Since autumn 2022, for the fourth year in a row, the Berliner Ensemble has been offering WORX, an international programme for young directors, which can be continued despite the cultural cuts thanks to the private sponsorship of Nikolaus and Martina Hensel. Two people per season are given the opportunity to perform their own works in the Werkraum. During this period, the artists are provided with a protected space for their development. Each of them will realise two premieres with freedom of content and form in the Werkraum, accompanied by supplementary events.
The new open call for WORX 2026/2027 runs from 8 September to 17 October 2025.
Application WORX
Fourth year: Jules Head and Marie Schwesinger
The aim of WORX is to offer young theatre makers at the beginning of their career work, protection and freedom within a season, while at the same time providing support from staff and the opportunities of an established theatre. The directors have absolute freedom in terms of both content and aesthetics in their productions and can freely experiment and try out new forms in the Werkraum with their own artistic team and equipment budget.
In the 2025/26 season, Jules Head from Bristol and Marie Schwesinger from Frankfurt am Main will make the Werkraum their artistic home. The current jury - consisting of Uršulė Barto, Daniel Grünauer, Anita Augustin Huber, Theda Nilsson-Eicke and Clara Topic-Matutin - selected two exceptional artistic personalities with different aesthetic and thematic concerns from 270 international applications.
Jules Head works transdisciplinary at the interface of theatre, audio and film and is interested in physicality, intimacy and social structures. Jules will premiere the novel "In the Dream House" by American author Carmen Maria Machado. The second production will be "Crash Mat. Das Schloss" (working title), a play based on Franz Kafka.
Marie Schwesinger combines documentary research with political theatre and examines social conflicts and the culture of remembrance. To mark the 125th birthday of Anna Seghers, she is devoting herself to the novel "Transit". Her second production is the documentary theatre evening "Sturm auf Berlin", a research project based on the court case against the Reichsbürger group Reuß, which she is currently accompanying as a journalist.
Premieres of the season 25/26
Transit
By Anna Seghers
Director: Marie Schwesinger
Premiere: 5 November 2025
Werkraum
In the Dream House
By Carmen Maria Machado
Director: Jules Head
Premiere: 18 December 2025
Werkraum
Crash Mat. Das Schloss
By Jules Head and Georgia Bruce
Based on Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" and Franz Kafka's "The Castle"
Director: Jules Head
World premiere: 25 February 2026
Werkraum
Sturm auf Berlin
By Marie Schwesinger
Director: Marie Schwesinger
World premiere: 7 May 2026
Neues Haus
Direction: Daniel Grünauer, Lucien Strauch (parental leave replacement)
Jury: Anita Augustin Huber, Theda Nilsson-Eicke, Heiki Riipinen, Lucien Strauch, Clara Topic-Matutin (chairmanship)
Production: Kathinka Schroeder
Open Call for application 26/27 : 8 September to 17 October 2025
Contact: worx@berliner-ensemble.de
WORX-Design Season 25/26 © Birgit Karn
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Digitales Magazin
Past WORX Productions
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In WORX's third year, directors Malin Lamparter and Lucia Wunsch took over the artistic residency. In their work, they explored role models, social attributions, and the mechanisms of self-presentation. Their productions ranged from classical material to contemporary drama and performative forms.
Overview
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In WORX's second year, Norwegian director Heiki Riipinen and Iranian director Alireza Daryanavard curated the program in the Werkraum, which explored the intersection of activism and performance. The four productions dealt with power structures, queerness, and activist movements from Iran to the German Basic Law.
Overview
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The first two directors of WORX were Lithuanian director Uršulė Barto and Austrian director Fritzi Wartenberg. They were selected from over 120 applicants by an independent jury. Both share a clear feminist perspective on the structures and mechanisms of the world—and of theater.
Overview