Programme Preview “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025”
A Border Is a Line That Birds Cannot See
© Kieron Jina
This year the framing programme for the Theatertreffen produced by the Berliner Festspiele celebrates the 60th anniversary of the International Forum, the festival’s global platform for emerging artists. Under the title “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025” selected alumni from the last six decades present a series of performative contributions, keynotes, readings, installations and film as well as discursive events.
Founded in 1965 as the “Meeting of Young Stage Professionals” and run on an international basis since 1980 in co-operation with the Goethe Institut, for two weeks every year the International Forum is a place for people to meet and an important international sounding-board for the Theatertreffen. So far, the International Forum has brought together a total of 2,476 artists from 90 different countries. The anniversary programme “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025”, curated by Aljoscha Begrich, Sima Djabar Zadegan and Nora Hertlein-Hull, focusses on the disparate creative oeuvres of 53 chosen alumni covering 60 years of the International Forum (IF).
At the opening celebration on Saturday, 3 May at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the dramaturg Hermann Beil (IF 1965 / Berlin), an alumnus of the inaugural year, and artist Meloe Gennai (IF 2024 / Geneva) will look back on the International Forum. Director Amitesh Grover (IF 2013 / Delhi) premieres a work in which he invites his IF colleagues – including Martine Dennewald (IF 2006 / Montréal), Thomas Engel (IF 1999 / Berlin), Pathipon Miss Oat (IF 2022 / Bangkok) and Jossi Wieler (IF 1981 / Berlin) – to participate in a digital commentary on the globalised world. That same day, theatre-maker Dima Levitsky (IF 2016 / Kyiv) will present images from everyday life in Kyiv in a photo album with audio commentary.
A series of performative contributions will be shown throughout the duration of the festival from 3 to 17 May. International alumni will examine censorship, feminist resistance, the trauma of war, allegiances and ascriptions. Wang Chong (IF 2013 / Peking) will present the lecture performance “Made in China 2.0”, Kieron Jina (IF 2019 / Johannesburg) the dance performance “A Border Is a Line That Birds Cannot See”, Carolina Mendonça (IF 2015 / São Paulo) her work-in-progress “Something Is Approaching”, Nofar Sela (IF 2018 / Jerusalem) the premiere of her work “Almost There”, Laila Soliman (IF 2010 / Cairo) the coffee ceremony “Wanaset Yodit” and Sebastián Squella (IF 2018 / Santiago de Chile) the performance arrangement “Beyond Democracy”. Tea Tupajić (IF 2013 / Zagreb) presents her film “Darkness There and Nothing More”.
Two panel discussions on 11 and 16 May will reflect on the narrowing of the theatre’s economic and political room for manoeuvre and present artistic reflections on this. Participants will include the alumni Azadeh Ganjeh (IF 2019 / Ottersberg), Kristóf Kelemen (IF 2021 / Budapest), Barrie Kosky (IF 1989 / Berlin), Tanja Krone (IF 2007 / Berlin) and Julia Wissert (IF 2017 / Dortmund).
There will also be a platform for contemporary playwriting: the names of many acclaimed playwrights can be found among the International Forum’s alumni, such as Emre Akal (IF 2019 / Munich), Philippe Heule (IF 2018 / St. Gallen), Anastasiia Kosodii (IF 2019 / Zaporizhzhia), Kay Matter (IF 2024 / Zurich), Nele Stuhler (IF 2016 / Eppendorf) and Olivia Wenzel (IF 2017 / Weimar). Excerpts from their texts will be read on 4 and 8 May by actors including Mareike Beykirch (IF 2019 / Berlin) and David Guy Kono (IF 2019 / Mülheim an der Ruhr) in events entitled “Text, Tisch, Wasserglas I + II”. These will be followed by conversations about writing, how texts are developed and the relevance of playwriting at the present time.
The programme concludes on 17 May by looking to the future: at the public presentation “The Forum’s Forum”, this year’s 33 participants will perform playful mini lectures outlining their ways of thinking and working, and looking ahead to the future of the creative arts in local and global contexts.
Most of the events in the framing programme are held in the Kassenhalle at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The space will be turned into a large forum in which the names of all the alumni are presented and an installation will look back on the 60 years of the International Forum.
Detailed information about individual events will be available on the website when the programme is announced on Friday, 4 April.
The Main Sponsors of the supplementary programme “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025” are the FederalAgency for Civic Education/bpb and the Heinzund Heide Dürr Stiftung.
The festival wishes to thank all its co-operation partners, especially the GoetheInstitute, as well as all those involved for their collaboration.
Save the Date:
Programme publication and start of accreditation:
Friday, 4 April 2025
Tickets released for sale:
Thursday, 17 April 2025 at 14:00h
Press discussion with artists from the 62nd edition of the festival:
Wednesday, 30 April 2025 at 11:00h, Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Photo credits
- “A Border Is a Line That Birds Cannot See” © Kieron Jina