Gently – just as the theme of the Tender Talks, and cautiously we venture back. In February, after a joint decision-making process in the house, we deliberately refrained from rehearsals, live performances, contacts and mobility in order to support the containment of the pandemic. Now we are looking forward to the partial and gentle phase of opening from mid-March. We are resuming the Streamy Thursday format and are temporarily transforming the Pfauen into an exhibition space.

In March, we will once again be reporting live every Thursday evening. On 4 March, in-house director Wu Tsang and twelve members of the ensemble will give an insight into the production Moby Dick, which will premiere at the Pfauen next season, with a first table read live on Zoom. "You can tell that something very special is in the works," writes Stefan Busz in Züritipp about Moby Dick by Wu Tsang.

On 18 March we will be streaming again live for the first time and with Medea* by Leonie Böhm one of our two productions that have been invited to this year's Theatertreffen. On 27 March we will be broadcasting TriOlogie by the string trio Elodie Théry, Meredith Kuliew and Anna Mikolasek from the still empty Pfauen as part of the Open Haus series.

In March, however, the Pfauen is already partially open again. From 11-14 March we are showing the video installation The Show's over in a loop. A film by Wu Tsang and Moved by the Motion, inspired by the poem "come on, get it" by Fred Moten and the "Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin, which explores underground currents of resistance and the politics of (in)visibility. From 13 to 28 March, Lena Schwarz, both member of the ensemble and visual artist, invites you to the Pfauen: Together with the Polish painter Krzysztof Gruse (Bochum/Bydgoszcz) and the Swiss artist duo Schumacher/Clavadetscher, she is creating Traumkapelle II, an installation in the Kammer, embedded in sound tracks by Michael Neuenschwander and Christian Szyska.

We will continue the Tender Talks every second Thursday evening in March. On 11 March, drag meets discourse: Vaginal Davis and Carolin Emcke meet for the third edition of Tender Talks. During Tender Talk #4 on 25 March, Mithu Sanyal chats with Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens.

The Theatertreffen production Einfach das Ende der Welt (It’s Only the End of the World) by Christopher Rüping will hopefully also play a role again soon, when our stages reopen for theatre performances. If the situation allows, we will resume our performance schedule from 10 April. We look forward to seeing you!

In the last week of February 2021, the Akademie der Künste, Berlin presents the cinematic work of Milo Rau, related artist of the Schauspielhaus Zürich, as part of the livestream debate series School of Resistance. In cooperation with Milo Rau and the IIPM (International Institute of Political Murder) we are streaming the first four days of the event on our website. From 24 to 27 February 2021, we are broadcasting the discussions live from the Akademie der Künste after the film screenings. Amongst others, Orest in Mosul (2020) and The Congo Tribunal (2017), which have also been shown at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, will be screened.

In search of strategies of resistance, Milo Rau founded together with the IIPM and the NTGent the globally networked “School of Resistance” as a livestream debate series. How can art react to states of crisis? How can it make its contribution to strategies of resistance? Activists and artists discuss art as a transformative, reality-creating practice and question aesthetic practices of resistance, prerequisites of global art production, as well as the artistic strategies of the IIPM.

Two productions by the Schauspielhaus Zürich have been invited to the 58th Berliner Theatertreffen: Einfach das Ende der Welt after Jean-Luc Lagarce, directed by Christopher Rüping (premiere: 3 December 2020, Schiffbau-Halle ) and Medea* after Euripides, directed by Leonie Böhm (premiere: 19 September 2020, Schiffbau-Box). This is the fourth time Rüping has been invited to the Theatertreffen, but the first time with a production by the Schauspielhaus Zürich. We are very delighted and offer our sincere congratulations to our two in-house directors!

Between 27 January 2020 and 5 February 2021, the Theatertreffen’s jury discussed a total of 285 productions from 60 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 531 votes were received and a total of 26 productions were recommended and discussed . Of these, the jury nominated ten "remarkable productions of an extraordinary and challenging theatre year" to invite to the Theatertreffen.

In addition to a digital festival edition in May 2021, various festival scenarios are currently in the planning stage. Details on the organisation of the 58th Theatertreffen will be communicated in March. Every year at the Theatertreffen, the Berlin Theatre Prize of the Stiftung Preussische Seehandlung, the 3sat Prize and, at the end of the festival, the Alfred Kerr Performers' Prize are awarded.

Press Release, Theatertreffen 2021: The Selection of 10