The Berlin Theater Intensive aims to foster creative engagement between students and a wide variety of multidisciplinary artists working in theater and performance in Berlin. This rigorous four-week program explores techniques in the devising and creating of original theater works, and immerses students in the city’s theater and performance culture through regular outings to performances, museums, galleries, and other cultural venues; visits to artistic and historical landmarks; and meetings with artists.
Students study a variety of “methods” of creation with Berlin-based artists and, under their guidance, create original theater works. Students also explore the historical and contemporary richness of Berlin’s theatrical culture with faculty from Bard College Berlin.
The work in the studio is organized around a series of distinct themes:
1. Space 2. Text and Composition 3. Body and Movement/Choreography 4. Sound and Image
The program provides 20 hours a week of instruction, master classes/workshops, and lectures. In addition, there are guided rehearsals, showings, and feedback time each week. The students attend theater and other performances three to five times weekly, as well as other cultural offerings such as visits to museums and galleries and architectural and historical walking tours of the city.
Past Performance Videos
Past Performance Videos
The 2019 live performances can be viewed on Youtube:
Florian Becker, Managing Director and Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Bard College Berlin Marco Brosolo, Composer and Sound Designer Eva Burghardt, Dancer and Choreographer Julia Hart, Director Helgard Haug, Rimini Protokoll Stephan Kaegi, Rimini Protokoll Yuko Kaseki, Butoh Performer and Choreographer Wojtek Klemm, Director Anna Kohler, Senior Lecturer Theater Arts, MIT Henrik Kuhlmann, Dramaturg Peggy Maedler, She She Pop Maria Milisavljevic, Playwright Robyn Orlin, Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance Sean Patten, Gob Squad Judith Sánchez Ruiz, Dancer and Choreographer Aya Soika, Professor of Art History, Bard College Berlin Sharon Smith, Gob Squad Nina Tecklenburg, Interrobang, Gob Squad, She She Pop Sarah Thom, Gob Squad Bastian Trost, Gob Squad Daniel Wetzel, Rimini Protokoll Christina Wheeler, Singer, composer and sound artist Simon Will, Gob Squad
Cultural Program
The Summer Theater Intensive also provides a cultural and intellectual context for the work being done in the studio, in the process making the city of Berlin a subject and creative force for the program and not simply its location.
Cultural Program
The cultural program takes three forms:
Performances Students make frequent (several times a week) visits to Berlin’s rich performance offerings. These range from the large city theaters (Volksbühne, Schaubühne, Deutsches Theater) to the alternative spaces of the “Freie Szene,” or Free Scene (HAU, Sophiensaele, Dock 11). In some cases students will have the opportunity to meet with the artists after the performance to discuss their work and creative process.
Talks Practitioners and theorists lecture on topics relating to the arts and performance in Germany.
Berlin Once a week the students explore some aspect of Berlin’s artistic and historical identity—for example, an architectural walking tour of Berlin led by BCB art historian Aya Soika. In some cases these explorations will provide the genesis for pieces the students are creating.