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Blog Archive

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

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.

2019 Expo Info Abend and Artists Mixer

Calling all Berlin-based performing artists! We’re holding an information night and artists’ mixer for our annual festival! Come by on Tuesday, October 30 beginning at 7pm to meet potential collaborators, see our space and find out everything you need to know to apply to have your work included in the festival! Over the past six years, numerous Expo productions have been created as a result of artists meeting at the festival’s Info Abend and deciding to make new work together.

Since 2013, this annual festival has presented selected performances from the diverse yet often still undiscovered international independent performing arts community of Berlin with a working language of English. Over six evenings featuring one or two evening-length performances, the festival presents a cross section of this community across all performing arts genres and beyond all language barriers. Within ExpLoRE, the newcomer’s platform, the Sunday afternoon is open to smaller formats or work still under development — these will be performed on two separate stages.

The 2019 schedule of programming will be curated by festival founder Daniel Brunet, Producing Artistic Director of English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center, as well as choreographer Olivia Hyunsin Kim and theater director Shlomo Lieberman, from the applications received based on the criteria of artistic excellence, internationalism and creative diversity.

The festival accepts proposals both for world premieres as well as restaging of existing productions and provides financial and dramaturgical support. Over the past six years, numerous Expo productions have been created as a result of artists meeting at the festival’s Info Abend and deciding to make new work together.

The 2019 edition of the festival will be held from April 28 – May 4, 2019.

This year, we’re looking to showcase one or two professional productions by Berlin-based artists each evening from Monday, April 29 through Saturday, May 4. Works should be between approximately 45 and 105 minutes in length.

We can also consider shorter works for performance on two separate stages during the day on May 4, 2019.

Learn more about the festival and see the lineup from last year right HERE!

Applications for the 2019 Expo are due by midnight on November 30, 2018 and the complete lineup will be announced on or about January 5, 2019.

The Land of Milk(y) and Honey?

Israelis in Berlin

Special preview event on Sunday, October 14 at 6:00 pm at Radialsystem (Holzmarktstraße 33, 10243 Berlin), free admission

LIMITED SEATING: Please note that there are only 50 tickets available for each performance at etb | ipac

“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

EIN/VERSTÄNDNIS

Ein Rührstück auf dem Minenfeld der Wahrheiten

von Deborah Zoe Laufer

A melodrama on the minefield of truths | by Deborah Zoe Laufer

Die erste deutschsprachige Produktion am ETB | IPAC (natürlich mit englischen Übertiteln): EIN/VERSTÄNDNIS von Deborah Zoe Laufer, die achte Produktion im Rahmen unserer SCIENCE & THEATRE-Reihe.

The first ever German-language production at ETB | IPAC (With English surtitles, of course) : EIN/VERSTÄNDNIS by Deborah Zoe Laufer, part 8 of our SCIENCE & THEATRE series.

So langsam ist alles bekannt. Unser Genom erzählt vieles darüber, wo wir herkommen und weiß einiges von dem, was uns erwartet. Was also wollen wir tatsächlich wissen? Was wollen wir der Wissenschaft zugestehen? Und brauchen wir Religion und Mythen noch?

It is slowly starting to seem like we know everything. Our genome says a lot about where we come from and also has a notion about what awaits us. What do we actually want to know? What do we want to allow science to do? And do we still need religion and myths?

Eine junge Genetikerin forscht mit einem Stamm der Native Americans im Grand Canyon nach den genetischen Ursachen von Diabetes. Im Übereifer nimmt sie wenig Rücksicht auf die Interessen des Stammes und stößt dabei an die ethischen Grenzen der Wissenschaft. Und auch in ihrer Familie wird sie mit heftigem Widerstand konfrontiert, als sie Gentests an ihrer eigenen Tochter durchführen will.

A young geneticist conducts research into a tribe of Native Americans in the Grand Canyon in search of the genetic causes of diabetes. In her excitement, she fails to take the interests of the tribe into consideration and finds herself at the ethical crossroads of science. She also experiences tremendous resistance in her own family when she seeks to conduct gene tests on her daughter.

Deborah Zoe Laufer verknüpft in ihrem Stück einen historischen Fall – ein Paradebeispiel für die Missachtung der sogenannten ‘Informierten Zustimmung’, der von Information und Aufklärung getragenen Einwilligung der Betroffenen in Forschungstest – mit dem ganz persönlichen Kampf einer Wissenschaftlerin gegen unterschiedliche Interessen, aber auch gegen den Verlust des Gedächtnisses.

In her play, Deborah Zoe Laufer connects an historic case, a perfect example of non-compliance with so-called “informed consent”, which is the permission provided by the subject of the research test on the basis of having received sufficient information, with the very personal struggle of a scientist against a variety of interests, as well against the loss of her own memory.

EIN/VERSTÄNDNIS wirft ein Licht auf eine Reihe von Dilemmata und Fragen, mit denen die Wissenschaft sich konfrontiert sieht: Den Clash der Kulturen, den Gegensatz von Wissenschaft und Religion, die ethischen Implikationen genetischer Forschung und nicht zuletzt die Frage nach unserer Identität.

EIN/VERSTÄNDNIS shines a spotlight on a series of dilemmas and questions that science sees itself confronted with: the clash of cultures, the contradictions of science and religion, the ethical implications of genetic research and, not least of all, the question of our identity.
Group photo: Gerald Wesolowski | Scene photos: ETB

THE LAB: FAILED EPIC

“This century will be American. American thought will dominate it. American deeds will give it direction.”

When these words were first published in John Dos Passos’ seminal trilogy of novels collectively titled U.S.A. (1930 – 1938), they were undoubtedly intended to arouse feelings of patriotism, pride and optimism. Today this sentiment has a much more menacing tone than when it was written. FAILED EPIC seeks to embrace the menace implied in Dos Passos’ nationalistic nostalgia by taking a forgotten mainstay of the American Literary Canon and deconstructing it in a contemporary “news show” context.

In the performance, apocalyptic headlines from the beginning of the 20th century are reported in real time, only to be interrupted with live interviews, pre-recorded human interest pieces, on-location reporting, talking-head analysis and other layers of media within media. As the overabundance of fictional and historical narratives start to accumulate, we begin to see a timely portrait of a nation on the verge of collapse, as ideological divisions, economic inequality, and impending war threaten to destroy it.

Following an international cast of performers, we walk through a global landscape of characters whose lives are determined by massive, unseen forces–economics, disease, addiction, precarious working conditions, prejudice and accidental death. In the face of injustice, these people dream of revolution. Anarchists, Marxists, Wobblies, Capitalists, Socialists, Feminists–all are waiting to witness the death of the status quo. In these untragic lives, we see our own, with a bluntness that shifts the focus from the details of the individual stories to the universal dissatisfaction experienced in all of them.

Not only is this picture of a world divided into ideological and economic tribes a contemporary one, but–like today’s amateur online pundits–the people in this dystopia do not suffer in silence. Media serves to aggravate divisions among already splintered populations, as everyone sources their talking points from the political movement of their choice. Likewise, the success or failure of these movements seems to hang entirely on the oratory abilities of their leaders, who hold wild, Trump-like rallies aimed at “stirring up” followers, who will serve as foot soldiers in a bloody war of ideas.

Dos Passos’ own role in this conflict is still unresolved, as many contemporary critics characterize U.S.A. as “a failed epic by a writer out of his depth.” The goal of this performance is not to restore the author’s reputation, but rather to use his novels as a way of engaging with the Pre-War zeitgeist. Unlike his contemporaries Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Dos Passos’ prose does not need to be unpacked or even admired. Instead, it simply needs to unfold like a Twitter feed or scrolling news crawl, as a seemingly endless series of shocking, strange, mundane, and compelling events accumulate, coalescing into a complex portrait of a democracy at a crossroads, with no clear consensus on which way to go next.

Followed by a post-performance discussion

STAR CAPTAIN: THROUGH THE DARK YOU’LL FIND THE LIGHT

A theatrical concert performance by Miss Natasha Enquist, Electro-Accordion Chanteuse

Put your suit of glamour on, this ride is a bumpy one… this journey of self-discovery follows our dear adventure-hungry Star Captain, who leaves her home planet to discover a new world and the struggles she faces while there.

Using multimedia and the songs from Miss Natasha Enquist’s debut album, MNE, this story is played out before you with the help of her mighty accordion and projected visuals for you to experience all that comes from connecting to the indomitable spirit within.

2018 EXP(L)O(RE)

A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
This format opens the festival and is dedicated to newcomers, shorter performances and work-in-progress. Spend an entire afternoon taking in seven different performances. In between the performances, you can enjoy fantastic food, luxurious libations and magnificent music by international, Berlin-based musicians. Performances start at 2pm and we open our doors at 1pm.

 

BRUNCH LADY by Katie-Rose Spence (Australia), Costume Design by Rachel Nielson (USA)

An interactive solo clown act pondering (whilst sipping a mimosa) the pressures of keeping up appearances.

“Forgoing avo on toast for brunch once a week and you’ll save for your deposit in … 175 years! …. “ Brigid Delaney.

We parade about with delusions of grandeur, in a climate where we are willing to overlook the cost, both personal and societal, for the appearance of having everything now. It’s official, brunch has been condemned as an extravagant excess, but here we are happily munching away our hangover on Sunday morning anyway, unable to afford our lives, but content in our denial.
Until today.
Brunch Lady will ensure your late morning meal will never be quite the same again…pray it wasn’t you who ordered the avocado on toast.

 

DANCING WITH THE SHADOWS by Julia Vandehof (Austria), Niall Fallon (UK), Ainhoa Hevia Uria (Spain), Angharrad Matthews (UK) and Berta del Ben (Italy)

The performance is a descent into the realm of mythical ghosts and phantoms inspired by the story of Persephone. The unexplored shadows hidden within this narrative are shown through non-linear storytelling.

The audience will be taken into the House of Hades with Persephone, the Queen of the Dead. The story alludes to the cyclical nature of life-death and to resurrection, and to question what it means to embrace death-in-life. It is a deeply atmospheric world encountered through movement, sound and light.

 

 

 

GRUESOME MANIFESTO by Cher Nobyl/Catalin Jugravu (Romania), with Andrei Raicu (Romania), Syrtha (Lithuania) and Yasmin Keany (Australia)

An alternative drag performance conceived as a spiritual leap into the metaphysical space where subjects such as a dystopian existence, the present time and the ratio of cause to effect in wars worldwide are molded through spoken word, dance and video projection into arguments which favor the total nuclear destruction of humanity as Salvation.

It’s total demagogy disguised in holy garments under the shape of none other than Cher Nobyl, The High Priestess of our Atomic Rebirth

 

 

 

INTEGRATE ‘ER by Iva Topolovec (Croatia) and Salber Williams (Portugal/Zimbabwe)

Two women. A bonfire of baggage. This performance is a broken experiment of identity and compromise. Using bodies and household items, we reach for ways to integ- …scratch that. What is integration, anyway?

 

 

 

 

 

THE HEARING TEST by Shanti Suki Osman (UK/Germany)


This is an interactive sound performance which asks the audience to scrutinize habits in their auditory perception.

Upon entering the room they hear a continuous set of instructions prompting them to interact with the objects in the room: choose an object that best describes my voice; write a postcard to a person who would like this sound.

Playing with the ideas of privilege, prejudice and positioning, this piece is very simple in its demand for a critical ear to be turned towards ourselves, in the hope to excavate what lies behind our tendencies and tastes.

 

 

 

THE LIVING AND OUR GHOSTS by Noirphiles/Adrian Marie Blount (USA)

Film, music, song and dance are used to bear witness to the marginalization of LGBTQIA people of color. How can we be witnesses for the marginalized?

How do the ancestors guide us to become witnesses? What can be learned in listening to those who exist within the margins of the past present and future?

This piece holds space for those spaces of uncertainty, ugly, undefined and intangible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE CAN DO IT MOANING by ABA NAIA Collective, directed by Kysy Fischer (Brazil), performed by Rafuska Marks (Brazil) and Teija Vaittinen (Finland)

 This is a performance of breathing and sound.

Different actions of moaning are created by three women for a construction of a human moan-machine, a text, a dialog or a song. But we are specific: we produce a symphony of moaning.

We treat the moan as a matter. As physics. As anthropology. Not as biology. We moan as a sport. We moan as an acoustic experience. We moan in hysteria. Hysteria?

We moan because someone has commanded us to moan. We moan because we can. We moan because it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. We moan because it moves us and we keep moving just because we moan.

 

 

 

Skin Deep in Zaraniya

A participatory performance with live soundscape

An international ensemble enact performative tasks in a live soundscape bringing participants into a deeper understanding of the immigrant phenomenon and the universal human impact of sound and movement.

In this age of immigration anxiety, cross the threshold to the unexplored land of Zaraniya, immersing yourself in an interactive transformative music, movement and theater encounter rousing you from the sleep of the familiar.