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Theatertreffen

Key Visual Theatertreffen 2025

The 10 Most Remarkable Productions

Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025, discussions, awards

Theatertreffen 2026

The next Theatertreffen will take place from 1 to 17 May 2026. The 10 most remarkable productions, selected by a jury of critics, will be announced in a press conference in January 2026. The programme schedule will be published in April.

Welcome to the 2025 Theatertreffen

Valeria Heintges, one of the members of the 2025 Theatertreffen-jury, found terse words at the press conference where this year’s selection was announced: “I have news for you: Times are bleak.” She captured something that the jury had frequently encountered when viewing shows and which is also reflected in the ten most remarkable productions: a feeling of futility and no chance of escape, all across the 88 cities in the German-language region, where a total of 738 productions were viewed.

The productions invited to the 2025 Theatertreffen address our challenging present days with a wide range of aesthetic means and content, and they are all an image of our unsettling time. And yet, they strike strong and encouraging notes that invite us to take an inspiring look at the status quo on our theatre stages. We are especially pleased that the selection of ten productions invited to Theatertreffen includes seven directors making their Theatertreffen-debut as well as seven world premieres: new names and new stories that make up the exciting selection of this year’s festival. 

2025 is a special year for an important pillar of Theatertreffen: The International Forum celebrates its 60th anniversary. Initiated as “Begegnung junger Bühnenangehöriger” (Meeting of Young Theatre Professionals) and expanded into an international format by the Goethe-Institut’s participation in the 1980s, every year the International Forum creates space for theatre makers at the outset of their careers to exchange ideas within the framework of Theatertreffen and to reflect on their individual practice together. For its anniversary, we have developed a special framing programme titled “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025” which will exclusively present alumni of the International Forum. Over the entire duration of the festival, there will be performances, installations and a film as well as readings and discussions, all of them by and with former Forum-participants. Make sure to look for the programme brochure and the dates in the calendar! The successful Audience Talks with impulse key notes from experts will also be continued: All impulse key notes will be given by alumni of the International Forum who will contribute their wide-ranging perspectives. This shows that the Forum is not just a platform for international artists at the beginning of their career but also a meeting-place for the world and an important international resonance chamber for Theatertreffen’s local roots. Our special thanks go the funding institutions of the framing programme, namely the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Heinz und Heide Dürr Stiftung, as well as Goethe-Institut for the long standing collaboration with the International Forum.

As always, the Theatertreffen-Blog will provide news and coverage of the festival. Furthermore, there will be several award ceremonies and, of course, the jury’s concluding discussion. We would like to thank all our co-operation partners and funding institutions very much for their collaboration and continued support, above all the German Federal Cultural Foundation and our media partner 3sat. 

We look forward to welcoming you, dear audience, to the 62nd Theatertreffen! Join us in discovering a wealth of artistic views of our times, meet new people and old acquaintances. In short: stay curious!

Nora Hertlein-Hull 
Director Theatertreffen 

Visual word mark Theatertreffen 2025

Trailer Theatertreffen 2025, Design: 3pc

© Berliner Festspiele / Theatertreffen

Theatertreffen 2025

Impressions

  • Prize winner Anita Vulesica

    3sat-Preis 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Double Serpent” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Double Serpent”, Staatstheater Wiesbaden

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Prize winner Carmen Steinert and juror Bettina Stucky pose with flowers and certificate

    Alfred-Kerr-Darstellerpreis 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Audience listens to a speech.

    Alfred-Kerr-Darstellerpreis 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble shows their Theatertreffen-certificate.

    Artists’ accolade “Bernarda Albas Haus”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Blutbuch” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Blutbuch”, Theater Magdeburg

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A large group of people applaud the ensemble.

    Artists’ accolade “Blutbuch”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The audience waits for admission to the performance in front of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

    Theatertreffen 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / Würgendes Blei” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / Würgendes Blei”, Residenztheater / Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel, München

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Nora Hertlein-Hull presents director Luise Voigt with the Theatertreffen-certificate. The ensemble is in the background.

    Artists’ accolade “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / Würgendes Blei”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Die Maschine oder: Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Die Maschine oder: Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh”, Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Nora Hertlein-Hull speaking in a microphone

    Nora Hertlein-Hull

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Amitesh Grover stands next to a screen onto which a Zoom video call is projected.

    “Zoom Out: A Surreal Snapshot of the World”, Amitesh Grover

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • People with VR glasses

    “[EOL]. End of Life. Eine virtuelle Ruinenlandschaft”, DARUM and brut Wien

    © Berliner Festspiele, Foto: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Nora Hertlein-Hull presents DARUM with the Theatertreffen-certificate. The artistic team is in the background.

    Artists’ accolade “[EOL]. End of Life”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A group of people sit in a circle on the floor and talk to each other.

    Internationales Forum 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A group of people stand in a circle in front of the Uferstudios.

    Internationales Forum 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Matthias Pees presents Fabian Hinrichs with the Theatertreffen-certificate. The ensemble is in the background.

    Artists’ accolade “ja nichts ist ok”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The jury members talking on stage.

    Concluding Jury Discussion 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78”, Sadler’s Wells, Pina Bausch Foundation, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Meryl Tankard shows their Theatertreffen-certificate. The ensemble is in the background.

    Artists' accolade “Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A performer on stage with his hands outstretched towards the camera.

    “Made in China 2.0”, Wang Chong

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Two people talking.

    Panel “Narrowing Spaces – Artistic Answers to Political Pressure”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Standing ovations as the ensemble receives the applause

    “SANCTA”, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Nora Hertlein-Hull presents director Florentina Holzinger with the Theatertreffen-certificate. The ensemble is in the background.

    Artists’ accolade “SANCTA”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Two people on all fours with naked upper bodies lying partly on top of each other.

    “Something is Approaching”, Carolina Mendonça

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Christopher Rüping receives the theatre prize.

    Theaterpreis Berlin 2025

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A person in a long white dress dances in the spotlight on a stage.

    Theatertreffen party with Drag Show

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A person with headphones over a mixing console

    Theatertreffen party

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Two people talking

    Panel “And Now? Strategies and Alliances Against the Great Cultural Depression”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The ensemble of “Unser Deutschlandmärchen” accepts the applause.

    Ensemble “Unser Deutschlandmärchen”, Maxim Gorki Theater

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Two performers sit at a coffee table surrounded by the audience.

    “Wanaset Yodit”, Laila Soliman

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Three people sit next to each other at tables, water bottles and microphones in front of them.

    Reading “Text, Tisch, Wasserglas II”

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

Greeting

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media

The upcoming 2025 Theatertreffen is inspiring and exciting. This year’s festival promises new stories, new voices and new perspectives. We have the opportunity to experience seven premieres and the works of just as many directors showcasing their productions at the Theatertreffen for the first time, such as works from the Theater Magdeburg and the Vienna-based production and performance venue brut Wien. For us as theatre-goers, this is as an excellent opportunity to embrace new narratives and engage in new forms of story-telling and presentation which we have never, or only rarely, experienced in theatre.

Greeting

Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska and Kirsten Haß, German Federal Cultural Foundation

A few years ago, the director Katie Mitchell’s daughter gave her a seemingly simple task: not to create any more theatre productions that ended with women killing themselves. Mitchell’s production of “Bernada Albas Haus” opens the 2025 Theatertreffen. In staging this new version of the classic by Alice Birch, Mitchell has nevertheless made the artistic decision that the female characters should decide to die at the end of the production. In the director’s vision, it is impossible for people at present to envisage themselves and their future escaping a spiral of increasing violence.

At a Glance

The 2025 Fellows and Bloggers

The International Forum gathers 33 young theatre makers from Riga und Asunción, Ibadan and Schwedt/Oder. And five bloggers from the German-language region are invited to cover Theatertreffen in a variety of journalistic formats and to provide critical reflection.

To the fellows of the International ForumTo the bloggers of the Theatertreffen-Blog

About Theatertreffen

Every year, a jury of critics selects the 10 most remarkable productions from up to 600 productions from the German-language region to be presented in Berlin in May.

Read more

In the Media Library

A woman listens at a bright yellow wall behind which a bride is being dressed.

Bernarda Albas Haus

© Thomas Aurin

3sat “Starke Stücke”

Missed the performance? No worries: the recordings of “Bernarda Albas Haus”, “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / Würgendes Blei”, “Double Serpent” and “Unser Deutschlandmärchen” – the four 2025 “Starke Stücke” of 3sat – will be accessible in the 3sat Media Library and the Berliner Festspiele Media Library until 2 May 2026.

To the Media Library

A Female Quota of 50 %

With its 2020 festival edition, the Theatertreffen introduced a female quota of at least 50 percent in the direction position for the ten most remarkable productions. The jury and the festival’s directors have agreed to extend this rule for another year, up to and including the 2026 festival.

More Berliner Festspiele