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Theatertreffen

Theatertreffen 2017

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Every year, the Theatertreffen brings the 10 most remarkable productions from German-speaking countries and works by up-and-coming artists from around the world to Berlin.

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Livestreams of the 2025 Theatertreffen

Theatertreffen 2025

Today’s Events

Installations

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The 2025 Open Call

This Open Call for the International Forum is addressed at artists at the beginning of their artistic practice who have already gathered some initial professional experience. They may be from all sectors of the performing arts, especially from the fields of directing, acting, set and costume design, dramaturgy, text production, music, video, performance, media, choreography, production management and theatre education.Around 35 artists from around the world will be invited to come to Berlin, to watch theatre together, to talk, to (re-)consider, to experiment and to make connections. The fellows will have the opportunity to attend the festival, to take part in intensive workshops with international artists, to reflect together the productions invited to Theatertreffen and theatre in general and to exchange ideas.Deadline for applications: 5 December 2024 (23:59, CET)

International Forum

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Open Call 2026

This Open Call for the International Forum is addressed at theatre makers at the beginning of their artistic careers who have already gathered some initial professional experience. They may be from all sectors of the performing arts, especially from the fields of directing, acting, set and costume design, dramaturgy, text production, music, video, performance, choreography and theatre education.Around 30 artists from around the world will be invited to come to Berlin, to watch theatre together, to talk, to (re-)consider, to experiment and to make connections. The fellows will have the opportunity to attend the festival, to take part in intensive workshops with international artists, to reflect together the productions invited to Theatertreffen and theatre in general and to exchange ideas.Deadline for applications: 30 November 2025 (23:59, CET)

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On 22 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of the 10 most remarkable productions for the 2025 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants!

The 10 Most Remarkable Productions 2025

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A new edition of “BURNING ISSUES x Theatertreffen” is in planning under the title “PERFORMING ARTS &amp; SOLIDARITY”, in co-operation with Szenografie-Bund as well as with Deutsches Theater Berlin and Sophiensaele. The Theatertreffen-programme, which will feature a range of discursive formats and keynotes, is being developed by Nora Hertlein-Hull together with dramaturgs Aljoscha Begrich and Sima Djabar Zadegan with reference to the ten selected productions.&nbsp; Nele Hertling will receive the Theatre Prize Berlin of Stiftung Preu&szlig;ische Seehandlung for her services to the theatre. As Theatertreffen’s long-standing media partner, 3sat will present especially produced TV-recordings of productions invited to the festival in its programme. This year’s “Starke St&uuml;cke” are: “Bucket List” (Schaub&uuml;hne am Lehniner Platz), “Laios. ANTHROPOLIS II” (Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg) and “Macbeth” (Schauspielhaus Bochum).&nbsp; The programme schedule of the 2024 Theatertreffen will be published on 5&nbsp;April; ticket sales begin on 19&nbsp;April.&nbsp;

Preparations Are Underway for the 2024 Edition of the Festival

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The Theatertreffen invites 30 exciting artists from all parts of the world to attend and reflect the festival and to exchange ideas and experiences across artistic and national boundaries. We are very much looking forward to welcoming all participants and thank everyone for their applications! More than 700 artists from 75 countries responded to the Open Call published in the autumn of 2023.

The 2024 International Forum Participants

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“Reviews are the worst thing about this job,” comments director Jette Steckel, who was invited to the 2023 Theatertreffen with “Die Vaterlosen”, in a guest article written for the Theatertreffen-Blog. Here young art journalists took a critical look at the 10 productions and themes all around the Theatertreffen. Reviews, essays and interviews were published continuously throughout the festival. You can read, for example, about “Lord of the Rings” fan Leonard Haverkamp’s experience of the accessible installation “Riesenhaft in Mittelerde”™ or Marta Ivkić’s review of “Bucket List”. And you can also learn more about the creative interactions of the 29 participants in the International Forum in Elliot Douglas’s article “The power of collaborative theatre”.

Perspectives on Theatertreffen

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Theatertreffen 2025: Impressionen

Theatertreffen 2025: Impressions

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Impressions

Theatertreffen 2025

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Each year, the 10 most remarkable productions are selected by a jury of critics from up to 600&nbsp;shows within the German-language region and the viewing period.

The 10 Productions

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On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the International Forum, a special framing programme will exclusively present alumni of the International Forum.

Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025

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The International Forum is an initial impetus for collaboration, the search for diverse local perspectives on global issues, and a free space for developing artistic ideas together.

International Forum

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Aspiring arts journalists with a keen interest in the theatre&nbsp;will attend and critically reflect the Theatertreffen with the support of experienced mentors.

Theatertreffen-Blog

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Short impulse key notes by alumni of the International Forum will be followed by conversations between participants from the respective production and the audience about decisions regarding content and aesthetics.

Audience Talks

At a Glance

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by Martin Thomas Pesl

In his essay on the theatre year 2024, Theatertreffen-juror Martin Thomas Pesl looks to the past and to the future – and finds legacy issues, multiple identities, AI and even a spark of hope.

Black is the New Black

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Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th century, Diane Arbus’ bold black-and-white photographs demolish aesthetic conventions and upend all certainties. Gropius Bau presents the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date.

Diane Arbus: Konstellationen

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Performers and life-sized dolls – living creatures and inanimate objects – come together in Gisèle Vienne’s and Étienne Bideau-Rey’s dance-theatre performance “Showroomdummies #4”. The choreography in slow motion – composed in dialogue with original music by Peter Rehberg – is diffracting time and thus enabling usually unseen parts of experiences to be seen.

Showroomdummies #4

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In Thorsten Lensing’s new play, Ursina Lardi, Karin Neuh&auml;user, Sebastian Blomberg, André Jung and drummer Willi Kellers play characters careening their way from one disaster to the next. What defines them is an absurd blend of brutality and tenderness, anarchy and metaphysical curiosity, existential pain and zest for life.

Tanzende Idioten

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As an international co-production, artists Nina Laisné and François Chaignaud and singer Nadia Larcher have developed a performance that is carried by music, singing and dance at once. In “Último helecho”, European Baroque meets South American folklore and mythology.

Último helecho

More Berliner Festspiele

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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.

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media

By Martin Thomas Pesl

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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.

Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska and Kirsten Ha&szlig;, German Federal Cultural Foundation

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Seven theatre critics determine the festival’s 10 most remarkable productions.&nbsp;

The 2026 Theatertreffen-Jury

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The Theatertreffen’s database lists every production, theatre and director invited to the festival since 1964.

The Theatertreffen Database since 1964

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Exclusive insights, anecdotes and hotel experiences from three years of the jury’s daily life with trips to 3,943&nbsp;productions

From the Life of the Theatertreffen-Jury 2025

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International Forum, Discussions, Awards

The 10 Most Remarkable Productions

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Each year, the Theatertreffen brings the 10 most remarkable productions from the German-language region as well as the works of emerging artists to Berlin.