The heatwave is over...

The days are getting shorter and colder and there’s already a hint of Autumn and Winter approaching in the air … and the Theatertreffen jury has convened once again at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele to discuss its theatrical findings and curate the 2011 Theatertreffen. Four new jurors have been invited to join the seven-strong jury. Alongside the familiar critics Wolfgang Höbel (Hamburg), Andres Müry (Salzburg) and Swiss radio journalist Ellinor Landmann, Christine Wahl from Berlin, Ulrike Kahle from Stuttgart, Vasco Boenisch from Bochum and Franz Wille, also from Berlin, have been travelling throughout the German-speaking theatrical landscape since the end of February.

As in every year the professional journal Theater heute has been listening to theatre critics – 42 of them on this occasion – to find out which theatre, which production, which playwright etc. was the best and most significant of last season. And as usual the “list of the best” published in Theater heute’s current yearbook confirms the selection of the Theatertreffen jury: “Theatre of the Year” is Schauspiel Köln, “Playwright of the Year” is Roland Schimmelpfennig for “Der Goldene Drache” (The Golden Dragon) and the runner-up is Dea Loher for “Diebe” (Thieves), for whose design Andreas Kriegenburg is “Stage Designer of the Year”. And the couple from “Kleiner Mann – Was nun?” (Little Man – What Now?) Annette Paulmann and Paul Herwig (who was awarded the Alfred Kerr Prize for Acting during tt10) top the lists for best actors …
We are, however, especially pleased that the intensive work of the Stückemarkt jury and enduring development of writers by the Stückemarkt is so clearly reflected in the nominations in the category “Best Emerging Artist”: Nis-Momme Stockmann and Oliver Kluck together with Wolfram Lotz, Claudia Grehn, Thomas Freyer and Philipp Löhle were nominated here – all emerging playwrights who were discovered and promoted by the Stückemarkt in recent years. Nis-Momme Stockmann’s “Keine Schiff wird kommen” (No Ship Will Come), which received multiple nominations, was written as a Stückemarkt commission and was produced by Staatstheater Stuttgart, the 2009 Stückemarkt’s partner theatre. The production, which also impressed the jury of the Mülheimer Theatertage, was presented as a visiting production at the last Theatertreffen. The world premiere of the 2010 Commission winner, Wolfram Lotz, will take place during the coming season at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, our partner theatre for this year. And the 2009 Stückemarkt New Playwriting Prize winner, Oliver Kluck, is about to present several world premieres in Weimar. Claudia Grehn’s play “Ernte” (Harvest), discovered by the 2010 Stückemarkt jury and awarded the New Playwriting Prize, also receives extensive praise in the Theater heute yearbook. In December it will receive its world premiere at our long-standing partner theatre, the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin. We are pleased that our Stückemarkt playwrights are so successful!
Everything else that happened at tt10 can still be found on the Theatertreffen blog: www.theatertreffen-blog.de.

However, our joy in anticipation of the new theatre season has been more than clouded.We have heavy hearts and all thoughts of the theatre or the Theatertreffen are overshadowed by the death of Christoph Schlingensief. It is a time of grief and remembrance. Here, dear Christoph, we will never forget you.

Iris Laufenberg, Theatertreffen Director