House of Hopes

By Stefan Kaegi / Daniel Wetzel

It’s October 7, 1989: The 40th anniversary of the GDR is celebrated with a military parade on Karl-Marx-Allee. Meanwhile, representatives of all the theatres in East Berlin are gathering at the side foyer of the Volksbühne. A month later, this gathering has grown into one of the largest demonstrations in the history of Germany, bringing together almost one million people.

Hopes for more participation and economic independence are certainly not only palpable in Berlin at the end of the 1980s. The last Soviet troops are pulling out of Afghanistan. In China, tens of thousands of students are taking to the streets. In Namibia, the country’s first free elections are being held. And in South Korea, the process of coming to terms with 26 years of military dictatorship has just begun. Across the globe, there is a new sense of hope that majorities could have the power to make their governments see reason. Greater freedom of movement and speech, but also wider political participation, seems within reach.

"House of Hopes" invites audiences on a tour in search of this pioneering spirit, a tour which starts in the box-office foyer and leads via staircases and foyers through the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz bringing us into present days. The building’s architecture is the setting for ten autobiographical accounts from countries across the globe. These stories are full of hope, telling of the Esperanza during the campaign against the Pinochet dictatorship, the Speranță for freedom following the execution of the Ceaușescus, recalling the Nadzieja of the trade union movement in Poland, and expressing Omid for a less cruel Iranian state after the death of Khamenei.

"House of Hopes" extends the lines of watershed moments in 1989 forward into the present – into a time when the unifying power of hope is both in high demand and up for debate: Should we wait and see while we hope, or should we make things happen?

With: Anoush Azizi, Anca Berlogea-Boariu, Till Gedack, Vera Jonas, Nataly Jung-Hwa Han, Israel Kaunatjike, Joanna Kusiak, Corey Scott-Gilbert, Sir Henry, Verónica Troncoso, Homan Wesa, Zhu Yuan

Concept, Direction: Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel
Stage Design, Costume Design: Lili Anschütz

Video Design: Grit Schuster
Music, Sound Design: Nikolas Neecke

Light: Denise Potratz, Kevin Sock
Dramaturgy: Juliane Männel, Aljoscha Begrich
Dramaturgy Volksbühne: Johanna Höhmann

Production Management: Monica Ferrari

Production Management Volksbühne: Philip Decker
Research, Casting: Lisa Homburger

Assistent Director: Max Pross

Assistant Stage Design: Albertine Mietusch
Assistant Costume: Linda Siegel, Luise Schumacher

Curtain Collage: Grit Schuster
Calligraphy: Seyed Kamal Mirkhalaf
Assistant Video Design: Stefan Korsinsky
Assistant Sound Design: Florian Wulff
Camera: Lilli Kuschel
Translation: Caro Seidl, Vivian Ia (PANTHEA)

Show Runners: Hannes Bell, Bernhard Ferrari, Christian Herschmann, Lea Möhrle, Marco Ober, Lilien Schäfers, Matilda Pyper, Emma Zutz

Intern Direction: Hannes Bell, Philip Meedom, Nina Račeta, Johanna Wittbrodt, Lotus Wu
Intern Stage Design: Celina Cruz, Theresa Osburg

Additional thank you to:

Vidas Andrikis (Krematorien-Ausstatter), Jochen Beyer (Architekt), Dr. Katharina Bluhm (Professorin für Soziologie, Schwerpunkt Osteuropa, FU Berlin), Katharina Blumberg- Stankiewicz (Kulturwissenschaftlerin, Zwischen den Polen), Jieun Bong (Künstlerin und Musiktherapeutin), Yumo Cheng, Beata Chmiel (Politikerin), Paul Cozighian (Journalist), Dorota Danielewicz, Prof. Joseph Diescho (Universität Bonn), Johnny Erling (langjähriger China-Korrespondent Frankfurter Rundschau), Nathan Fain (Reverse Engineer), Nasir Formuli (Theaterschaffender), Hernan Funes (Journalist), Naeema Ghani (Kinderbuchautorin), Annett Gröschner (Schriftstellerin und Journalistin), Péter Jánosfalvi, Aušra Kaminskaitė (Theaterwissenschaftlerin), Olivia Hyunsin Kim, Angelika Krasheuskaya (Kuratorin), Linards Kulless (Zeitzeuge), Sichi Li (Performer), Yang Lian, Liu Chao (Kunst- und Food-Produzent), Rasa Kurnikuté (Recherche Litauen), Robin Mallick (Goethe Institut Peking), Reda Mažeikienė (Volkstanzkollektiv Rėdos ratas), Anke Marschall (Archiv Volksbühne), Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi (Filmemacherin), Kiduk Martin Moon (Urbanist), Dr. Márta Nagy (Direktorin, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin), Sang Hwa Nam (Kuratorin), Azim Noorbakhsh, Dr. Alexander Nützenadel (Professor für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, HU Berlin), Dr. Penny Yiou Peng (Zeitreisende), Aija Pole (Künstlerin), Iveta Pole (Theaterschaffende), Abdul Wahid Rafee (Journalist), Susanne Rakowski (Technische Direktion Deutsches Theater), Iringo Réti, Peter Richter (Schriftsteller), Magda Roth, Jonathan Gentilhomme (Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch, Abteilung Zeitgenössische Puppenspielkunst), Mahmood Saeed, Walfriede Schmitt (Schauspielerin), Hannah Schopf (Autorin), Anna Schumacher (Schauspielerin), Christian Robert Schwartz (Generaldirektor Radio Romania), Yeganeh Shafie (Theatermacherin), Shida Shahadi, Yan Shi (Übersetzerin), Agata Siniarska (Choreografin), Ewa Maria Slaska (Schriftstellerin), Zsolt Sőrés (Komponist), Dr. Susanne Stemmler (Leiterin College Volkshochschule Aachen), Dmitri Strozew (Aktionskünstler und Dichter), Agnes Szabo (Journalistin und Dozentin), Juli Széphelyi (Dramaturgin), Televiziunea Română / TVR (Bereitstellung von Videomaterial), Thabo Thindi (Fotograf), Pheladi Tlhatlha (Institut für Materialprüfung), Jean Yhee (Government Relations Researcher, Korea), Liao Yiwu, Margo Zālīte (Regisseurin), Sabine Zielke (Dramaturgin).

A co-production of Rimini Apparat and Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

House of Hopes

By Stefan Kaegi / Daniel Wetzel

Dates