Theater o.N.

The Theater o.N. is a free theatre in Berlin that produces productions for children, young people and adults. In the last ten years, the theater has become a permanent fixture and anchor position in Berlin and nationwide in the theater for the youngest (0-6). Our heart beats for the youngest audience, to which we turn with our artistic and participatory research, our productions and our symposia. To provide the daycare audience of Berlin, at least a quarter of a million Berlin citizens inside, with entertaining and sophisticated dance and theatre art, to be a meeting place and point of contact for interested artists inside this field and to set innovative and experimental impulses in the theater for (very) young audiences through surprising cooperations, we see as the goal and task of our work.

history

The theatre looks back on a long history. Founded in 1979/80 as Theater Zinnober, it was the first and for a long time only independent theatre in the GDR. In their collective way of working, artists developed pioneering productions such as "traumhaft" (1985) or "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten" (1986). The turn also affected the existence of the theatre: Due to rising rental prices, it had to move to a new venue, renamed itself Theater o.N. and has been located at Kollwitzstraße 53 since 1996. 2026 will end there and the theater will move into new premises a little further north in the Fröbelkapelle on the site of the district office Pankow.

More information about the move: https://www.theater-on.de/en/umzug-froebelkapelle/

reorientation

In 2010, a new collective of individuals was brought together on the sounding board of the theatre group's previous history. The new team under the artistic direction of Ania Michaelis changed the organizational structures and established two new concepts of artistic work: Theatre and Dance for the Youngest and Beyond the Kiezrand – Participatory projects with children and young people. The ensemble follows the idea that culture is important for all people, regardless of age and regardless of their social or cultural origin. Taking individual biographies seriously and setting them in terms of time has been the approach of theatre work since the founding of the group. The aim is to create a public space for a common aesthetic experience of the generations.

In 2012, Dagmar Domrös and Vera Strobel took over the artistic co-direction of the theatre and, together with Doreen Markert, have formed the artistic management collective since 2014. Based on flat hierarchies and a strong ensemble spirit, this management collective led the theatre through a multi-year process of generational change and the gradual professionalization of structures. Since 2021, permanent part-time positions have been gradually created, compared to five today. All other members of the 20-member ensemble work on a fee and project basis.

Equity and accessibility

Since 2018/19, we have been increasingly focusing on the opening process towards greater diversity in the team and on stage. Since 2020/21, we have also been working to improve the accessibility of our program for viewers with disabilities and for a neurodiverse audience. We are a mostly white-positioned, non-disabled ensemble and leadership collective, which in turn has an impact on our preoccupations with topics such as decolonialism and abelism. In addition to workshops on anti-racism, cultural appropriation or ablism, we always get advice and expert inside our production teams and delegate artistic and conceptual responsibility where possible.

In our contracts, we use an anti-discrimination clause developed in cooperation with the law firm Laaser – a building block in our efforts to create power-critical and fair working conditions.

Prizes and awards

The theater o.N. has received several awards for the impulses it has been able to provide regionally and internationally for the theater from the beginning as well as in the participatory field: Invitations at a moment's notice! The Festival of Theatre for Young Audience with the production HARVEST by Isabelle Schad (2023) and the sound pieces ‘Klangquadrat’ and ‘Schnürchen’ (2019). ‘HARVEST’ (2022), ‘Future Beats’ (2019), ‘Kleines Stück Himmel’ (2016), ‘Weiße Wäsche’ (2013) and ‘Kokon’ (2011) were nominated for the IKARUS Prize. In 2023, the ‘Flip-Flop’ production was awarded the prize for best children’s play by the expert jury. In 2014, the theatre was awarded the George Tabori Prize. We see invitations to renowned festivals with guest performances or as speakers for lectures on aesthetic and content-related questions as confirmation of our motivation to actively shape the international children's and youth theatre scene.
We also assume responsibility in terms of cultural policy: The Theater o.N. is a member of the ASSITEJ and the LAFT Berlin, is active in the AK Ost (Working Group of Children's and Youth Theatres in the federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) as well as the Working Group of Berlin's Children's and Youth Theatres. Vera Strobel was on the board of LAFT Berlin from 2014-2017, Dagmar Domrös from 2017-2022 and continues to be involved in the working group on district culture.

Festivals

Since 2013, the Theater o.N. has been the organizer of the biennial FRATZ International, a festival of performing arts for the youngest with venues in six Berlin districts. With the festival structure of FRATZ, the theatre is committed to a decentralized cultural offer and wants to make an artistic contribution against social division and exclusion. At the same time, FRATZ is gathering the international theatre scene for the youngest in Berlin to discuss the development of theatre as part of a symposium and various research formats. The project Berliner Schaufenster developed the theater o.N. in 2016 to create a presentation platform for the Berlin independent scene of children's theater (0-6J) and to promote exchange, further education and networking of the actors.
repertoire operation

As a producer, Theater o.N. develops 1-3 new productions every year, many of them for the youngest audience and others for an audience between 6 and 14 years old as well as an ensemble work for adults every three to four years. Successful new productions are usually included in the repertoire operations of the Spielstätte am Kollwitzplatz – the declared aim is to show in-house productions at regular intervals over several years. In 2023, 13 repertoire pieces and 3 new productions were performed.
Ensemble

The theatre works with a permanent ensemble as its core and always seeks inspiration from outside by inviting artists of different genres into the team and entering into cooperations.

Aesthetic lines

Again and again, the current theater o.N. has renewed itself and at the same time adhered to its traditional lines as a political puppet theater. Body-focused playing and singing, a distinct expression of the biographical method and material and object theatre are the characteristics of the theatre's productions, etc. With these means – expanded by impulses from other fields such as new music, contemporary dance, visual arts – the ensemble conducts its aesthetic research, in the works for the youngest as well as for its adult audience.

More information: www.theater-on.de