»ALLE UNSERE GESTERN« tells the story of a family in northern Italy in the 1930s and 1940s whose supportive community is torn apart by fascism and war. While leaflets are secretly burned in the oven and the men are sent to the front, hunger, loss, and fear become part of everyday life. At the center of the story is Anna, the youngest: she loses loved ones, becomes pregnant unintentionally, marries hastily, and leaves her home. In the southern Italian province, she seeks a new place in life—between self-determination, resistance, and the question of what freedom means. Natalia Ginzburg’s language is simple and precise, full of tenderness and humor, and that is precisely where its power lies: it allows us to feel the force of politics in our private lives. At a time when right-wing ideologies are regaining strength, democracies are under pressure, and feminist achievements are being called into question, the production at Ballhaus Ost opens up a sensual and political space in which the past and the present collide. Holle Münster stages works by contemporary and classical authors and, together with the theater collective Prinzip Gonzo, develops genre-defining, participatory game theater formats, where her long-standing collaboration with film and theater actress Anna von Haebler began. Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991) wrote novels, short stories, plays, and essays, including »All Our Yesterdays« in 1952. The novel was first published in Germany in 2009 and will premiere at Ballhaus Ost.

»In the Vault«, curated by Presentation Club, unlocks an evening of experimental literature and presentation. Inviting writers and artists to share intimate, silly, and early works–»writings you would not usually publish«–think: a live reading of a Notes app, a short story written in primary school, a walkthrough of a past MySpace profile, a love letter, a teenage diary entry, Google Maps reviews… or wherever our memories, dreams and desires may take us.With contributions by: Erin Honeycutt, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Mina Amiri Kalovøy, Soroa Lear, Nadia Marcus, Randon Rosenbohm Talkhaus Ost is part of The Late Night Shows: on the Side-Quest-Stage, following performances on the main stage, five short, performative, musical, and humorous formats invite audiences to stay a bit longer. Artists who usually perform in all kinds of settings — from your landlord’s cellar to the rooftops of Gotham. Coming up next: »Mockhaus Ost: Yael Mor & Jason Harvey« on 15.11.

The history of Berlin tells of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms.Berlin is considered a green metropolis full of biodiversity. But the city’s history remains incomplete if it is told exclusively from a human perspective. “City of Living Creatures” rewrites the history of Berlin. From the hydrogen-eating aromate devourer in contaminated groundwater to the marsh nettle from the glacial valley, a polyphonic audio narrative emerges with the voices of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms that have shaped and continue to shape the city. Organismendemokratie e.V. and the artist group Club Real invite you to two different bike tours through Berlin. Please bring your own bike. The meeting point is the courtyard of Ballhaus Ost. The artist group Club Real has been developing participatory performance projects since 2000. Installations, political multispecies formats and participatory urban development projects invite visitors to help shape alternative visions of reality. Since 2018 it has been about human relationships with all living beings, and since 2019, the Organisms Democracy exists on a green space at Osloer Straße, as a satellite venue of Ballhaus Ost.

»Stimpathy. To Be Free(k) in Connection« is a post-workshop performance exploring stimming as collective and relational practice. In a relaxed set up you will be invited to experience and participate in a choreography created together with a group of neurodivergent people from Berlin over the last seven months. Stimming (self-stimulatory behavior) is repetitive movements and sounds that neurodivergent people generate to regulate emotions and sensory processes. Despite the neurodiversity discourse growing, stimming is still rarely viewed as meaningful somatic, cultural or relational practice. Often, it is dismissed, corrected, or pathologized. We aim to shift that lens by engaging in neuroqueering – a practice defined by Dr. Nick Walker as opposing and subverting neurocognitive norms and gender norms at the same time. The practice of stimming questions both neurocognitive and gender norms, very vividly exposing their artificiality. Intersection of gender and neurodivergence affects the ways we navigate the city and use its facilities for work, leisure, socializing, shopping, learning, commuting, etc. Through our project we want to make hypervisible what is usually hidden to empower neurodivergent people and normalize stimming behaviors in public spaces. Monika Popiel & Paweł Świerczek are a duo working together and separately in the field of performing arts and around. Since January this year they’ve been developing the project STIMPATHY focused on neurodivergent embodiment and stimming within Fresh A.I.R. Residency at Stiftung Berliner Leben. 

Three authors form a band: NO SCRIBES. In a literary show, they address issues of identity and class, girlhood, and pop feminism. Hardly any other cultural phenomenon shaped the 90s and 00s as much as girl bands: young women, carefully assembled according to different types, marketed as a projection surface for desire, identification, and empowerment. Starting with Destiny’s Child, Tic Tac Toe, and the Spice Girls, NO SCRIBES bring together collective writing, pop culture references, and personal experiences. And they ask the question: What can a cultural practice look like that celebrates polyphony, friction, and perspectives of solidarity as an aesthetic and political principle? An evening that combines homage and criticism, theory and dance floor, reading and show. For everyone who used to come up with their first choreographies in their bedrooms in front of MTV and Viva and is now looking for new forms of collective storytelling. NO SCRIBES will premiere on November 7 and 8, 2025, at the Vagantenbühne theater and will be published simultaneously in print by SUKULTUR Verlag.

Two pseudo-documentary lecture performances that break the mould of lecture and performance formats with plenty of jokes: Yael Mor takes the audience into her long-awaited chance to stage a show in Berlin – a dream that spirals into a nightmare as her reality begins to crack. Jason Harvey invites the audience into his life as a micro-influencer and will make them laugh and think with new provocative images. Mockhaus Ost is part of The Late Night Shows: on the Side-Quest-Stage, following performances on the main stage, five short, performative, musical, and humorous formats invite audiences to stay a bit longer. To see artists who usually perform in all kinds of settings — from your landlord’s cellar to the rooftops of Gotham.Coming up next: »Pophaus Ost: Jon Darc« am 29.11.

In »None of my Business«, Filet + Friends, in collaboration with activists, explore climate (in)justice: the gap between responsibility for climate change and its effects on those who have contributed the least. The starting point is the uprising of 600 women in the Niger Delta—one of Africa’s most oil-rich yet heavily exploited regions. For ten days, they occupied the offices of Shell and Chevron, unarmed but with a powerful threat: to expose their bare buttocks to those in power. A deeply rooted act of spiritual cursing and public shaming in Nigeria. In a capitalist world dominated by fossil fuels, profit-driven business, and enduring colonial inequalities, climate justice is not only an ecological issue but above all a political and social one. Eight performers investigate what resistance in this world system can feel like: personally, politically, and physically. With autobiographical texts, choreographic elements, and live music on the cajón, the performers move together within a shared field of tension on stage. Filet was founded in 2024 by Flora Udochi Egbonu, Lena Kolle, and Johanna Schwaiger. In their piece developments, they engage with themes that are at once personal, political, and universal. For an intersectional perspective, in None of my Business they collaborate with artists whom they know from earlier projects.

Richard Wagner is a drag queen, and Shlomi Moto Wagner’s great-grandfather was her drag mother. Together, they share not only family roots, but also a drag heritage in the Jewish House of Mazeltov. This pseudo-documentary musical theater performance delves into forgotten rumors and repressed facts about Wagner’s personality: his obsession with pink, the scandalous satin orders, and the question of whether hiding his desires was related to the hatred he simultaneously projected onto the world. Could this project be his belated coming-out statement? Between classical Wagner motifs, electronic beats, lip-syncing, video projections, and lots of pink satin, a queer musical theater spectacle for the 21st century emerges. So, Mazeltov Queen Richard Wagner—let’s go! Directed, performed, and composed by Shlomi Moto Wagner — interdisciplinary performer*, trained opera singer*, composer*, author*, and drag queen a.k.a. Mazy Mazeltov, who charges classical music and forms with pop culture and queer mythology and reassembles them. Together with dramaturge and co-director Anne Welenc, a glittering and unsparing examination of arguably the most polarizing figure in opera history emerges. Jones Seitz provides the technical magic, while the 3D imagery is created in an exciting new collaboration with digital artist Alejandro Spano. Michel Wagenschütz designs the costumes, combining historical fantasy with the sensuality of drag. Together, the team creates an immersive performance about gender, heritage, and redemption—on stage and in the present moment of history. With special thanks toMima Milo – The one and only Yiddish IsoldeMendi Cahan – Yiddish translation of Mild und LeiseMila Wagner Vishnavskaya – Shlomi’s mother, for the phone-call contributionsDr. Reinhold Brunner und das Reuter-Wagner-Museum in Eisenach – for their help with archival materialAnne Welenc – The voice of Katherina WagnerStefanie Altenhofer – The voice of Fräulein Bertha GoldwagAntina Christ – Fabulous Cosima updo wig Phillip Lawton – Deutsche Oper Library, providing the Yiddish score of Tristan und Isolde

»Morast« is a swampy ritual about desire, violence, attention, and all the sticky chaos we call love. Poetic, queer, naked, cathartic, and beautiful. Jon Darc and band invite you to a concert somewhere between darkroom and piano ballad – an evening where we are born, fall apart, and grow anew with them. So: dress up, strip down – it doesn’t matter. Come as beautiful as you are – and let yourself fall into the morast. Pophaus Ost is part of The Late Night Shows: on the Side-Quest-Stage, following performances on the main stage, five short, performative, musical, and humorous formats invite audiences to stay a bit longer. To see artists who usually perform in all kinds of settings — from your landlord’s cellar to the rooftops of Gotham.Coming up next: »Jokehaus Ost: Dinara Kerey, Abi Mohanty, Sofia May & EXPERT BY IDENTITY« on 6.12

Twaliwo is an expression in Luganda, the language of the Buganda tribe—one of the largest ethnic groups in present-day Uganda—and essentially means “we once were.” Behind this lies the idea that there was once a time when people lived in harmony with one another. This time is remembered as being economically and spiritually balanced. It is now considered lost, and Twaliwo has become an expression for something that is past. One material and craft practice from a time that could be described as “Twaliwo” is the production of lubugo: bark cloth from Uganda. The practice is one of the oldest textile production methods in human history and uses the bark of the Mutuba fig tree. It dates back 12,000 years, is now part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage, and is protected by UNESCO. »Twaliwo« uses documentary dance theater to tell the story of bark cloth—and of the multitude of traditional dances and songs associated with this fabric. Christoph Winkler and Robert Ssempijja have collaborated several times in recent years, deepening the artistic dialogue between Germany and Uganda. This collaboration finds its full expression in »Twaliwo«, with Ssempijja as co-choreographer alongside Winkler.