8Th Festival International New Drama 6 – 9 November 2008 | Focus Palestine

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Zeit.Genossen

F.I.N.D. 8 8th Festival International New Drama 6 – 9 November 2008 | Focus Palestine

* sirtu ’atamanna: lau ’anni: nabata! »Sometimes I’d rather be a plant« from »No, he is not dead« by Hussein Barghouti /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////1 F.I.N.D. 8 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Welcome!

After the focus of last year’s festival on Israeli theater, the current 8th Alongside the readings in German, two guest performances will afford Festival of International New Drama (F.I.N.D.) returns once again to the Berlin audiences the rare experience of hearing the Arabic language on Levant, that coastland from which Zeus – in mythic times and in the stage. »In Spitting Distance« by Taher Najib, and »A Memory of Forget- shape of a bull – abducted the princess Europa and took her to the fulness« by Mahmoud Darwish are two internationally regarded theatri- West. The consequences of that act are well known: her brother Kad- cal productions which take on the question of Palestinian identity. mos followed her, brought writing to Greece and became the forebear »Ramallah’s Lions« is a short performance by Wafa Hourani on daily life of Oedipus, whose fate inspired one of the most important dramas of in Ramallah under the second Intifada, which is presented with three world literature. actors from the Schaubühne.

Wajdi Mouawad, a French-Canadian playwright from Beirut, has traced A further focal point of the festival is the three pieces from Scandinavia these complicated family histories between the Near East and the which are based on documentary material. »In a Moment« and »Extreme« distant West in his piece »You can’t look the sun or death in the eye.« The by Peter Asmussen from Denmark, and »Regretters« by Marcus Lindeen Schaubühne presents the German premiere of his text, as well as a from Sweden, address the very modern and controversial themes of guest performance of his play »Alone«, in which he is both actor and gender roles in Scandinavian societies. director. The festival opens with a reading of »Those that Know« by Nina Ender, The primary focus of this year’s festival is the Palestinian theater lands- the winner of the Schaubühne’s fifth playwriting competition. cape. Palestinian theater-makers have managed to develop a distinct form of Arabic theater in Israel – despite the difficult working conditions We invite you to experience F.I.N.D. 8 with us – an experimental forum – by engaging with the daily political crises, as well as with deeper con- where you can enjoy works in progress and works of current relevance, flicts and fissures in Palestinian society. Their work maneuvers through a pulsing meeting ground and place of exchange, discovery, discussion the ideologies, cultures and religions of a complex society which itself and celebration. exists between tradition and modernity. Their texts reflect memories of the »nakba«, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948, life between exile and occupation, and the presence of death in an environment of permanent violence.

Tickets + Service

Tickets Guest Performances, Repertoire 6–33 €, STUDIO 13 € Staged Readings 9 €/5 € (Concessions) | Film 5 €/2,50 € (Concessions) | Streitraum 2,50 €/free (Concessions) Discussions, Performances, Party: free entry

schaubühne am lehniner platz Kurfürstendamm 153, Karten: 030.89 00 23, www.schaubuehne.de, [email protected] u Adenauerplatz s Charlottenburg, Halensee b M19, M29

Thanks!

Imprint © Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Spielzeit 2008/2009, Design: Heinrich Kreyenberg / heutemorgen 2///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// F.I.N.D. 8 Thursday 6 November 2008 19:30 Staged Reading 20:30 Repertoire Die Wissenden Der Stein Those That Know The Stone by Nina Ender (Berlin) by Marius von Mayenburg Winner of the 5th (Berlin) World Premiere | With English surtitles Playwriting Competition Direction: Ingo Berk | Stage Design: Damian Hitz | Costumes: Marysol del Castillo Award Ceremony and Staged Reading (Excerpts) Music: Patrik Zeller | Light: Rudolf Heckerodt Directed by Jan-Christoph Gockel (Berlin) With Lea Draeger, Judith Engel, Bettina Hoppe, Eva Meckbach, Elzema- With Karsten Dahlem, David Ruland, Judith Strößenreuter a.o. rieke de Vos, Kay Bartholomäus Schulze Performance Rights with the author Performance Rights: henschel SCHAUSPIEL Theaterverlag Berlin Please join us for a reception in honor of Nina Ender after the reading. Sponsored by CAA and Red Onion.

Paula Schenk, née Paula Schwenk, is a French teacher on the verge of a ner- vous breakdown. Her husband Michael does neurological experiments; one of his subjects is a severely handicapped boy, Ralph, who is the brother of a student of Paula’s. A chance encounter between Ralph and Paula, and a careless comment, leads her to lose grip on her life. Paula’s late-stage abortion of a handicapped child is weighing more and more heavily on her. Michael keeps having new success with his research, and is sleeping with one of Paula’s tea- ching colleagues. Paula meets a young woman, who is prepared to help her terminally ill father die.

»Die Wissenden« is a play about the madness of the world and of those living in it. The play examines the value of human life, and asks when a life is worth living, and when not.

Nina Ender, born in 1980 in Erlangen, studied playwriting from The play describes the interwoven life paths of the inhabitants of a house in 2004-08 at the University of the Arts, Berlin. She received the Dresden between 1935 and 1993. The scenes alternate between times and audience prize at DRAMA COLOGNE 2005 for her short piece encapsulate a very human story of guilt, denial, and of the revision of history »Give the Cat Some Cake.« She also participated in the 2005 in a German family. Stückemarkt Workshop at the Berlin Theatertreffen with her A co-production with Salzburger Festspiele as part of Young Directors Project piece »New Country,« and wrote the short piece »Beta« for the 2008, with the generous support of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Schaubühne’s Deutschland Saga. Ms. Ender won the fifth Playwriting Com- petition at the Schaubühne with »Die Wissenden.« 21:00 Film

Jan-Christoph Gockel, born 1982 in Gießen, founded his own Arnas Kinder puppet theater and studied theater, film and media in Frankfurt am Main. At the Schaubühne he directed the Deutschland Saga Arna’s Children last season. He concludes his study of theater directing at the Ernst Busch College of the Dramatic Arts in 2009, in a co-pro- by Juliano Mer Khamis duction of »Die Wissenden« with the Schaubühne. (Jenin) We wish to express our gratitude to the Contemporary Arts Alliance Berlin for Israel/Palestine/Netherlands 2003, 84 minutes their continued support of the playwright competition. Further information: Arabic with German surtitles www.caa-berlin.de Arna Mer Khamis was born in 1929 in Palestine as the child of Jewish parents. Married to a Palestinian, she worked in support of the children of the Jenin refugee camp after the start of the first Intifada. Together with her son, the actor Juliano Mer Khamis, she ran a theater group in which refugee children were active and were given psychological support. Juliano followed the group with his camera from 1989 to 1996. After his mother’s death in 2003, he returned to the camp to discover the brutal adult fate of Youssef, Ashraf and Ala, who were once members of the theater group.

Juliano Mer Khamis, born in Nazareth in 1958, is an actor, director and political activist. He founded the Freedom Theater in Jenin in 2006.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////3 F.I.N.D. 8 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Friday 7 November 2008 19:30 Staged Reading Nein, er ist nicht tot No, he is not dead by Hussein Barghouti (Ramallah) German by Youssef Hijazi Directed by François Abou Salem (Jerusalem/Paris) With Ulrich Hoppe, Urs Jucker, Helena Siegmund-Schultze, 22:30 Staged Reading Ursula Staack, Rafael Stachowiak, Carina Wiese a.o. Performance Rights: El-Hakawati Ein ganz, ganz treuer Soldat A package has arrived containing the papers of Salameh’s father, who left the family long ago. Is it proof of his death, or a sign of life? Is he in exile, a rich man A really, really faithful Soldier in America, or is he preparing his return as a revivalist? A memorial ceremony is improvised, which becomes the occasion for a variety of speculation on the by Ala Hlehel (Acca) father’s fate. Wishful thinking and resignation blend together in opposition. German by Günther Orth Directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi (Tel Aviv) Hussein Barghouti was born in 1954 in a village near With Niels Bormann, Bruno Cathomas, André Szymanski Ramallah. He studied literature in Ramallah, Budapest and Performance Rights with the author Washington, and taught at several Palestinian universities. He was the author of numerous poems, song lyrics and thea- Of course the commandant believes it is worth it to die for one’s country. What trical works. He died in 2002. if a soldier is merely seventeen, however, and has not yet experienced life, and has no family or loved ones? In a break in the fighting, the situation escalates. François Abou Salem, the son of a French mother and a Hierarchy, rules and morality have become meaningless. The soldiers have Palestinian father, founded the Palestinian ensemble El- lost all inhibitions and tear each other apart. Hakawati (»the story-teller«) in 1977. The director, actor and writer lives and works in Jerusalem and Paris. Ala Hlehel was born in 1974 in Galilee, and studied dramatic writing, communications and art in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Alongside his work as a journalist, radio host and translator, ////////////////////////////////////// he has published short stories, theatrical work, and two novels. He lives in Acca.

Amir Nizar Zuabi was born in Jerusalem. He studied acting, and worked as a director in Palestine and Europe, and was a 21:00 Guest Performance theater director in Haifa and Ramallah. Today the 32-year-old is a director at the Palestinian National Theatre in East Jeru- Seuls Alone salem and artistic director of the independent group »Shiber Hur« (Free Inch) based in Galilea. He lives between Tel Aviv by Wajdi Mouawad (Québec) and Jaffa. ////////////////////////////////////// French with German surtitles by Uli Menke With Wajdi Mouawad | Direction: Wajdi Mouawad Performance Rights with the author

Harwan, a student, is writing his dissertation on the theater of Robert Lepage. He wants nothing more than to meet the master, and follows him on his tra- vels: to no avail. Instead, an accident occurs, which leads Harwan deep inside his own subconscious. He journeys back into his childhood, which seems like another world whose images have been erased, and whose language has been forgotten.

Wajdi Mouawad was born in 1968. At the age of five the franco- canadian author fled from Lebanon to Canada with his parents. Today the writer and director lives in France and Canada. He became known in Germany with his work »Scrooge«. This season the Schaubühne presents the German premiere of his work »Der Sonne und dem Tod kann man nicht ins Auge sehen« > > > Afterwards discussion & tanzBAR Djane Vamparela (Electro / Indie / Rockabilly) www.myspace.com/djvamparela + Concert: LOCAL SUZIE live 4///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// F.I.N.D. 8 Saturday 8 November 2008 > > > 19:00 Guest Performance Ein Gedächtnis für das Vergessen A Memory for Forgetfulness adapted from Mahmoud Darwish (Ramallah) Arabic with German surtitles With François Abou Salem 20:30 Guest Performance In Cooperation with Amer Khalil and Amir Nizar Zuabi Performance Rights: El-Hakawati In Spuckweite It is 1982. Israeli troups attack Lebanon. The Palestinian resistance defends its In Spitting Distance headquarters in Beirut. Amidst the bombing, a Palestinian poet sits in his apart- ment trying to find reassurance as the world seems to crumble around him. He by Taher Najib (Haifa) drifts away in the neutral voice of the newscaster, in the collective dreams and Arabic with German surtitles by Günther Orth and Youssef Hijazi memories of the Palestinians, and most of all in the aroma of fresh-brewed cof- With Khalifa Natour | Direction: Ofira Henig (Jerusalem) fee. This lesser-known part of the prolific work of Mahmoud Darwish is an auto- Performance Rights: Rukab Project biographical prose text, and was adapted for the stage by François Abou Salem. For the german version with Litag Theater Verlag, Bremen

As a seven year old Mahmoud Darwish was exiled in 1948. Between Ramallah, Paris and Tel Aviv, an actor’s monologue unfolds. His tra- In secret his family returned to Galilee. He worked in Haifa vels to new acting jobs turn him into a cross-border commuter. As a Palesti- editing political and cultural publications before he returned nian with an Israeli passport, he has a confrontation with airport personnel to exile in 1970, after having been arrested numerous times. which becomes the start of a reflection on what is home, what is not, and As the cultural director of the PLO, he co-wrote the proclama- where he finds himself. Taher Najib worked for two years on this autobiogra-

Foto: Mahmoud Dabdoub Foto: tion of the Palestinian state, before withdrawing in protest phical travel journal, which alternates between poetry and biting satire. He over the Oslo Accords. He was not able to return to Israel until 1995. Darwish was finally able to complete it as part of a writing fellowship at the Royal Court is a recipient of the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize (2003). His poems are Theatre in London. It has been shown at the Theatronetto Festival in Tel Aviv, among the most widely read in the Arab speaking world, and strongly influen- as well as at Romaeuopa. ced Palestinian nationalism. He died in August 2008 after open-heart surgery. Taher Najib comes from a village near Haifa. He worked as François Abou Salem is director of the Palestinian ensemble El-Hakawati. an actor in Ramallah until moving to Paris at the time the (see page 4) second Intifada broke out. He returned to Israel for a theater project by Ofira Henig. Today he lives as an actor, director ////////////////////////////////////// and writer in his home town. Foto: ItayFoto: Weiser Ofira Henig has worked as a director since 1989. She taught at the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem and at the 21:30 Staged Reading University of Tel Aviv. She was the Artistic Director of the Khan Theater in Jerusalem, after which she began her current Die Geschichte des Dorfes position as Director of the Herzliyya New Ensemble. Her theatrical projects tackle political themes and address the possi-

Kufur Schamma Gerar Alon Foto: bility of multi-cultural cooperation. The Story of Kufur Shamma ////////////////////////////////////// by Jackie Lubeck und François Abou Salem is director of the Palestinian ensemble El-Hakawati. François Abou Salem (see page 4) Jackie Lubeck, born 1952 in New York, has been in Jerusa- (Jerusalem) lem since the early 1970s. As a co-founder of El Hakawati German by Dorothea Herlyn Theatre Company, she acted in all the company plays before Directed by Mikaël Serre (Paris) beginning to write for them. She is now co-director and the With Wolf Aniol, Karsten Dahlem, Bettina Hoppe, Ulrich Hoppe, main writer for the Palestine-based company Theatre Day Urs Jucker, Eva Meckbach, Rafael Stachowiak, Judith Strößenreuter Productions, founded in 1990, with theatre productions in the Gaza Strip and Musik: Nils Ostendorf the West Bank along with some international experiences. Performance Rights: Litag Theater Verlag, Bremen Walid, the brother of the village chairman, is proud to return to Palestine after Mikaël Serre was born in Nîmes in 1973, and studied art, his studies in far-away Cairo. It is 1948. He is looking forward to a warm wel- acting and directing in St. Etienne, Paris and Salzburg. He come by the village community, and above all is eager to see his fiancée has directed contemporary work on stages throughout Samiyya. Instead he finds his village in ruins, with no one but the village idiot Europe. Ka’wash to be found. Walid is in denial over the loss of his home, and begins a bitter search for its inhabitants.

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24:00 Short performance Ramallahs Löwen The Lions of Ramallah by Wafa Hourani (Ramallah/London) Directed by Wafa Hourani With Niels Bormann, David Ruland a.o. Performance Rights: Wafa Hourani On Manarah Square in the center of Ramallah a memorial showing lions statues is situated. The wristwatch on the paw of one of the lions in the statue was actually a joke made by the artist during Wafa Hourani, born in Hebron in 1979, is the design, but was promptly carried out in the execution. In visual artist Wafa Hourani’s perfor- a graduate of the College of Art and Film in mance the statues can no longer remain still due to the second Intifada. The lions begin to tell each Tunis. He describes his work, which com- other their life stories. One of them was shot in the cheek, and can still remember the shooter. Ano- bines elements of film, photography and ther is getting thinner and thinner, since the city administration is constantly scraping off martyrs’ architecture, with the term »Photolife.« His posters which have been pasted on him. One lion has become a father and has emigrated to installation »Qalandia 2047,« a vision of the refugee Canada to keep his lion cubs away from the daily violence. Now the others are considering the pos- camp in the future, was exhibited at the Thessaloniki sibility of exile. Biennale. He lives and works in Ramallah and London.

> > > Afterwards discussion & tanzBAR BONAPARTE live (circus show) + Djane Vamparela www.myspace.com/findingbonaparte Sunday 9 November 2008 > > >

12:00 Streitraum 15:00 Staged Reading The fascination of the Extrem Extreme forbidden – on taboos by Peter Asmussen in Palestine. (Kopenhagen) German by Angelika Gundlach Marina Barham and Wafa Directed by Christoph Sommerfeldt (Berlin) With Wolf Aniol, Niels Bormann, Ulrich Hoppe, Urs Jucker, David Ruland, Hourani in discussion with Rafael Stachowiak, André Szymanski a.o. Carolin Emcke Performance Rights: Colombine Teaterförlag Stockholm A man, who has been left by his lover and is entertaining thoughts of suicide; a Whoever speaks of life in the occupied territories will inevitably encounter bar- man who takes care of his ageing mother and is consumed with hatred for her; riers. Not physical barriers such as the dividing wall or the checkpoints, but a man who has killed his wife and children; a man who has been taken hos- metaphorical barriers in thought and speech. Even among friends, insecurity tage… Nine men and one boy speak openly about their lives. All of them are in and doubt regarding moral and political intuitions define most conversations, an extreme psychological and emotional state, and in extreme circumstances and the fear of being misunderstood, seen in the wrong light, or as too radical which will change their lives forever. The play is based on documentary material. or too conformist, prevails. What topics are loaded with the weight of taboo? Not merely the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also of conflicts Peter Asmussen, born in 1957, is one of the most widely perfor- among Palestinians themselves? Which questions within Palestinian society med playwrights in Denmark. Alongside his prose and dramatic remain untouched? work, he has written screenplays for TV and film – for Lars von Trier and Simon Staho, among others – as well as radio shows. Marina Barham is the general director of Al Harah Theater in Beit Jala/ Palestine, He lives in Copenhagen. Wafa Hourani lives and works as visual artist in Ramallah and London. Christoph Sommerfeldt, born in 1983, studied theater and German studies in Leipzig before joining the directing program at the Ernst Busch School of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, which he will complete next year. //////////////////////////////////////

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17:00 Staged Reading 20:00 Repertoire In einem Augenblick Der Hund, die Nacht In a Moment und das Messer by Peter Asmussen The dog, the night and the knife (Kopenhagen) by Marius von Mayenburg German by Angelika Gundlach World Premiere Directed by Thomas Bading (Berlin) Direction: Benedict Andrews | Stage Design and costumes: Magda Willi With Judith Engel, Claudia Geissler-Bading, Bettina Hoppe, Music: Malte Beckenbach | Light: Erich Schneider Eva Meckbach, Carola Regnier With Jule Böwe, Rafael Stachowiak, Thomas Wodianka Performance Rights: Colombine Teaterförlag Stockholm Camilla reveals at Christmas that her mother is having an affair and destroys the Marius von Mayenburg’s play family. Sarah’s twins were stillborn. Tammi is cheating on her husband, and disco- shows M’s nightmarish escape vers that she has breast cancer. Five women tell of the moments in which everything through a city in which everyone changed, and of the life thereafter. The play is based on documentary material. he meets, man or woman, bears a striking similarity to each other. Thomas Bading was born in 1959 in Berlin. He studied acting And all of them are lusting after in Leipzig and performed at the Theater Halle and the Deutsches his flesh. Theater Berlin. Since 1999 he has been a member of the Schaubühne’s ensemble. He has also directed at the New Thea- ter in Halle. ////////////////////////////////////// 19:00 Staged Reading Regretters by Marcus Lindeen ////////////////////////////////////// (Stockholm) German by Jana Hallberg 20:30 Repertoire Directed by Ramin Gray With Lore Stefanek, Oliver Stern Der Sonne und dem Tod kann Performance Rights: Pegasus Theaterverlag Berlin Mikael and Orlando were born as men, but have both become women through man nicht ins Auge sehen an operation. Their hope is that life in another body would make them happier. Now they realise that the sex-change was the biggest mistake of their lives, You can’t look the sun or death and both dream of becoming men again. A story of two indiv iduals who dare to change themselves and refuse to give up, even when their new life didn’t in the eye turn out the way they expected. The work is based on actual taped interviews with two Swedish men. by Wajdi Mouawad German by Uli Menke | German Premiere Marcus Lindeen, born in 1980, is a playwright and director. Before Direction: Dominique Pitoiset (Théâtre National de Bordeaux) working for the theater he was a writer and a radio producer. Right Stage Design, Costumes, Video: Kattrin Michel now he is writing his third play for Stockholms Stadsteater and With Wolf Aniol, Bettina Hoppe, Ulrich Hoppe, Eva Meckbach, David Ruland directing his first documentary feature film. He lives in Stockholm. Kadmos is leaving his home – he is loo- Ramin Gray was born 1963 in London. He directed, amongst king in vain for his lost sister Europe. other theatres, at Théâtre de l’Odéon Paris, Playhouse Liverpool, Instead he founds the city of Thebes. Schauspielhaus Hamburg and Volkstheater Vienna. Since 2000 he His great-grandchild Laios must take has been working at Royal Court Theatre London, where by now he flight himself, and lands on an island, fal- has become Associate Director. ling in love with a young boy, whom he kidnaps. War ensues. At the end there Afterwards: Discussion is a curse: no child for Laios. But he Documentary Theater does have a child: Oedipus. Discussion about documentary material and the role of the author with reference to With the generous support of the the plays »Extrem«, »In einem Augenblick« and »Regretters« with Peter Asmussen, Embassy of France / Bureau du Marcus Lindeen, Henrik Hartmann, Artistic Director and Mette Wolf Iversen, Théâtre et de la Danse und Cultures Dramaturg from Betty Nansen Theater, Copenhagen. Moderation: Maja Zade. The France as part of the program Théâtre discussion will be held in English. Discussion and Asmussen readings presented in sur mesure. cooperation with Dramatikercentrum Copenhagen. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////7