Chamäleon receives Federal Theater Award
Today, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth announced this year’s winners of the “Theaterpreis des Bundes” (Federal Theater Award). With this award, the German government honors small and medium-sized theaters in Germany for outstanding artistic diversity, for exemplary operating structures, for special achievements in the aesthetic development of the performing arts, or for innovative strategies to expand audiences.
This year, the biennial Theaterpreis des Bundes, endowed with 200.000 €, goes to Ballhaus Naunynstraße in Berlin, which stands for Perspectives of Color like almost no other theater and has established an important space for reflection on postcolonial structures in everyday life and art.
The award in the category “City Theaters and State Theaters” goes to Theaterhaus Jena on the recommendation of the interdisciplinary jury, in the category “Independent Production Houses” to LOFFT – DAS THEATER in Leipzig – and in the category “Private Theaters and Guest Theaters” to us, the Chamäleon Berlin. Each of the awards is endowed with 100.000 €.
The Chamäleon forms “the spearhead of a dynamic development of the performing arts that transcends existing boundaries between genres, but also forms of operation,” the jury said in explaining its choice. “Like no other venue, the Theater Chamäleon in the middle of Berlin stands for the further development of circus beyond Nouveau Cirque to a contemporary circus that unfolds its artistic and audience potential in such a way that old questions about popular or high culture (…) are sublimated into physically palpable aesthetic energy.”
“We are overjoyed and immensely proud, because for us the award of the Theaterpreis des Bundes is a great sign,” said Intendant Anke Politz and Managing Director Hendrik Frobel. “Not only for our house with its extraordinary structure, but for the entire scene of contemporary circus in Germany. We accept this theater award on behalf of our great team and all artists and partners who are shaping this daring and labor-intensive journey with us on which we are constantly reviewing and changing our values and working methods in order to place artistic creation and social interaction at the center of our work.”
The Minister of State will present the award at a festive gala at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on October 11.
The award ceremony will be held in cooperation with the International Theatre Institute – Zentrum Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ITI) in cooperation with the Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V..
Further information on the award winners and the jury’s statement can be found here (German only).
