Since autumn 2022, for the fith year in a row, the Berliner Ensemble has been running WORX, an international programme for young directors, which is able to continue thanks to private funding from Nikolaus and Martina Hensel. Each season, two people are given the opportunity to present their own work at the Werkraum. For the duration of this period, the artists are provided with a dedicated space in which to develop their work. Each of the two directors stages two premieres at the Werkraum, with complete freedom in terms of both content and form, accompanied by a programme of related events.
The application period for WORX 2027/2028 is now open! The deadline for applications is October 4th 2026.
Open CallFifth Year: Luis August Krawen and Piotr Pacześniak
The aim of WORX is to offer theatre practitioners at the start of their careers a space to work, a safe haven and creative freedom over the course of a season, whilst providing them with the support of staff and the resources of an established theatre. Directors can experiment freely and explore new forms in the Werkraum with their own artistic team and their own production budget.
In the 2026/27 season, Luis August Krawen from Berlin and Piotr Pacześniak from Warsaw will make the Werkraum their artistic home. The jury – comprising Anita Augustin, Theda Nilsson-Eicke, Heiki Riipinen, Lucien Strauch and Clara Topic-Matutin – selected two exceptional artistic figures with diverse aesthetic and thematic concerns from over 130 international applications.
Luis August Krawen works at the intersection of theatre, film and digital art. His work centres on the themes of class and technology, and their often invisible interconnections. For his debut production, he will direct "Die Letzten werden die Allerletzten sein" – a play with autobiographical elements that explores the precariousness of the educated middle classes. For his second production, he is adapting Fassbinder’s sci-fi classic "World on a wire".
Piotr Pacześniak is a theatre director, dramaturg and screenwriter. He is interested in the individual within familial, social and historical interdependencies, and in the question of how late capitalism shapes our relationships with family, nation, Europe and the 'other'. In "Vanya verrückt", his debut work, he explores what it truly means to be European. This is followed by the documentary theatre piece "Lillehammer Affair", which reconstructs the murder of the innocent Ahmed Bouchikhi in Lillehammer in 1973.
Premieres of the season 25/26
Die Letzten werden die Allerletzten sein
By Martha Mechow and Luis August Krawen
Director: Luis August Krawen
World Premiere: 30. October 2026
Werkraum
Vanya verrückt
By Piotr Pacześniak
Director: Piotr Pacześniak
World Premiere: 18. December 2026
Werkraum
World on a wire (Welt am Draht)
Based on the film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Adapted by Luis August Krawen and Daniel Grünauer
Director: Luis August Krawen
Premiere: 5. March 2027
Werkraum
Lillehammer Affair
Documentary theatre about the tragic death of an innocent man
Director: Piotr Pacześniak
World Premiere: 24. April 2027
Werkraum
Direction: Daniel Grünauer
Jury: Anita Augustin, Lea Goebel, Daniel Grünauer (Vorsitz), Theda Nilsson-Eicke, Lukas Nowak, Fritzi Wartenberg
Production: David Gees
Open Call for application 28/29 : Autumn 2027
Contact: worx@berliner-ensemble.de
WORX-Design Season 26/27 © Birgit Karn
Next Shows
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Research project on the "Reichsbürger" trials against the Reuß Group
By Marie Schwesinger
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Neues Haus
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Research project on the "Reichsbürger" trials against the Reuß Group
By Marie Schwesinger
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Neues Haus
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Werkraum
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Werkraum
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Digitales Magazin
Past WORX Years
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The fourth WORX cohort, comprising Jules Head and Marie Schwesinger, explored migration and gender-based violence and their impact on the body, the struggle for recognition within hostile systems, and the documentary examination of the fascist-like dangers arising from these issues.
Overview
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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