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Berlin International Performing Arts Center

Blog Archive

Impro 2019

Improvised theater is surprising and always different at the same time.

IMPRO, the international impro festival hosted by Die Gorillas, is one of the biggest festivals of its kind: for the 17th edition from March 16 – 24, 2019, improvisers from all over the world get together in Berlin to inspire the audience with their spontaneous stories and diverse characters. The artists will sweep them off their feet with their concepts and ideas of improvised theater which go in the most different of directions to show the variety and possibilities of this special art form: Storytelling inspired by Aki Kaurismäki, Shakespeare or a local playwright, improvisers giving very personal insights in Role Models, Meta Impro and Community, an improvised radio play, the Improvision Song Contest and much more is going to happen in five theaters around Berlin.

IMPRO 2019 brings new shows and presents improv classics.

Stunning. Emotional. Connecting.

Community

March 16, 17 and 18 |  8pm

“Life in contemporary forms of capitalism is becoming unbearable, and one survival strategy is to develop and protect at all costs small communities that offer us different relations. With art, we cannot and do not aim at causing great social change but we can make room for collective creation, a space where it is possible to survive and even have a good time. Every moment is worth asking the very important human question of ‘How do we actually want to live together?’. And by doing so, we are finding answers along the way. Exquisite and daring performers from different cultural, economic and political environments dive into the topic of community.”

Maja Dekleva Lapajne, Artistic Director of the EU project Our Lives and the format Community

Theatersports

March 19 | 8pm

Sometimes it’s nice to go back to the roots. Many of those looking for new improv formats today started with this popular form of improvising back in the day. Several teams compete for the best scenes and songs, for the audience doesn’t just make suggestions, it also decides the champion of the night. It’s no coincidence this show format succeeded all over the world: it’s improv full of fun, imagination, suspense, speed and passion…

Not by Kaurismäki

March 20 and 21 | 8pm

The concise manner of speaking and the quiet humor of Aki Kaurismäki is the model for the improvisations. And we‘re getting back to basics.

Not by Shakespeare

March 22 and 23 | 8pm

It goes without saying that we won’t be able to improvise a play which matches the works of the British genius. But we can let ourselves be inspired by William Shakespeare and use the rhythm of his language as well as the structure of his dramas, comedies and tragedies as a template. A Shakespeare play about gentrification, digitalization or factory farming – that could be pretty cool.

 

GLB – Improv Comedy

GLB bring their show to the ETB | IPAC stage for a behemoth evening of improvised scenes weaved together with incomparable timing and gut-wrenching laughter.

 

Plus, they’re bringing some of their friends along!

 

Pretty much anything can happen, and it’s all made up before your very eyes by some of the best improvisers this city has to offer.

 

GLB is Berlin’s longest running English-language longform improv team. They perform every 1st & 3rd Friday at the Comedy Café Berlin. Formed in 2013 as Good Luck, Barbara, GLB is one of the first teams to bring North American-style longform improv to the German Hauptstadt, and has been performing continuously since then – from claustrophobic basement bars to ETB | IPAC here in Berlin, and the massive Del Close Marathon in New York City and SlapDash in London. GLB members teach improv through The CCB Training School and have trained a new generation of fantastic improvisers right here in Berlin. They are Nicole Ratjen, Josh Telson and Noah Telson.

 

Parataxe – International Literature

What languages does Berlin write in? Berlin authors who pen their work in languages other than German are invited to take part in conversations, readings and new translations. On March 26th, PARATAXE presents Tomer Gardi (Israel/Berlin) and Ana Ristović (Serbia/Berlin), hosted by Martin Jankowski.

Tomer Gardi was born in the kibbutz Dan in Galiläa in 1974. When Gardi read in “broken German”, completely forgoing grammar and spelling at the Bachmannpreis event in 2016, his text and its use of hybrid-language caused vehement discussions among the jury. Following his very successful novel with the same title (Broken German), he now presents his newest book.

Ana Ristović was born 1972 in Belgrade, Serbia. She has published nine books of poetry, several of them award-winning. Her poem “Round Zero” was chosen by an international jury, curated by The Guardian, as one of the best love poems of the past 50 years.

PARATAXE is a project of the Berliner Literarische Aktion e.V. and is supported by the Berlin Senate Administration for Culture and Europe. Further information can be found at www.stadtsprachen.de.

The Lab: Wer ist Medea?

Wer ist Medea?/ Who is Medea?/ Quem é Medeia?

How can we interpret a classic of dramatic literature in 2019? Why work with classics at all? Let’s go back…to the beginnings…and let’s start with a universally despised woman.

Wer ist Medea? is a music theater performance as well as a spoken word concert, manifesto, choreography, emotional rehearsal, a tragic monologue or maybe just an homage to all those women that are hated just because their stories were written by men.

This performance is the very first presentation of a work-in-progress, the first interaction with an audience. In between the many layers of performance, constructed upon the interpretations of a variety of authors, we work as archaeologists to understand and unearth Medea.

Who is Medea? The personification of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, a mother who kills her own children? Or the woman who sees her children being murdered by her enemies? The cruel and cold woman that betrayed her own father, the king, killed her brother and abandoned her own country in the name of love? Or a strong and independent woman that serves as an existential threat to patriarchal society? A woman blinded by her thirst of revenge or the victim of an ambitious and unscrupulous man? A mother that in a final act of love chooses to deliver her children to the embrace of death instead of leaving them in the hands of her cruel enemies?

Join us and find out.

An attempt to create a new dramaturgy inspired by the mythological character Medea, herself the subject of a myriad of different authors who wrote about her, reinvented her and imagined her, including Euripides, Heiner Müller, Christa Wolf, Chico Buarque and Paulo Pontes.

Performed in English, German and Portuguese

The Land of Milk(y) and Honey?

Israelis in Berlin

Following completely sold-out initial runs in the fall of 2018 and winter of 2019, we are very pleased to offer these six encore performances.

LIMITED SEATING: Please note that there are only 50 tickets available for each performance!

“I pity those who no longer remember the Holocaust and abandon Israel for a pudding.”

This statement, made by Yair Shamir, then Israeli Minister of Agriculture, to the Jerusalem Post in October of 2014, marked the climax of the so-called “Milky protest”. In a post that launched a thousand ships, the Facebook page Olim L’Berlin (Aliyah to Berlin) urged Israelis to move to Berlin due to a markedly cheaper cost of living. The primary evidence? Aldi’s Dessertcreme & Sahne, a dessert comparable to Milky, the dominant pudding brand in Israel, sold for less than a third of the price. This Facebook post received more than one million likes within four days and created headlines around the globe.

Nearly 75 years after the end of the Second World War, Berlin’s Israeli community is estimated to number in the tens of thousands and impossible to verify due to issues of multiple citizenship. Is Berlin truly this promised land of milk and honey?  Are people from Israel really immigrating here only because of the standard of living, nightlife and Berlin’s fabled cultural reputation? What about those Israelis who leave the country due to the current political climate? And what affects do 20th century history as well as multiple reports of rising antisemitism have on emigration from Israel to Germany?

Three Israeli performers explore these questions using verbatim text from 60 interviews with the widest possible spectrum of partners; Israelis with an active religious background, Israeli Arabs, highly politicized Israelis as well as Israelis who have absolutely no interest in politics.

The ID Festival is funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Szloma-Albam Foundation and KIgA e.V. – Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus

Daniel-Ryan Spaulding

UPDATE: An important note to all guests planning to attend the Daniel-Ryan Spaulding performances on October 11 and 12: we are selling 150 tickets for each performance via our online box office. All guests who purchase tickets from this online contingent are guaranteed seats on chairs and we will sell an additional 20 – 30 seats on cushions on the floor at the door. We heavily encourage all guests to secure their tickets now.

Because you demanded it: Daniel-ryan spaulding returns to ETB | IPAC for his last performances with us this year after a series of sold-out shows!

two nights only!

Daniel-Ryan is an internationally touring Croatian-Canadian stand-up comedian who has performed in over 45 countries worldwide and is the star of the recent hit video series about a hipster expat It’s Berlin!

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Expect a solid hour of sharp, hilarious, sassy, brutal stand-up about expat life, Eurotrash, sex, Yugoslavia, culture, nostalgia, the Dutch and, of course, Berlin!

“Daniel shines when engaged in storytelling, timing his humour well in an admirably relaxed fashion, while his mannerisms and confrontational attitude entertain, as he lets his inner frustrations spill out into hilarious and, at time, brutal anecdotes. Daniel’s combination of camp enthusiasm and fearless outspokenness serve to create a very entertaining show.”
– **** Three Weeks (UK)
“Brilliant, hilarious subversion” – Huffington Post
“Intelligent, and above all very funny. His material is tight. His delivery is strong, and his timing is perfect.” **** Scotsgay Magazine

Watch Daniel-Ryan Spaulding’s viral hit (over 2 million views) on YouTube:

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Daniel-Ryan Spaulding

Because you demanded it: Daniel-ryan spaulding returns to ETB | IPAC following his two completely sold-out shows in June and August! These will be Daniel-Ryan’s last shows in Berlin in 2018 – two nights only!

Daniel-Ryan is an internationally touring Croatian-Canadian stand-up comedian who has performed in over 45 countries worldwide and is the star of the recent hit video series about a hipster expat It’s Berlin!

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

Expect a solid hour of sharp, hilarious, sassy, brutal stand-up about expat life, Eurotrash, sex, Yugoslavia, culture, nostalgia, the Dutch and, of course, Berlin!

“Daniel shines when engaged in storytelling, timing his humour well in an admirably relaxed fashion, while his mannerisms and confrontational attitude entertain, as he lets his inner frustrations spill out into hilarious and, at time, brutal anecdotes. Daniel’s combination of camp enthusiasm and fearless outspokenness serve to create a very entertaining show.”
– **** Three Weeks (UK)
“Brilliant, hilarious subversion” – Huffington Post
“Intelligent, and above all very funny. His material is tight. His delivery is strong, and his timing is perfect.” **** Scotsgay Magazine

Watch Daniel-Ryan Spaulding’s viral hit (over 2 million views) on YouTube:

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Songs At The Theatre

Get ready for an evening of music in the theater! Following the success of last year’s event, we are very pleased to invite you to once again enter the world of songs through the lenses of two Berlin-based singer-songwriters. Viktor’s Joy and Alex Spencer will share new material from their own songbooks and invite special guests to join them on stage. Brandon Miller will release his new album, Blue Blood Eclipse, and perform it live with a full band.

Vikor’s Joy sings about life. With precise observations about people, neighborhoods, bus journeys or other people’s concerts, Viktor’s Joy takes you and shows you exactly how his interior and exterior world looks. Like being drawn into a painting or a good book, the listener never wants the songs to end. With tear-jerkingly beautiful plucked guitar and a voice steady and low, each feels like a masterpiece.

Brandon Miller is a Berlin based singer/songwriter whose music immediately takes the listener by the hand and into a story. His live performances are disarming, subversive and authentic. On stage he has supported such artists as William Elliott Whitmore, Michael Nau, Hawk and a Hacksaw, Deertick, Nina Nastasia, John Fullbright, and many others. As of the 2017-2018 season, he has been working at Theaterdiscounter Berlin writing and performing original “apocalyptic campfire” songs for the Internil performance group theater project GOG/MAGOG. A disinformation campaign in four parts (Ukraine/Syria/Israel/Europe). Many of the songs he has written for this project are collected on his new album, Blue Blood Eclipse, which will be officially released at this concert.

Alex Spencer is fresh out of the studio from recording her second album. With a conscious move towards her roots in jazz music, she has teamed up with one of the hottest trios in town: Ben Lehmann (double bass), Martial Frenzel (drums) and Paul Engelmann (alto sax). Drawing inspiration from such diverse subject matters as insects, painters or parenting, the songs themselves defy categorization, sometimes jazzy, other times more folk, sometimes tipping over into pop. Each of them sung with a voice strong enough to transport the whole auditorium.

Listen to Viktor’s Joy on Bandcamp and visit his artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Listen to Brandon Miller on Bandcamp and visit his official website

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to Alex Spencer on SoundCloud and visit her artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

Fuck me i love you

The circular motion and fluctuation of desire, power, ambition and the endless search for the unattainable love we all crave for is explored by an international cast of seven multi-talented performers. Together they create a station drama inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s Reigen (La Ronde).

A series of encounters strung together depicts a society locked in a cycle.

“This city is no place for love. The people are too fragile to be genuine, too shrewd to be open. One becomes accustomed to immerse oneself in so many vain interests and ultimately lose sight of what is real.” Heinrich von Kleist, 1800.

Rebecca Rukeyser

The U.S. Embassy Literature Series

Rebecca Rukeyser reads from The Homestead – a novel in progress

From 1862 to 1986 the Homestead Act allotted 160 acres of land free of charge to any American man who could work the land for five years. The last decades of this Act populated Alaska, a state that still bears the nickname “The Last Frontier.”

Set in the early years of the 21st century, The Homestead looks into the final days of one of these Alaskan homesteads. Having lived on an unpopulated island in the Kodiak archipelago for decades, Lew and Megan Jenkins face economic strain and open their property to tourism. Their “remote lodge” aims to give vacationers a sense of the real West and the real Alaska—a pristine landscape molded by hard work. But Jenkins’ lodge is failing as a tourist destination and their marriage is dissolving.

Rebecca Rukeyser is a fiction writer, co-founder of the Berlin Writers’ Workshop, and the recipient of a 2018 “Arbeitsstipendium nichtdeutschsprachige Literatur” –  Grant for Non-German Literature, awarded by the Berlin Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa. Her work has appeared in such publications as Best American NonRequired Reading, The Massachusetts Review, and ZYZZYVA. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teaches creative writing at Heinrich Heine Universität.