the white room | conversations on theatre

TWR027 - Cheers for Fears (with Sina Schneller & Jascha Sommer)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Sina Schneller

Jascha Sommer

the white room – conversations on theatre #27
(recorded and streamed on 5 April, 2021)

In the 27th episode we speak with Sina and Jascha, founders of the network Cheers for Fears. After Simon spills some water into the wine of the concept “SARS-Cov-2-testing for events” we speak about infectious networks, cold and warm, virtual villages, loneliness, vulnerability and magic, about the risk of encounter; and more.

“Say it aloud / I’m lost and proud / You’re welcome here / Cheers for Fears!”
CHEERS FOR FEARS is an initiative launched in 2013 with the aim of intensifying the exchange between young artists in North Rhine-Westphalia and their academies and stimulating artistic collaborations. The founding impulse of the initiative resulted from the desire to exchange work strategies, aesthetics and perspectives across academies and disciplines.

Show notes
CHEERS FOR FEARS – http://www.cheersforfears.de/
Peter H. Diamandis – A false sense of security… – https://www.diamandis.com/blog/false-sense-security (Simon)
Cheryl Giles, radical care – https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/11/cheryl-giles/ (Marije)

Cover photo (c) Sven Neidig, 2016

Books

Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble
Morgan Scott Peck – The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace (Marije)
Eugenio Barba – Theatre: Solitude, Craft, Revolt (Marije)

From now on we will gather in the white room fortnightly on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it, by recommending it to your friends and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR026 - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

(streamed & recorded on March 22, 2021)

We wanted to limit ourselves to one hour, but got carried away a little bit. Celebrating the anniversary of this podcast, we cannot help but notice the real sad anniversary of the pandemic. We discover it’s hard to recall how we actually did feel one year ago, and to recollect how many big and small things have changed – for good? Will we get to the point, where we return to whatever shall be normal?

Among other things, we look at important Performances without Spectators, especially Pope Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” blessing from March 27, 2020, and – Football / Soccer.

Links:

Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi, March 27, 2020: https://youtu.be/P6mMM8uZXkY
Michael Spicer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TerencePlato

From now on we will gather in the white room fortnightly on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it, by recommending it to your friends and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR025 - Thinginess (with Linda Cunningham)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Linda Cunningham

(recorded and streamed on March 8, 2021)

A very bifurcating conversation with Linda Cunningham, containing: Ambiguity, #InternationalWomensDay, Real Emancipation vs. Emancipation as Brand, Privileges, Greenwashing, Power, the Daughters of Dún Iascaigh, Relation, Theatre, Linguistics, Reality, Rhythm, Suspension, Music.

In the end we discover and reject “Thinginess”, and speculate why we don’t respect Mystery anymore.

Show notes
Daughters of Dún Iascaigh – https://twitter.com/iascaigh
Pensions pay gap – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56315730

From now on we will gather in the white room fortnightly on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it, by recommending it to your friends and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR024 - Homage to a True Liar

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

(recorded and streamed on 22 Feb, 2021)

After touching some smaller topics, Simon speaks at length about Jean-Claude Carrière, screenwriter, playwright, narrator, dramaturg for the greatest films of Luis Buñuel and theatre productions of Peter Brook and many others. A remarkable person, a true liar, he died on 8th February, 2021.

Shownotes:

https://ourworldindata.org
Study on Contagion in Concert Hall Dortmund (in German): https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/corona-aerosol-studie-dortmund-ansteckung-konzert-theater-100.html
Jean-Claude Carriére: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Carrière
Carriére and Buñuel: https://youtu.be/Q080ljkfeQA
Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata, TV version: https://youtu.be/yhqkRGISQr8
From now on we will gather in the white room fortnightly on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

Intro music by Jonas de Rave (Gent, BE)

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR023 - Against Solutions

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

(recorded and streamed on 8 Feb, 2021)

containing Coronavirus Update: Resignation, Clubhouse Ladidah.
Speaking about Practice without the Practice. Future Topics: Classic Texts & Artificiality.
“The Village” online project: more information is coming!
Future of Theatre Work towards precarious sustainability.

The cover is “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” by Caravaggio (~1601). Slightly darker.

From now on we will gather in the white room fortnightly on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR022 - Beipackzettel

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

(recorded and streamed on 25 Jan, 2021)

Our first episode 2021 starts with a scanning of possible topics that interests us.

Contents: Signal, Digital Naivité, Surveillance Capitalism, Attention.

Where is Theatre Going? Auditive Worlds and Online Performances, Problem of Interaction and Flow. Virtual Hacker congress #rc3 in Germany.

Rhythm. Working language, Metaphors and Scientific Thinking.

From now on we will gather in the white room every fortnight on Mondays at 20:00 (CET). Join us live: https://whiteroom-pod.com/live

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR021 - Same Storm, Different Boats (with Christian Grüny, Marta Wryk, Linda Cunningham)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Christian Grüny

Marta Wryk

Linda Cunningham

(recorded on Dec 30, 2020)

We sat together for a special end of year episode, which we streamed live on the evening of December 30. We had a lot of technical problems (who didn’t this year!?), but lovely guests, drinks and a lot of fun.

We wanted to do our own preposterous retrospective of 2020. So we let ourselves pass freely from general reflections of the year to more theatre related topics.

You can use the chapter markers to jump to topics that interest you.

We speak about the privilege of choice and how much we’re NOT „in the same boat“ in this crisis, about technology as a tool or collaborator, at length about „performing online“ and the immediacy of theatre.

Thanks to Christian, Linda and Marta for taking part in this somewhat improvised experiment and sharing their input so generously.

With Christian Grüny we recorded our 7th episode: Proto-Knowledge

With Marta Wryk we recorded our 11th episode: The Athletic Voice

TWR020 - Realm without King (with Felix Ensslin)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Felix Ensslin

(recorded on Nov 29, 2020)

“Agora. The marketplace. This is where we negotiate who we are. Who we want to be.” With this claim Marcel Cremer founded the Agora Theater in St Vith in 1980. A German-speaking theater in Belgium. The first question: The involvement of the local population in the Hitler era. Consequently, the first performance with amateur actors is “Die Ermittlung” by Peter Weiss. For 30 years Cremer was the artistic director, author and director of the AGORA Theater and formed it into a professional and renowned ensemble of the independent scene. After he died in 2009, the group managed to continue.

On the occasion of Agora’s 40th anniversary we speak with Felix Ensslin, philosopher, dramaturg and theatre director about this special theatre.

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Stray Leaves Conversation & Introduction
00:07:51 Future of the Podcast & Other Reflections
00:25:48 40 Years Agora Theater
00:43:57 Freedom and Institution
01:01:16 German-Speaking Community in Belgium
01:09:09 Identity & Home
01:16:13 Hannah Arendt, the Wolf and the Fox
01:23:39 The Wolf Stays Out
01:32:42 To Be Continued…

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR019 - The Actual Real Deal Dictator (with Touchstone Theater)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Christopher Shorr

James P. Jordan

Carlo Supremo

(recorded on 27 Oct)

Again we are fortunate to be joined by Christopher and JP from TOUCHSTONE THEATER in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. We sit together in the white room and talk about the upcoming elections, the role of the theatre, surrounding community, hope and fear and a great division.

Confronted with the opportunity, we speak to a REAL Dictator: Generalissimo Carlo Supremo, who coincidentally is also running for President of the United States (POTUS). He seems to be a really nice guy! We converse on his biography, his policies and his political and philosophical beliefs. We also play a little game together.

And we are inevitably confronted with questions: Who is Carlo Supremo? How did he get so far? What are his plans? And how can we get rid of him!?

The musical fragments are from Dictators 4 Dummies, written and directed by Christopher Shorr and produced by Touchstone Theater.

See Touchstone’s livestream of the last Tyrants of Tomorrow Telethon on YouTube

TOUCHSTONE THEATRE (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA) was founded in 1981 as a street theatre troupe and slowly grew to be a professional not-for-profit theatre dedicated to the creation of original work. At its center is a resident ensemble of theatre artists rooted in the local community of Bethlehem, the Greater Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and the international community of Ensemble Theatres.

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR018 - Money for Nothing (with Harald Redmer)

Simon Bronikowski

Marije Nie

Harald Redmer

(recorded on 15 October)

Harald Redmer, born in 1954, lives in Münster as a freelance actor, director, producer and dramaturg. He was co-founder of the renowned Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster and has been a member of the Bonn “fringe ensemble” since 2001.

In August 2013 Harald switched “to the other side of the table”, becoming the manager of the Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste (Regional Association for Independent Performing Arts) North-Rhine Westphalia in Dortmund, Germany – which he developed and expanded in seven laborious years together with his team to being one of the biggest regional associations of independent performing artists in Germany, with lots of different activities from lobbying for theatre to managing government funds for performing arts.

With Harald we speak about the strange need of being a so-called “independent artist”, what could have to do with the disease of “projects”, how funding works and what should be changed, how changes happen through voicing interests (a.k.a. lobbying), how to transition from project funding to something like “practice-based funding”, about corona-driven funding revolutions, why and how artists should get involved in politics and much more.

Title photo is by João R. Hermeto – hermeto.nl

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it, by recommending it to your friends and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.