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Berlin International Performing Arts Center

Blog Archive

Elly Jarvis

THE LAB: Artist and Audience Development

Elly Jarvis is a theater maker of many passions and interests, who wholeheartedly believes in play as an emancipatory and transcendental act and theater as a forum for examining polemics, for encouraging dialogue and for inviting humans to listen and to witness. Trained classically at the University of Michigan in Theater Performance, she received her Master’s in Theater Education at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she taught her first course on devising theater summer semester 2025. Her work is almost always participatory: such as Blaupause (FELD Theater 2024/2025), an interactive children’s theater piece about sadness in conjunction with the color blue; currently she is working on a piece called The Very Best! (Das Allerbeste!) with an inclusive group and the RambaZambaTheater. Elly works regularly for the Berliner Ensemble, the Deutsche Oper and does KulturMachtStark projects for the ATZE Musiktheater.

For Elly, theater is a marvelous excuse to dig deep into questions that tantalize her, it pushes her to find aesthetic forms that expand her understanding of that which makes her curious. Many things make her curious, but the primary list is currently: snails, colors, slowness, dialogue, sidewalks, lifestyles, boundaries, gender, arrangements, impressions, visual arts and paintings, to name a few.

In her residency, Elly will dive deep into one of her curiosities in a manner that is participatory and stimulating to the audience. She will be recently back from the United States and full of impressions, photographs, interviews and certainly some concerns. Expect a work-in-progress with a deep foundation in research and exploration, an invitation to participate in this exploration and an open-ended question.

Followed by a post-performance discussion

Puddles

What language does love speak? Does speaking multiple languages give us multiple personalities? What goes beyond language and right into our bodies?

Set in Berlin between the 1990s and now, Puddles is about a love triangle between three university friends, Judith, Max and Nora. Max and Judith were childhood sweethearts but broke up when Judith went traveling. Max and Nora got together, stayed together, married, bought a flat and are trying for a baby. These best-laid plans, however, as well all know, often go awry…

In this version, Max only speaks German, Judith only English and Nora switches between the two.

The LAB reading will be the very first work-in-progress presentation of the new multilingual version of the play, followed by a post-performance discussion.

Trigger warning: the play addresses sensitive topics, including discussion of miscarriage.

omfg hamlet do i look like i care

William Shakespeare and the Bechdel Test

How much agency do female characters have in works of fiction? In 1986, US-American cartoonist Alison Bechdel provided a simple set of rules for figuring this out: the Bechdel test. Are there at least two female characters in the work? Do they speak to each other? About something other than men?

In all of William Shakespeare’s thirty-six plays, there is exactly one overlooked scene in a mostly overlooked play (Richard II) where two women converse.

With this in mind, omfg hamlet do i look like i care questions the supposed universality of Shakespeare’s themes. Combining Shakespearean language with modern dialogue and original text by creator/actor Kay Marie, the production investigates what happens when women are finally allowed the stage — and the conversation — all to themselves.

Two powerhouse performers take on a multitude of roles, including queens, noblewomen, podcast hosts, karaoke singers, dancers and professional bowlers. A male actor appears in a deliberately sidelined supporting role, used purely as a narrative device. What begins as an absurdly comic interview between two clueless influencers soon spirals into a chaotic, heartfelt, and surprisingly tender journey through female experience — both real and imagined.

Ein Sumpf bildet sich

“I love Germany. But in Germany now there is a swamp forming. At the moment just a swamp. But give it just a few more years. The swamp becomes a lake. The lake becomes a sea. And it swallows everything up.”

Staying with a German family while running a project in their local village school, a British-Iranian teacher contends with ancestral guilt, a possessed scarecrow and a rising tide of Islamophobia.

Followed by a post-performance discussion with playwright Charlie Dupré, moderated by Daniel Brunet

Anne Welenc and Michel Wagenschütz

the lab: artist and audience development

Are we the protagonists of our own lives or merely supporting characters in larger narratives? How do the stories we tell and the roles we embody shape our understanding of agency, power, and collaboration?

During a one-week LAB, Anne Welenc and Michel Wagenschütz will explore these questions both thematically and formally, presenting a double feature of new material. Revisiting their shared history of collaboration, they reimagine their artistic roles by guiding each other on stage and dissolving traditional hierarchies.

Anne centers her investigation of classical dramatic works on the significance of female supporting characters, focusing on the substance of the Minnas, Bertas and Gretchens, while Michel, inspired by his project He’s Got It, explores creation myths and genius narratives in musical theater, addressing professionalization, societal aspirations, and personal vulnerability.

They are accompanied by Anastasia Mandel, who adds another live dimension to the performance, responding to the dynamics on and off stage with sound, music and samples, weaving an auditory layer that interacts with the unfolding narrative.

Anne Welenc, a director and playwright rooted in critical feminist research, combines classical theater with elements of dance, pop and club culture. Her works, including QUEENS and Gargoyles, reimagine gender, power and social narratives, offering contemporary perspectives on historical and literary figures.

Michel Wagenschütz, a visual artist and filmmaker, studied contemporary art and photography at the Berlin University of the Arts and performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His practice navigates the intersections of image-making, space and performative strategies, addressing social realities and their contradictions.

Anastasia Mandel is an artist, biohacker, performer and musician based in Berlin.
She began producing music and together with Sergei Kasich, coined the genre Ambient Punk. Her influences draw from performance art, musique concrète and the fair use sampling and branding strategies employed by bands like Negativland.

 

Rhythm in Sediment

The very first performance of new work-in-progress by Anna Lublina, followed by a post-performance discussion.

This research seeks to access ancestral knowledge through synchronization: a process of syncing one’s body rhythms with the rhythms of other people, objects or environments. Emerging from archival research on different forms of shared Jewish-Muslim rhythm—Uzbeki Shashmaqam music, prayer, agricultural practices, etc.— we explore tap dance, extended vocal techniques and live mixing to embody specific rhythms and synchronize with the worlds they emerge from.

How do these rhythms from historical moments of Muslim-Jewish conviviality generate different physicalities, states, tensions or intelligences in our bodies? What can these convivial rhythms teach us in a time marked by separation and violence?

This research has been funded by the Ottilie Roederstein Stipendiem from the Hessian Ministry of Science, Research, Art and Culture, Frankfurt Kulturamt and Giessen Kulturamt.

Anna is a current LABA Berlin Fellow, participating in the 2024 Muslim—Jewish creative study and exchange program called “Mar’a’yeh: A Night’s Journey”. This event is part of a month-long (ending 8.12) exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, details of which can be found here. For other upcoming LABA Berlin events and more information, please visit www.laba.berlin and follow (@lababerlin) on Instagram.

Colonizing The Skies

The very first presentation of new work-in-progress by Noémi Ola Berkowitz, followed by a post-performance discussion.

The sky has long been a place of comfort, spirituality, looking upward, and fantasy. But the colonization that marks the rise of empires and nations on land now threatens our atmosphere. The unique combination of technology and ancient stories in the skies above prompted Noémi (who presented new work-in-progress in our 2017 Expo Festival) to gaze upward for this next theatrical project.

With Dena Abay, Djibril Sall and Pamela Moraga

The Money Piece

The very first work-in-progress performance of a new solo by Alexander thomas, followed by a post-performance discussion.

Cash, Jack, Scratch…Moolah.

No matter what you call it, they say that money makes the world go round and most of us seem to spend far too much time thinking about it.

We are very pleased to welcome back actor and playwright Alexander Thomas (Schwarz gemacht) to share and perform the very first work-in-progress showing of his new solo, The Money Piece.

Josephine Baker – Mirror and Shadow

Josephine Baker – Mirror And Shadow explores a symbolic connection between Josephine Baker (1906-1975) and Étoile Chaville (1982-). Both artists are of African descent, dancer-singers and have French citizenship. However, seventy-six years separate them and their lives have unfolded in very different socio-economic contexts.

What connects them? Which struggles had to be overcome in Josephine Baker’s time and are still relevant today for women who don’t fit neatly inside a box? Built as a dialogue between past and present, Josephine Baker – Mirror And Shadow questions stereotyped images around races, gender or sexuality and their influence on our vision of the world and the Other.

The work-in-progress showing will be followed by a conversation with Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Multi-award-winning author Brenda Dixon Gottschild is an antiracist cultural worker. Nationwide and abroad she curates post-performance reflective dialogues, writes critical performance essays, performs self-created solos and collaborates with her husband, choreographer/dancer Hellmut Gottschild in a genre they developed that is called “movement theater discourse”.

Tender Horror

What do blizzards, hormonal changes and folklore have in common? How does ritual merge with our daily life?

Through surrealist ritual and the examination of the archetypal phases of the feminine, Tender Horror is brought to life.

Tender Horror is conceived of and developed by HOPEFULLY, MAYBE, an emerging international theater group consisting of Josje Eijkenboom, Maureen Gleason, Sigrun Hasselgård Bøe and special guest, Sunniva B. Johansen.

Presented as part of THE LAB, the artist and audience development series at ETB | IPAC, this first public presentation of new work-in-progress will be followed by a post-performance discussion.

Maureen Gleason is an actress and theater artist based in Berlin, Germany. She earned her BFA in studio acting with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN where she studied the classical canon, voice and Roy Hart. After moving to London to study Shakespeare at the Globe Theater, she completed her MFA in Embodied Dramaturgy with Rose Bruford College London. Maureen specializes in dramatic vocal techniques and also works with textiles. (maureenlgleason.com)

 

 

 

Sigrun Hasselgård Bøe is a performer, choreographer and artistic collaborator based in Drammen, Norway. In 2020 she completed her two year-training of Advanced Devising Practice at Arthaus Berlin. In addition, Bøe has a MFA with a specialization in Performing Arts (2018) and a BA in Theatre Education (2016) from The University of Agder, Norway. Bøe is trained in the arts of physical theater and movement, and has a special interest in choreographed theater. She is currently working with the performance SKREI which is to be seen as part of the European Capital of Culture in Bodø 2024. (sigrunhasselgaardboee.com)

 

 

Sunniva Birkeland Johansen is a performer and director from the Lofoten Islands in Norway. In 2020 she completed an MFA in Advanced Devising Practice in collaboration with Rose Bruford College and Arthaus Berlin. She is currently based in Oslo where she works both in the theater and film industry. Sunniva is a part of the duo Birk/Bo produksjoner who focus on creating accessible theater in rural areas of Norway. In 2024. she will be directing and performing SKREI as a part of the “European Capital of Culture” in Bodø as well as continuing her work for Birk/Bo produksjoner. (sunnivabjohansen.com)

 

 

 

Josje Eijkenboom works as an actor and theater maker. She completed her Master Devised Theater and Performance in Berlin in 2019 (London International School of Performing Arts/Arthaus Berlin) She currently specializes in Physical Theater (Embodied Theater and the Poetic Body and Puppetry) Her predilection for Greek tragedies is often reflected in her work. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in The Netherlands (ArtEZ), she traveled to Brazil with TAMTAM Objektentheater, performing at Oerol and various other festivals. Currently she is working on various projects with Duda Paiva Company where she also performs Vergeten, dieren en Ver- loren zaken and Kinderen van het verdwenen Woud. Besides performing she also teaches aerial yoga and pole dance classes. (josje-eijkenboom.nl)