DRAMA! 26

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Launched in 2020 as a kick-off event at the temporary location on Hebebrandstrasse—in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis—DRAMA! has steadily evolved and become a significant academic project involving three universities, now in its seventh year.

DRAMA! is a teaching and learning format that brings together students of playwriting at the UdK Berlin, students of dramaturgy and directing at the HfMT, and acting students at the HfMT Hamburg and the HMTM Hannover in an intensive research project.

Over the course of two semesters, approximately 40 young theater professionals explore theatrical language and creative spaces through preparatory seminars on new drama, dramaturgical and scenic work, and playwriting. Five teams then develop staged productions that are performed on the Kleine Bühne at the Wiesendamm campus. In this way, DRAMA! creates a unique opportunity for participants to get to know one another through their work before entering the professional world. The focus is not on highlighting individual disciplines, but rather on ensemble work, exchange, and collaboration.

Over the years, working relationships have developed that have proven to be very enduring. Directors, playwrights, and actors continue to collaborate long after they’ve graduated.

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THE PLAYS

5:00 p.m. *
* *ENDSTATION KRABBE**
* BY Paula Regine Erb

Fleeing a terrible inferno, Lulu and Silas have run to the ends of the earth; just yesterday they were struggling with overtime and clogged dishwashers, and today they find themselves in a scorched wasteland. Relieved, they fall into each other’s arms, but soon they are faced with the question: Can you carry on when everything you took for granted is gone? Is this crisis the twilight of humanity, or a chance for a radical new beginning?

CAST Liza Mineeva (Lulu), Harry Schulz (Silas), Ete Noah Tete (Professor Ackermann), Moritz Zimmer (Pastor Schilling)

STAGING Hannah Nagel
DRAMATURGY Luis Löwenstein
SET & COSTUMES Sina Eichhorst

5:45 p.m.
HOSPITAL PLAY
BY Oskar Luiz Bonn

Absurd encounters with patients, botched surgeries, twisted dreams, staff intoxicated by painkillers and antidepressants: glimpses into the bizarre daily life of a hospital ward.
Caught between economic pressure and the duty to help others, a system emerges that is losing its humanity—“The hospital as such is… it’s fucked.”

CAST Linda Berthold, Magdalena Kolbeck, Linka Richter

SET DESIGN Zoe Jiménez
DRAMATURGY Lili Wind
SET & SOUND Emi Fend
COSTUMES Judit Fürhoff

6:30 p.m.
MOLES
Based on a text by Franca Zajac

There will be a 30-minute set change here. Please feel free to remain seated. You may encounter moles and other homesick burrowers, coal shovels and shafts, the homeless and strangers, and words that flow together into a river.

JAN
I’d rather hear silence than German. No language is as monotonous or as condescending as German.

JACEK
That sounds beautiful, Jan. Even if the river sounds like a Pole, it won’t take you back home.

CAST Oskar Franz, Mathieu Pestel, Leela Scherbaum, Kirill Zubarev

STAGE DIRECTION Dante Nicolai Rafalski
DRAMATURGY Yael Ostermeier
SET DESIGN Frida Navrátil
COSTUME DESIGN Runa Marx

7:45 p.m.
EMU WAR
BY Malte Schwoch
It’s hot in Campion, Australia. The wheat stands in the fields, but due to low prices, it isn’t being harvested, thus attracting a rather sizeable herd of 20,000 emus. To get this problem under control, the most obvious solution is employed: 2 soldiers and 1 machine gun are tasked with bringing the situation under control.

CAST Anton Brus, Henriette Janssen, Milena Werner, Pius Nagel, Emma Rian

SET DESIGN Leni von der Waydbrink
DRAMATURGY Violetta Zwick
SET & LIGHTING Elisabeth Dimigen
SET ASSISTANT Luise Köhler
COSTUMES Karen Schmitz

8:30 p.m.
GRAUPELSCHAUER
BY Johanna Sausen

“When Änni, an aspiring teacher, reconnects with her old friends Nenni and Gringel through an interview, she is confronted with the choices she has made in life and the death of a loved one.”

GRAUPELSCHAUER explores the limits of friendship and how we can find our footing in a world where relationships are increasingly disposable.

CAST: Jayden Matheo Rufenach, Léane Rissmann, Rosalie Schulz

STAGE DESIGN Wahhogan
DRAMATURGY Kasper Bisgaard Laursen

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Admission is free—more information on ticketing will follow shortly.

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This project is made possible only thanks to the grants and support of the Dr. Margitta and Dietmar Lambert Endowment Fund, under the umbrella of the Hamburg Cultural Foundation, as well as the Mara and Holger Cassens Foundation, and the fruitful collaboration with the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover and the Berlin University of the Arts.

Team
Project Director: Sabina Dhein
Artistic Directors: Eva-Maria Voigtländer, Cilli Drexel
Lecturers (Playwriting): John von Düffel
Directing Instructor: Cilli Drexel
Dramaturgy Instructor: Eva-Maria Voigtländer
Professor of Acting (Hamburg): Philipp Hauß
Professor of Acting (Hanover): Sybille Meier
Mentor in Hanover (Voice Training): Tim Schüler
Production Management: Ritter Paulsen UG
KBB: Carolin Quero, Vera Laube
Technical Director: Hannes Höhler
Technical Staff: Philipp Dehnerdt, Kevin Neugebohren, Frithjof Krieger, Tino Wichmann
Video & Documentation: HfMT Hamburg WebCast Team

Dates at a Glance
October 15, 2026
October 16, 2026