Theatre o.N.

Theater o.N. is a free theatre in Berlin that produces productions for children, adolescents and adults. In the last ten years, the theatre has developed into a fixed size and anchor position in Berlin and nationwide in the theatre for the youngest (0-6). Our heart beats for the youngest audience, to whom we turn with our artistic and participatory research, our stagings and our symposia. To provide Berlin's kindergarten audience, at least a quarter of a million Berlin citizens inside, with entertaining and sophisticated dance and theatre art, to be a meeting place and contact point for interested artists from this field and to set innovative and experimental impulses in the theatre 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 the only free theatre in the GDR. In a collective way, artists developed groundbreaking productions such as ‘traumhaft’ (1985) or ‘Die Bremen Stadtmusikanten’ (1986). The change 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 was located at Kollwitzstraße 53 since 1996. 2026 will end there and the theatre will move into new premises a little further north in the Fröbelkapelle on the grounds of the Pankow district office.

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 soundboard of the theatre group's history to date. 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 neighbourhood – Participatory projects with children and young people. The ensemble follows the idea that culture is important for all people, no matter their age and regardless of their social or cultural background. Taking individual biographies seriously and relating them to time has been the approach of theatre work since the founding of the group. The aim is to create a public space for a shared 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. On the basis of 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, fixed part-time positions have been gradually created, today there are five. 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 predominantly white, non-disabled ensemble and leadership collective, which in turn has an impact on our dealings with topics such as decoloniality and Ableism. In addition to workshops on anti-racism, cultural appropriation or Ablism, we repeatedly bring advice and experts into 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.

Awards and accolades

The Theater o.N. was awarded several times for the impulses it was able to set regionally and internationally for the theater from the beginning as well as in the participatory area: Invitations for a moment! The theatre festival for young audiences 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 production ‘Flip-Flop’ was awarded the prize for best children’s theatre 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 for cultural policy: The Theater o.N. is a member of the ASSITEJ and LAFT Berlin, is active in the AK Ost (Working Group of the Children's and Youth Theatres in the Federal States of Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) as well as the Working Group of the Berlin Children's and Youth Theatres. Vera Strobel was on the Executive 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 the 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 gathers the international theatre scene for the youngest in Berlin to discuss the development of the theatre form within the framework 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 the children's theatre (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 annually, 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 of the Kollwitzplatz venue – the stated 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 fixed ensemble as its core and always seeks suggestions from the outside by inviting artists of different genres into the team and entering into cooperations.

Aesthetic lines

Time and again, the current theatre o.N. has renewed itself and at the same time adhered to its traditional lines as a political puppet theatre. Body-focused play and singing, a specific expression of the biographical method and material and object theatre are the characteristics of the theatre's productions, etc. With these means – extended by impulses from other areas 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