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Berlin International Performing Arts Center

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YOU-ME-HUMAN-TREE

A note on tickets: due to the current hygiene regulations, our seating is strictly limited. We can offer either single seats or double seats (for members of the same household). Double seats allow us to accommodate nearly twice the number of guests and we would be greatly appreciative if you can arrange to purchase them as much as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our box office staff at tickets@etberlin.de.

A performance co-created by humans and trees of all different ages, experiences and backgrounds

Together, we are celebrating interconnectedness through interspecies storytelling that crosses time and space.

In February of 2020, English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center began a community theater project open to people of all ages. Our initial question was simple: if trees could talk, what would they say? This led us on a journey of collaboration, experimentation and contemplation. Together we walked in Tegel forest, shared memories of trees, delved into mythology and the news, discussed evolution with a scientist and observed the trees in Kreuzberg.

A unique and exciting performance has grown from the seeds of play and curiosity: YOU-ME-HUMAN-TREE was devised by an intergenerational ensemble of over 20 people and contains elements of physical theater, music, storytelling, puppetry, dance, burlesque, poetry and performance art.

The project team is deeply grateful to their project partners exploratorium berlin and die gelbe Villa for their input and support and would like to give special thanks to Professor Kurt Zoglauer of Humboldt University for kindly giving us his time.

Order our Zine online!

The entire team has spent a lot of time making a beautiful 32-page zine full of pictures, insight into the creation of the performance and background information. Take a look for yourself by clicking right HERE!

Physical copies of the zine can be ordered exclusively online for the price of 6 EUR and will be given to you at the performance. If you would like to order one, simply send an email to tickets@etberlin.de with the subject Zine. We’ll confirm the purchase and make sure that your zine is waiting for you when you come to see the show.

The project is funded by Jugend- und Familienstiftung des Landes Berlin and Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung.

 

          

          

 

 

 

Electra

ETB | IPAC & Berlin International Youth Theatre present

HARVARD COLLEGE STUDENTS with their production of the Sophocles classic, Electra, featuring Turkish TV star Ece Hakim.

A moving exploration of family and justice: Thousands of years ago, King Agamemnon ruled over Mycenae alongside his wife Clytemnestra and his four children Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes and Chrysothemis. All was well until Agamemnon’s sister in law, Helen, was taken to Troy. Now it was up to him to command the Greek armed forces into the infamous Trojan War which would claim many victims, including Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia, whom he sacrificed to the Gods in exchange for a strategic advantage. Upon his return, Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover. Electra, along with her dead father’s adviser, organized the kidnapping of her youngest brother Orestes, with the intent of training the young boy to one day avenge his father and murder his mother. Fifteen years later, Orestes returns to fulfill his murderous destiny…

This is the latest production by director Isaiah Michalski, actor of Lars Kraume’s award-winning film The Silent Revolution (Das schweigende Klassenzimmer). Michalski studies theater at Harvard College and is currently participating in the Schaubühne’s prestigious apprenticeship program.

The show will include an original score and live music by composer Marie Carroll.

 

Feathers in the Fire

ATTENTION: OFF-SITE PERFORMANCE at Reduta Schauspielbühne Gneisenaustr. 41 | HH

We all know the ancient tale of the boy who ignored his father’s warnings and flew too close to the sun. But do we really? The tale we think we know has been twisted and altered at the tyrannical hands of King Minos and his followers. It’s about time to shed some light on what really happened.

On May 25 and 26, the Berlin International Youth Theatre Ensemble will reveal the true story of Icarus to you (according to their sources) in the form of the original play Feathers in the Fire.

While King Minos wages his ugly war, a small but not insignificant group of teenage resisters plans a deadly rescue mission. Two important members, Iris and Icarus, are the strong-willed offspring of Daedalus, who happens to be the king’s favorite designer of weapons of mass destruction.

In addition to the usual family conflicts, this really is a recipe for disaster.

Our story, however, really begins on Mount Olympus, hanging out with the gods, useless, vain and bored out of their minds. A dangerous combination.

Using epic storytelling, elements of the Greek chorus and physical theater, the BIYT Ensemble, featuring actors between the ages 14 and 19, reboot this ancient myth as a sneakily humorous yet visceral and haunting tale that strays wildly (and joyously) from all of the versions we’ve heard before.

BIYT LAB – The Time Machine Team

A fast-paced adventure story filled with twists and turns

After an apocalyptic energy crisis, an odd group of specialists are brought together to create a machine which can transport them back into time. Their mission: solve the energy problem and repair time itself. No big deal, right? Wrong. This seemingly impossible task must be completed or the planet is doomed. The team just might have a chance, if they could only get along. Unfortunately, their personal differences are so extreme that discord threatens to destroy what little chance they have of survival.

This is very first public performance of an original play written completely by the 2019 BIYT Lab group, whose members are between the ages of 11 and 14.

TRIBAL SCHMIBAL – A Parable

The 2018 summer show by Berlin International Youth Theatre (BIYT)

Tribalism divides communities – Elucidate – you have 45 minutes

With these words begins the lively myth of the Whooziwhatzits.

Given the assignment (by an absent teacher) to explain the statement the students begin to weave a tale that is both as familiar as it is absurd. And tragically true (well at least based on a true story).

An alternate version of history. A parable about the eternal battle of inheritance between two brothers and the fate of two tribes.

The classic tale. Since the beginning of time.

We begin our story in an average Berlin classroom. Which is divided by music allegiances as is usually the case. Although music should unite us, for them it’s a sign of their tribe, separating the cool from the silly.

And suddenly there is a Jinn, a slippery figure from the shadows, If it wasn’t for her, everyone would be living happily ever after. But as human nature has its light and dark side so does the Jinn. Mainly dark, though. And the darkness feeds the lies.

A cast of eleven talented young people bring this tale to life using physicality, body percussion and song.

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!