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Till Someone Sneezes (Berlin International Youth Theatre)

BIYT – the Berlin International Youth Theatre – takes a look at community and catastrophe.

The Skin of Our Teeth was written by Thornton Wilder in 1942, a time of strife for many people in the world, and was meant to be a tribute to human endurance. The center of the original play is an archetypical family facing one apocalyptic catastrophe after another.

Using this play as an inspiration, BIYT has created a dark comedy full of Simpsons-like symbolism and churned out another one of their signature epics.

Although warned in the daily news of the approaching disasters, this conventional family is so caught up in their own personal conflicts that their chances of survival don’t look very good. How will the family survive when everyone is so preoccupied with pizza? Does PlayStation really help in times of panic? Why do the actors keep on interrupting the show? And what in the world have they got against guinea pigs?

Come and find out!

Originally written and performed by BIYT in 2012, we revisit this comedy favorite with an exciting new design, new plot twists and performed by an all-new cast of talented youth ages 11-17 from 10 different countries.

BIYT has been part of English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center since 2009 and is made up of young people from many different countries, cultures, religions and schools. The goal is to to create a social exchange between different cultures, promote integration and to make high quality theater using the global language of English.

Berlin International Youth Theatre: Sinner’s Circle – The Salem Witchcriers

Out of the gloomy mists arises the Sinner’s Circle, a girl gang not to be messed with.

They’ve got nothing to lose and no prospects – but they do have wild imaginations. A deadly combination. Based on the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692 and some of the historical characters who appear in Arthur Miller´s epic play The Crucible, this fresh new play follows the perspective of a rebellious teenage Puritan and spotlights their inner frustrations with surprising moments of mischief and light shining through the foreboding shadows.

Complete with curses, full moons and witches, this Gothic horror tale also offers some clues as to how scaremongering can overturn the common sense of an entire town and how good people can do bad things, resulting in a macabre chapter in North American history that still resonates today.

BIYT has been part of English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center since 2009 and is made up of young people from many different countries, cultures, religions and schools. The goal is to to create a social exchange between different cultures, promote integration and to make high quality theater using the global language of English.

WitchCriers

Poor Devil’s Party

The Annual Benefit for BIYT

A fundraising event for Sinner’s Circle – the Salem Witchcriers – a play by Berlin International Youth Theatre

Amid the Gothic gloom arises the Sinner’s Circle, a girl gang that is not to be messed with.

Yes, it’s a macabre tale and (spoiler alert) pretty much everyone dies in the end, but hey, why the long face? There’s still a chance to have some righteous fun before you sit back to enjoy the show!

Along with a special sneak peek of the new play, the benefit will feature special and “unusual ” live music, baked goods, a flea market, and of course, BIYT’s Legendary Wind-up Toy Race (bring your own toy if you’d like)!

As if that weren’t enough, there will be also be a boisterous auction of puritanical devices!

BERLIN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE: Into the Haystack

A dramatic investigation of surveillance in a suspiciously normal yet surreal society where the citizens have given up all rights to privacy. They are ultimately safe – but safe from what? The police seem superfluous, while the ominous Seeing-Men have complete control. This is a world that Kafka would recognize with a shudder.

“In the digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?” – Al Gore

“So what is to be done to restrain the champions, whom tend to trample upon the rest, whose eyes are fixed upon some ultimate golden future?” – Isaiah Berlin, philosopher and political theorist 1909-1997

The 2015 Berlin International Youth Theatre Benefit

After months of anticipation, here is your one-time chance to get a sneak peek of this year’s BIYT production, Into the Haystack! Log off, liberate yourself from your sofa and come on down for a preview of this original play about secrets and surveillance, written BIYT’s very own Isaiah and featuring a cast of thousands (actually it’s only a cast of 18 but it looks like a lot more…)

Visit an eclectic theater flea market (without the fleas) offering

Costumes and props
Books, CDs
Games, toys
Fashion
Collector’s items
Oddities and priceless junk

There will also be homemade baked goods, refreshments, games and prizes for young and old alike!

And, of course, feel free to bring your own toy for our legendarily ludicrous BIYT Wind-Up Toy Race!

Featuring special live music and a sneak peek of Into the Haystack, which will run from May 22 – 24, 2015!

BIYT’S MACBETH

Something wicked this way comes …

Berlin International Youth Theatre performs

William Shakespeare’s MACBETH

a sinister tale of ambition, guilt and madness

In BIYT’s newest production we take a look at the corrupting nature of ambition and the destruction that stems from ruthless power.

Flattered, praised and rewarded as a hero, Macbeth encounters three witches who foretell of an even greater success. They predict his rise to the throne. This prediction prompts him, along with his wife, to secure his destiny by committing a series of murders, pulling them into a downward spiral of guilt and paranoia. Once violence is chosen as a means of achieving power, it proves impossible to stop and Macbeth’s inexorable loss of morality reminds us of how one evil minute can change a life forever.

Thunder! Lightning! Blood! Gore! Witches !

The 2014 Berlin International Youth Theatre Benefit

Happy belated 450th Birthday, To you dear Bill!

Yes , we realize that its a tad late since he was born in April, but hey, better late than never! So come join us and have a jolly good time as you support BIYT’s upcoming production of Macbeth by William Shakespeare and at the same time enjoy celebrating the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare!

Along with a special sneak peek of the new BIYT production, we’ll feature:

Special and “unusual ” live music
A silent auction in addition to our infamous auction of artifacts
Home-made baked goods
Games for the whole family

And don’t forget to bring your own wind-up toy for our classic BIYT wind-up toy race!

till someone sneezes

Berlin International Youth Theatre´s 2012 show

loosely based on The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder

The Skin of our Teeth, written in 1942, a time of strife for many people in the world, was meant to be a tribute to human endurance. In the original play, at the center is a family facing one apocalyptic catastrophe after another,

But in looking at the play through the eyes of an adolescent, the word “catastrophe” has different connotations.

How will the family survive when everyone is so preoccupied with pizza ? Does Playstation really help in times of panic? And why do the actors keep on interrupting the show? And what have they got against Guinea pig?

Although warned in the daily news of the coming Hurricane, epidemic or war, the family becomes caught up in their own personal problems making their chances of survival look – not very good.

BIYT has turned this classic play into a dark comedy full of Simpson-like symbolism and created another one of their signature epics.

The play bounces and boings with the ingenious music of Natalia Lincoln and whimsical design of Silie Heeschen and a cast a talented youth ages 11-17 from 9 different countries. An event for the whole family – or not.