Sophiensaal
The Sophiensäle (proper spelling Sophiensæle ) are a production and performance location for independent theater. They are based in the former craftsmen's association on the courtyard at Sophienstrasse 18 in Berlin-Mitte . The production facility was founded in 1996 by Sasha Waltz , Jochen Sandig , Jo Fabian , Zebu Kluth and Dirk Cieslak.
history
For the history of the building, see article Craftsmen's Association
The Sophiensäle were founded as a GbR and later converted into a GmbH .
The first performances took place in 1996 with Dirk Cieslak and Armin Dallapiccola’s play Throughout Open . The official opening of the Sophiensäle followed on September 26, 1996 with the world premiere of Sasha Waltz 's production Allee der Kosmonauten .
Until 1999 Sasha Waltz & Guests performed all of their produced pieces in the Sophiensaal. Afterwards Amelie Deuflhard became managing director and artistic director of the Sophiensäle. From 2007 to 2010 Heike Albrecht was artistic director and managing director, the latter together with the commercial director Kerstin Müller. In 2011 Ilka Seifert, Bettina Sluzalek and Franziska Werner took over the artistic direction of the Sophiensaele. At the end of 2011, Franziska Werner took over the artistic direction alone.
In 2011, the building was renovated with funds from the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Foundation and reopened on December 2, 2011. During the renovation, care was taken to preserve the atmosphere of the old craftsmen's association. The Sophiensäle occupied three rooms in the building: until 2011 these were the ballroom, the wedding hall and the Virchow hall. In the course of the renovation, the Virchowsaal was given up and replaced by the canteen. All rooms are also rented for non-cultural uses.
Production and performance facility
The Sophiensäle have established themselves as a production site for independent theater in Germany since they were founded in 1996. Artists from the local, national and international scene are invited to produce and present their work here based on their artistic concepts. The Sophiensäle form the venue and support you with the application for funding, the search for co-production partners, and press and public relations work. In some cases, they also take on production management.
program
Every year around 90 productions and several festivals can be seen in the Sophiensaal. Theater, dance, performance, music and discursive formats are shown.
In addition to new artists, various artists and companies work in long-term partnerships at the Sophiensaal. Artists and collectives who regularly perform and produce in the Sophiensaal are Thorsten Lensing , Vanessa Stern, Christoph Winkler , Monster Truck, Sebastian Matthias, Interrobang , Martin Nachbar and Turbo Pascal . In the past, artists such as Nico and the Navigators, Lubricat, Constanza Macras / Dorky Park , Two Fish, Novoflot, Laurent Chétouane and Gintersdorfer / Klaßen have produced in the Sophienaele . The play Karamasow by Thorsten Lensing, which premiered in the Sophiensaal in 2014, received the Friedrich-Luft-Preis .
The development of new formats, series and festivals plays an important role. The Tanztage Berlin and Freischwimmer festivals - news from theater, performance and live art - are central to promoting young talent . Various university collaborations complement the focus on young talent. Together with HAU Berlin and Ballhaus Ost , the Sophiensäle host the annual festival 100 ° Berlin - The Long Weekend of Free Theater , a forum for the Berlin performance scene.
network
The Sophiensäle are part of a network of internationally oriented, independent theaters, including Kampnagel Hamburg, Mousonturm Frankfurt / Main, FFT Düsseldorf, Theaterhaus Gessnerallee Zurich and brut Wien . In addition, the Sophiensäle are venues for festivals such as ultrasound , MaerzMusik , the Theatertreffen or dance in August .
Mediation
The Sophiensäle are committed to cultural mediation work both through their own initiatives and through cooperation with various partners. The table societies are their own initiatives , where artists and the public take time for questions and answers. In addition, the Sophiensäle offer introductions to plays , further training for theater educators, house tours and visits to performances with workshops for groups or school classes. In 2012 the youth club "Kalte Sophies" was founded under the direction of Judica Albrecht. The Sophiensäle have been TUSCH Berlin's partner theaters since 2005. They also regularly initiate projects with artists in schools. Funding partners are the project fund for cultural education and dance opportunity. In 2014 they realized their own youth festival for the first time .
financing
Waltz, Sandig and Deuflhard are still partners in Sophiensaele GmbH today. In summer 2010 they negotiated a new lease with the owner of the building, which is set for 15 years. As part of the concept funding of the Berlin Senate Chancellery for Cultural Affairs, the Sophiensäle will be funded from 2011 to the end of 2014 with an annual sum of 750,000 euros. In 2014 the total was increased to 1 million euros due to the increased maintenance costs after the renovation. For the funding period from 2015 to 2018, an annual funding of 1,155,000 euros was decided.
Language policy
On November 16, 2016, the second performance of the play Leopard Murders by the independent Zurich theaters as part of the Freischwimmer Festival was canceled by the Sophiensaele team due to "artistic differences". This was justified as follows: “During the first performance of the production in Berlin, we, the Sophiensaele team, came to the conclusion that the artistic handling of a document from the 1920s was presented with far too little critical distance.” The Sophiensaele made suggestions to the team of Leopard Murders "the revision for the second performance", which the team did not want to implement and so the play was canceled. In the press this process was called "censorship" (Die Welt). In November 2016, the Sophiensaele announced that they would “continue the debate and plan various discursive formats” regarding leopard murders for next spring . The taz criticizes the deletion of leopard murders from the festival program as "patronizing and paternalistic" and sees this "clearing up the language here as a distinction technique of a reform elite (..) that attests to a racism-free status beyond the white norm."
literature
- Heike Albrecht, Matthias Dell (ed.): Forms of artistic cooperation - Sophiensaele 2007–2010. Verlag Theater der Zeit, 2010, ISBN 978-3-942449-12-0 .
- Amelie Deuflhard (Ed.): Produce space - Sophiensæle 1996-2006. Verlag Theater der Zeit, 2006, ISBN 978-3-934344-78-5 .
Web links
- Homepage of the Sophiensæle
- Freischwimmer - platform for young theater
- Berlin stages
- Tanztage Berlin
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.nachtkritik.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4629%3Asophiensaele-berlin-sanierung-und-neue-kuenstlerische-leitung-ab-2011&catid=126%3Ammeldung&Itemid=1
- ↑ http://www.nachtkritik.de/index.php?view=article&id=6284:franziska-werner-leitet-die-sophiensaele-jetzt-allein&option=com_content&Itemid=100089
- ↑ "Karamasow" receives the Friedrich-Luft-Preis of the Morgenpost, Berliner Morgenpost, April 2nd, 2015.
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/Sophiensaele/posts/1251659771562767
- ↑ Alan Posener: Theater scandal: stubborn ideologues correct the culture to pieces. In: welt.de . November 21, 2016, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/Sophiensaele/posts/1251659771562767
- ↑ http://www.taz.de/!5359531/
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 32 " N , 13 ° 24 ′ 4" E