For 60 years, young theatre-makers from various artistic disciplines have been invited to Berlin for a two-week scholarship programme, to follow the Theatertreffen from multiple perspectives and to exchange views with each other and with the artists invited to the festival. Founded in 1965 as the “Meeting of Young Stage Professionals” and run on an international basis since 1980 in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, the International Forum is a place where the world can meet and an important global sounding board for the Theatertreffen.
The 60th birthday of this historic programme for the future is a good occasion to highlight how participating artists have developed since. With the framing programme “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025”, curated by Aljoscha Begrich, Sima Djabar Zadegan and Nora Hertlein-Hull and consisting exclusively of contributions by alumni, you can get an impression of the breadth of artworks created by the 2476 artists from 90 countries who have taken part – till now outside the public eye – in the International Forum. A series of performative contributions will present theatre makers from China to Chile, from Ukraine to South Africa.
Authors present readings of contemporary drama and engage in a collective discussion. In addition to this, two discussion events will consider the narrowing of the theatre’s economic and political room for manoeuvre. The framing programme opens with a live event and an installation in the Kassenhalle, that looks back on 60 years of the International Forum. The programme concludes by looking to the future: in the event “The Forum’s Forum” the 33 scholarship holders of this current year 2025 present their thinking and working methods in short performances.
The Main Sponsors of the framing programme “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025” are the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb and the Heinz und Heide Dürr Stiftung. Special thanks go to Goethe-Institut for the long standing collaboration with the International Forum.
