FRATZ International 2017
Presented by Theater o.N.
in co-production with Deutsche Oper Berlin (German Opera Berlin)
Since 2013, Theater o.N. in Berlin has organized FRATZ International, a festival, symposium and children's daycare-encounter program for the very youngest spectators. The focus is on the performing arts, with a special emphasis on exploring and presenting experimental and hybrid forms that lie somewhere between theatre, dance, music and visual arts.
For the first time in 2017 within the framework of the festival, a selection of works for the very young from Berlin's performing arts scene was presented in the Berlin Showcase, along with 6 trans-regional and international productions.
FRATZ 2017 had a focus on Musical Theater for the very young.
Productions
Affinity (½+)

Performance for the ears for adults as well as babies and children aged 6 months and up | »Affinity« means appeal, and that's the subject in the staging: In an open space, the audience builds little islands. The performers fill...more
a small story (2+)

A silent play with objects and stories | It all begins with a mess. Drawers overflowing with paper, towering stacks of boxes – things seem to have been carelessly abandoned. A special kind of task force has an assignment to make...more
Three Colors

An experimental media performance for people aged 2 and up | holtschulte/loos/schmitz/vogel (Germany) A white wall. A young man in front of it. Someone is sitting beside him, holding a musical instrument....more
Little Piece of Heaven

Musical theater for everyone ages 2 and up | A commissioned work by the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Theater o.N. Em and Eff are doing well. They have everything prepared for a lovely day. Then Pe the bird comes along and gets...more
Icilà | HereThere

A performance of hearing and playing for 6 months and up | Benoît Sicat (France) He welcomes the audience. Then, as everybody is settled in, he waits, listens and assimilates the surrounding sounds. This time is not watched,...more
The Story of a Long Day

Theater for adults and children with dance, music and magic for ages 3 and up | AGORA Theater (Belgium) In a beautiful world, where everything is perfectly organized, Avi and Iva are solely responsible for making sure that...more
t(w)o-each-other

Musical theater for ages 3 and up | Staatstheater Mainz and Ensemble LebiDerya (Germany) In the beginning, there's one circle and two friends. One of them plays the trumpet, the other plays the tombak. One of them uses lips...more
Sensescapes

Dance performance and multisensory experiment for babies of 3 to 18 months and their parents | Dalija Acin Thelander (Sweden/Serbia) Enveloped in a tenderly and carefully arranged world full of sensory impressions and sounds...more
NERO

A step together into dark blue. A performance about darkness for children from 2 to 5 years old | Alfredo Zinola and Maxwell McCarthy (Germany) When looking at the night sky, with no light except for the stars, the...more
wave-shadow-mirror

Theater with puppet and music for ages 2 and up | zirkusmaria (Germany) A small girl encounters different phenomena – the sea, her shadow and her mirror image – and enters into a dialogue with them. She becomes involved with...more
A Bit of Luck

Storytelling theater with objects and a puppet for ages 3 and up | Nicole Gospodarek (Germany) At last it's her birthday – but now look what happened! Enraged, Luise leaves her birthday party and escapes to the...more
CABAN

Creative activity space for children aged 3 months to 3 years | Theater de Spiegel (Antwerp, Belgium) A cosy play area offers babies, children and their parents an oasis of peace containing a nest, a sleeve tunnel house, a...more
CANCELLED: Sandscape

-- The shows of Sandscape are cancelled due to the rejection of visas for the artists from Nigeria. We are very sad about this and hope for your understanding! -- Statement by the Festival Direction in German: Ich sagte...more
FRATZ Symposium
Focus Musical Theater for the very young
A lecture by Professor Wilfried Gruhn at the start of the symposium formed a common basis for the exchanges and discussions to follow. His contribution was titled “How children hear and experience music – Fundamentals in developmental psychology and implications for musical integration”.
Two Research Laboratories, each consisting of three artists from the disciplines of composition, music and play explored in two phases of three days each and develop short musical scenes for very young children. The Sound Lab
examined the same subject with respect to children's participation in the artistic process, whereby adult artists and children research together on the possibilities for cooperation in musical theater.
FRATZ Encounters
The festival and symposium are embedded in the FRATZ Encounters, a workshop program lasting several months with twelve kindergarten groups in six Berlin districts.
Downloads
Team
Direction: Dagmar Domrös, Doreen Markert, Vera Strobel
Production Management: Susanne Ogan
Co-production Management, Administration: Olga Ramirez Oferil
Design, Venue Direction: Martina Schulle
Technical Direction: Albrecht Leu
Technical Team: Carsten Braumann (Eastend), Markus Bünjer (Theater o.N.), Arne Glaß (Podewil), Steffen Hoppe (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Tobias Knebel
FRATZ Encounters, Theatre Education: Kathleen Rappolt, Friederike Dunger, Julia Gotzmann
Concept Advisor Symposium: Dorothea Hartmann
Artistic Advisor: Ania Michaelis
Contact Visiting Professionals: Marit Buchmeier
Contact Daycare Groups: Frederike Maas
Production Assistant: Hannes Raphael
Press: Nora Gores
Photography: David Beecroft
Translation to English: Lydia Baldwin
Website Development: Sylke Stübner, Anja Tiedjens
Layout: Sabine Klopfleisch
FRATZ Angels: Henrike Bruns, Penelope Günther, Christopher Leo, Daria Malygina, Nina Röwer, Max Schulz
Presented by Theater o.N. in co-production with Deutsche Oper Berlin (German Opera Berlin)
FRATZ International 2017 was funded by Berliner Projektfonds Kulturelle Bildung. | »Berlin Showcase – Performing arts for the very young 2017« was funded by the Senate of Culture Berlin »Spartenoffene Förderung Berlin 2017«
With support of: Institut français and the french ministry of culture and communciation/DGCA | Délégation de la Communauté germanophone, de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles et de la Wallonie à Berlin | In co-operation with the swedish embassy of Berlin
Media partner: taz. Die Tageszeitung, nachtkritik.de
In co-operation with: SCHAUBUDE BERLIN | Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzentrum in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (KJTZ) | ASSITEJ Germany | Happy New Ears Kongress | Kulturprojekte Berlin
The perfomances were presented at Theater o.N., Tischlerei – the experimental stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Schaubude Berlin and more venues in Lichtenberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Neukölln and Wedding.