about the causes of these wounds and to relate to them.” – The jury’s statement on the selection of the 2022 Radio Play of the Year.

The award ceremony will take place on Friday, March 3, 2023, at the Funkhaus Köln.
Start: 6:30 pm, free admission,
Registration required at <koelner-kongress.de>.

PISTONS by Penda Diouf
dt. by Annette Bühler-Dietrich
Director: Christine Nagel
Production: NDR
length: 80 min

For the radio play and the jury’s detailed statement, please follow this link.

DYKE DOGS SALON is an event series curated by the eponymous collective consisting of Eva Tepest and Lynn Takeo Musiol. Together they have been writing, curating and performing since 2018.
Their maxim: Dyke is a riot. Dyke is tragic. Dyke is always inadequate.

Date: 23.02.2023, 19:30
Venue: Schaubühne Berlin and online

The phenomenal podcast “SHIT HAPPENS – Memories of a Big Dealer” by Magda Woitzuck is brought to the stage by Calle Fuhr and Charlotte Sprenger in the districts of the Volkstheater.

The ex-drug dealer Andrea M. tells about her life as the biggest hashish dealer in Vienna in the 90s.
Direction: Charlotte Sprenger

You can listen to the podcast in the SWR Mediathek.

Congratulations to Eliza Petkova and her co-writer Zora Rux, who have been awarded a three-month residency at the beautiful Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, Japan to work on their new project development.

More about the artist in residence program Villa Kamogawa.

After Mehmet’s stirring film debut ORAY, with which he won the BEST FIRST FEATURE AWARD at the Berlinale 2019, among others, the shooting of his new film HYSTERIA is about to begin.

Screenplay and direction: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Production: filmfaust Cologne