F.I.N.D. 2012

Festival of International New Drama »F.I.N.D. 2012«
March 1st - 11th, 2012

F.I.N.D. 2012 brings world premieres and guest performances of new works from international authors/theatre makers to Berlin: Marius von Mayenburg’s »Märtyrer«, »Miss Julie«, directed in Moscow by Thomas Ostermeier, Krzysztof Warlikowski’s »Contes africains«, Ivo van Hove’s »Husbands« - get your tickets here!

Get informed about the F.I.N.D. 2012 here

About the history of F.I.N.D.

In March 2011, in the 11th year since its inception, the Festival of International New Drama reinvented itself as a large festival with visiting productions by playwright-directors from all over the world under the patronage of the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit. Over the course of ten days, some of the most important theatre directors and authors from Russia, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Canada, Israel and Palestine presented their work at the Schaubühne. World premieres by Wajdi Mouawad, Rodrigo Garcia and Friederike Heller, visiting productions by Alvis Hermanis, Yael Ronen, Jean-François Sivadier and Cilla Back, workshop presentations by Ofira Henig and Yael Ronen as well as a writer’s project with new short plays by playwrights from Spain, Finland, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Estonia and Serbia were shown.
For the first time in its history, F.I.N.D. was complemented by an international symposium for more than 60 directing, acting and dramaturgy students from Berlin, Moscow, Rennes, Bordeaux and Strasbourg: F.I.N.D. plus. The students attended the festival performances, met with directors and artistic teams to discuss the productions they had seen and participated in a series of applied workshops directed by renowned theatre practitioners. Three of the students’ own productions from Moscow, Bordeaux and Berlin were presented in the festival. F.I.N.D. plus succeeded in creating a platform for artistic encounters, exchange and dialogue - between upcoming international artists, renowned theatre practitioners and the Berlin audience. There are plans for further meetings during the next years.
Here you can download our festival programme for F.I.N.D. 2011:
FIND2011_INTERNATIONAL.pdf


F.I.N.D. 2010 took the »Three Americas« as its overall theme. Inspired by the 200th anniversary of the struggle for independence in the former Spanish-run colonies of the Americas, the festival presented the various English, Spanish and French theatre traditions of this continent. The festival aimed to use this focus on theatre, with its commentary on the social, economic and cultural conflicts in this part of the world, as the basis of an exploratory debate on the future constitution of a globalized world.
There were guest performances of work by the Argentine-born theater directors Rodrigo García and Rafael Spregelburd, as well as a production of »Scorched« by the French-Canadian-born Wajdi Mouawad. Staged readings of new plays from Mexico and the United States were presented alongside the particularly successful adaptation of the Chilean epic novel »2666« by Roberto Bolaño, directed by Alex Rígola. Patrick Wengenroth was engaged in a project entitled »The Americas - War of the worlds« which focused particularly on the European perspective. The panel discussion »Streitraum Spezial – Die Amerikas« created a debate between theatre practitioners, theorists and the festival audience.

In March 2009 we presented the »International Author's Festival on Identity and History - Digging deep and getting dirty« .
1919-1929-1939-1949-1989-2009: In a year of anniversaries, six authors from five countries dedicated themselves to the task of using the past to write about the present. Identity - individual and collective, cultural and political, played a central theme in all of the resulting pieces, creating complex performances on many levels. The audience was invited to discover the productions of these new plays during our ten-day authors' festival. Amongst them were »Third Generation« by Yael Ronen & the Company, a co-production between the Schaubühne and the Habima Theatre, Israel. Together with a group of Israeli, Palestinian and German actors, Yael Ronen analyzed the Gordian knot as a means of defining the relations between these three nations. Terms such as memory and guilt, perpetrator and victim, and their meaning for us today, both in their public and private use, were explored.
Our director, dramaturg and playwright in residence, Marius von Mayenburg, was represented by two productions. »The Stone« written by von Mayenburg, traces the intertwined fates of the occupants of a house in Dresden between 1935 and 1993. The scenes focus on one German family as they jump boldly between the times and culminate in a very human story of guilt, repression and the reinterpretation of the past. In the context of our overall theme »60 Years of Germany« Marius von Mayenburg also directed »The Pigeons«,by David Gieselmann, which was the winning play in the Schaubühne's comedy competition. „I want to get away“ are Robert Bertrand's first words in »The Pigeons«. A short time later, he is gone, literally. And then François Bertrand appears on the scene, Robert's pigeon-breeding, half-brother, who arouses romantic feelings in Robert's wife, Gerlinde, aswell as in the Dutch safecracker, Silja.
Also in the programme were »Todo« (World Premiere) and »Buenos Aires« by Rafael Spregelburd, and Mark Ravenhill's »Over There« (World Premiere), Dorota Masłowska's »Wir kommen gut klar mit uns« (»We Get on Alright Together«-World Premiere) and a production by the free-lance company Turbo Pascal entitled »Wir werden wieder wer gewesen sein« (»We Shall Have Been Somebody Again«).

In November 2008, the eighth F.I.N.D took place with a focus on Palestine, at the centre of which was an engagement with the Palestinian theatre scene.
Through the presentations of the plays and theatrical forms from Palestine as well as the extensive collaborative work with Palestinian artists, an attempt was made to confront the highly explosive reality of life there.
Despite the difficulties of life for Palestinian artists, alongside the Arab-Hebrew theatre in Israel, an interesting theatrical landscape has also sprung up in the West Bank. Theatre makers have developed very different ways of dealing with the daily political situation, as much with as with the conflicts and ruptures within their own society. Their works move along the tightrope of ideology, culture and religion – tradition and modernity.
The »focus on Palestine« festival thus began the highly successful and fruitful presentation of Israeli theatre at the Schaubühne in March 2007.

The focus of F.I.N.D. 7 was on new plays from Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian region is one of the most pressing crises in world politics, one whose history is closely linked to Germany«s past. This was the starting point for our engagement with new plays from the Middle East. Plays by Ido Bornstein, Hillel Mittelpunkt and Yael Ronen, among others, were presented. Yael Ronen«s play was developed the following year as the German-Israeli-Palestinian work-in-progress production Third Generation.

F.I.N.D. 6 took place under the motto »Orient Express« and introduced the young theatre scene from Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia and Istanbul. Alongside staged readings, international authors wrote stories about a fictitious transeuropean train journey for the Schaubühne-conceived project Orient Express. Guest authors also included playwrights from France and England. Falk Richter presented his new play State of Emergency.

The focus of F.I.N.D. 5 was contemporary playwrights from Asia. We presented plays, guest productions, playwrights and directors from Japan, China and Singapore. A recurring theme was the tension between the traditional and the modern. Plays and guest productions from Canada, Scotland, England and Argentina enlightened us concerning the living conditions of the modern city from a western perspective.

F.I.N.D. 4 took place in January 2004 under the motto »Our way of living« and engaged with the phenomena of violence, war, the economy and media-controlled democracy in the present as well as the recent past and the resulting consequences for the individual. We presented new German plays by, among others, Marius von Mayenburg and Franz Xaver Kroetz, new plays from Australia and England and guest productions from Sweden, Spain and Norway.

F.I.N.D. 3 took place in January 2003 and had a four-fold focus: America, Scandinavia, the Dutch/Flemish theatre and the most recent German plays. Staged readings introduced plays from Iceland and Sweden. Guests included theatre groups from Belgium, Holland, Scotland and Spain.

For F.I.N.D. 2 (December 2001), contacts that were made in the first year of the festival were strengthened. Directors from Australia, England and Lithuania were invited to lead the Schaubühne ensemble and work on staged reading of new plays from Japan, Finland and America, among other countries. Four actors went to the Krétakör Theatre in Budapest to work with Hungarian actors and the director Arpad Schilling on a Phèdre project. Additionally, productions from Croatia (ITD Theatre/Zagreb) and Spain (La Carnicería Teatro/Madrid, director Rodrigo García) were invited to the Schaubühne to present guest productions.

F.I.N.D. 1 took place in November 2000 and began the Schaubühne«s collaboration with internationally renowned writers and theatre groups who had already begun working at the Baracke am Deutschen Theater. The festival presented discoveries and developments in international contemporary drama in the form of staged readings from plays from countries including France, America and England, and international guest productions by theatre groups, including ZT Hollandia under Johan Simons and the Russian writer and actor Evgeny Griskovets.

The Baracke am Deutschen Theater and the »Wochen Neuer Internationaler Dramatik« festival

When Thomas Ostermeier and Jens Hillje took over the artistic directorship of Baracke am Deutschen Theater in Berlin in 1996 they quickly began to introduce new international plays. The smaller-scale festivals, the »New International Weeks of Drama«, introduced new French, British, American and Russian drama in staged readings. Smaller guest productions from countries like England, France and Russia made up the programmes of these festivals. In all, from 1996 to 1999, there were six of these mini-festivals held at the Baracke am Deutschen Theater Baracke. These festivals gave the German-speaking public access to hitherto unknown writers and plays that later found their way into the repertoires of many German and European theatres. They contributed significantly to the newfound prominence given to contemporary international drama.

F.I.N.D in the Repertoire

From the international collaboration with playwrights, directors and actors within the framework of F.I.N.D emerged the projects and productions, which constitute the focus of the Schaubühne repertoire.

The discoveries of the festivals and work on new plays have led to countless world- and German-language premieres in past seasons. A selection of the productions and projects resulting from the festivals:

In March 2009, the German-Israeli-Palestinian work-in-progress production »Third Generation« by Yael Ronen & the Company had its premiere. Ronen’s play was presented at F.I.N.D. 7 – focus on Israel.

In November 2007 Falk Richter’s new play »State of Emergency« had its premiere. Richter, who has been a permanent in-house director at the Schaubühne since the 2006/07 season, presented the first draft of his play at F.I.N.D. 6 as a staged reading.

In addition, Debbie Tucker Green’s play »Stoning Mary« was given its premiere here. The Australian director Benedict Andrews, who has worked continuously at the Schaubühne since F.I.N.D. 3, arranged the play at the last festival and directed it at the Schaubühne in spring 2007.

In 2006, Thomas Ostermeier directed the German-language premiere of Mark Ravenhill’s new play »The Product«. The world premiere of the play took place at F.I.N.D. 6 with Ravenhill in the lead role.

In October of the same year, Christoph Nußbaumeder’s new play »Love is just one possibility« was given its world premiere by Thomas Ostermeier. Christoph Nußbaumeder won the second Schaubühne playwrighting exhibition with his play »To the South Seas by Gherkin-plane«. Thomas Ostermeier presented it at F.I.N.D. 5.

Further examples are »Eldorado« and »The cold child« by Marius von Mayenburg (2004/05 and 2002/03), »Stupidity« by Rafael Spregelburd (2004/05), »Electronic City« by Falk Richter (2003/04), »Suburban Motel« by George F. Walker (2003/04), »Supermarket« by Biljana Srbljanovic (2001/02), »Vanishing Point« by Jessica Goldberg (2000/01) and »This Is a Chair« by Caryl Churchill (2000/01).

The intensive collaboration with playwrights within the F.I.N.D. framework like Sarah Kane, Jon Fosse, Biljana Srbljanovic, Caryl Churchill and Richard Dresser have helped to establish these authors in the German-speaking world.

Playwrighting Competition

Concept

Since 1999 the Schaubühne has been engaged in the active support of young and emerging playwrights in Germany. Attesting to this are the annual Festival of International New Drama (F.I.N.D.), as well as our cooperation with the Cultural Committee of German Business (as part of the BDI e.V., the Federation of German Industries), in support of theater authors.


2003

From among the submissions, the jury, consisting of the Schaubühne’s dramaturgy department and its author-in-residence Marius von Mayenburg, selected »kopftot«, the work of 20-year-old Gerhild Steinbuch. She describes her text in the subtitle as »A Piece on an Escape Attempt.« Ophelia lives alone with her father in physical and psychological repression. In her attempt to escape the claustrophobic situation, she invents a new family, creates a fictitious brother, and fantasizes her dead mother returned to life. Finally her father discovers her withdrawal into this fantasy world and destroys Ophelia’s refuge.

Gerhild Steinbuch was born in 1983 in Mödling, Austria, and studied law in Graz. »kopftot« was presented in 2004 in a staged reading as part of the 4th annual Festival of International New Drama (Jan. 19-26, 2004). In the meantime, Gerhild Steinbuch is working on her third theater piece and is represented by Rowohlt Verlag. Most recently her work »Nach dem glücklichen Tag« was seen at Theater Graz.


2004

Christoph Nußbaumeder won the second Drama Competition in 2004. In the tradition of critical folk theater, he describes the human and socio-economic conflicts which erupt between Polish seasonal laborers and locals during harvest on a Lower Bavarian cucumber farm. The 20-year-old Marlie watches as her dreams of a better life melt under the summer heat in the face of economic exploitation and abusive relationships between men and women.

Christoph Nußbaumeder was born in 1978 in Eggenfelden, Lower Bavaria. After his baccalaureate, civil service, and work in a car factory, he moved to Berlin, where he now studies law, German studies, and history. In 2004 he was awarded the Thomas Bernhard Prize of the Landestheater Linz, Austria. He is currently working on his next play.


2005

The winner of the third Drama Competition was Johanna Kaptein. The jury selected her work »The History of St. Magda.«

»The History of St. Magda« is the portrait of a woman turned murderer. Humiliated by her lover’s wife, Magda flees her home only to get into worse trouble in the next small town. The men she meets determine her life and fate – at least until the day her patience runs out and she snaps. One year later the small town where the murder took place has become a tourist attraction, and the inhabitants gather on the anniversary to recall Magda’s story. By cleverly mixing the layers of time in the play, and by alternating between the epic and dramatic forms, Kaptein manages convincingly and with detail to tell an individual’s story and to illustrate at the same time the claustrophic small-town world in which it takes place.


2006

The winner of the 4th Playwrighting Competition is Lorenz Langenegger with his play »Rakows Dom« (»Rakow’s Cathedral«). The play was presented during F.I.N.D.7 – Focus Israel in a staged reading.


2007

The madness of the world

Nina Ender won the 5th playwrighting competition with »Those who Know« (»Die Wissenden«).

The jury of the Schaubühne’s fifth playwrighting competition has made its decision: They chose the young German writer Nina Ender for her play »Those who Know«. The jury, made up of Schaubühne dramaturgs as well as in-house playwright Marius von Mayenburg, praised the fearless and complex engagement with a difficult theme and the surprising humour in the play. According to the jury, »Those that Know« impressed with its abundance of complex characters and interwoven story.

A staged reading of »Those who Know« took place at the Festival of New International Drama F.I.N.D.8 – focus Palestine, in October 2008.


2009

The winner of this year's Playwrighting Competition is Christian Winkler with »In the Arcades«, which will be presented in a staged reading on March, 7th during our festival »F.I.N.D.10 - The Three Americas«.

About the Play:
Erik, exhausted and burned out, has a nervous breakdown on the street. Fortunately, three doctors, Dr. Brodler, Dr. Kopper and Dr. Harter are on the spot. Their opinion is unanimous: Erik must go to a health resort, and more precisely to a leisure complex on the outskirts of the city. Erik sets out for Wonderwest Recreational Park, where he is at once named Eric. The entertainment is overwhelming, but when Eric hears about the Skymaster attraction, he becomes obsessed. He sets off to search for the Skymaster and comes to notice that life has a striking resemblance to the hustle and bustle of a fairground …

About the Playwright:
Christian Winkler (born in Graz in 1981) is a writer and director who studied playwriting in Graz, Austria. He is the winner of the Schaubühne’s 6th Playwrighting Competition.