EIN MANN / EIN WORT
McCrae, Meding, Berkenhoff, Zaitev, Falk
Michael, a white, heterosexual cis man, imagines a performance about his own masculinity. He imagines himself standing on a stage and talking about himself. About his own vulnerability. About his anger and his sadness. About the privileges he enjoys. And about the limitations imposed on him. He wants to show that he knows the discourses on critical and toxic masculinity, gender, feminism and intersectionality. He wants to question the binary gender order. He wants to talk about all these important social issues and show that he understands something.
And Michael is a man of action. He convinces various critical artists of his idea and a diverse team is formed to support him in his project. He then convinces a renowned theater to show his play. He applies for funding from various funding institutions and convinces the expert juries of the quality of his project. He embarks on an agitating rehearsal process that demands a lot from him and in the course of which he learns a great deal about himself. But when he finally stands on stage – after months of intensive work and debate – something is not right. He feels the expectant looks of the audience on his skin. He feels the tense silence in the room. He starts to speak… but simply can’t get a word out. A feeling of loss of control overcomes him. He feels panic and shame rising inside him. He desperately wants to say something now. Or could he just walk off the stage? Or can he perhaps sink into the ground? Hide somewhere? And as he stands there with these questions racing through his mind, strange voices suddenly rise up in the theater. And they talk about him. And they say things about him that he won’t like.
*Out of consideration for the health of one of our performers who suffers from an immune disorder, we kindly ask you to wear an FFP2 mask during the event. If possible, please bring your own FFP2 mask. Alternatively, FFP2 masks will also be provided at the entrance. Thank you for your understanding and support!
Duration: ca. 1 h 10 min
Language: German
06.03. audience discussion following the performance
Producer, director and performer Michael McCrae embarks on a search for his own masculinity in the performance “One Man / One Word”. To this end, he collected the perspectives and thoughts of people close to him in advance. In other words, from people who have known him for a long time and with whom he has various relationships, be they family, friendship, love or work. The resulting video and audio material is the starting point for the joint artistic process of the project team behind “EIN MANN / EIN WORT”. The two performers Juliet Meding and Ana Berkenhoff examine this material on stage – they let it speak through them, appropriate it, alienate it, make music out of it and make it dance. Dina Zaitev’s stage becomes a laboratory for the two researchers. Their object of investigation is the heterosexual, white cis-man, the director, the son, the partner, the performer, the financier, the friend, the lover, the beneficiary of the patriarchy, the product of social expectations and the prisoner of his imprints. What way out could there be for him? Is an escape possible? And to what extent are Berkenhoff and Meding entangled in the self-reproducing (power) relations?
Artistic director/production/performance/idea & conception
Michael Neil McCrae is a producer, director and performer and has lived in Dresden since 2015. He studied Applied Theater Studies in Giessen and already worked in the independent scene during his studies. After graduating, he worked as an assistant director in Dresden and Stuttgart. Since 2016, he has co-directed the group theatraler subversion with Romy Weyrauch, with whom he has realized numerous productions in performance, dance and digital art. His best-known works include the “Archiv der lebenden Toten” and the 360° music theater project “Lebende Minus Tote”. In 2023, his performance “THE GREAT GRAND OTHER” premiered at HELLERAU and will tour Germany in 2024/25.
Performance, text & music
Juliet Meding studied cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim and positions herself as crip and non-binary. She already performed in various collectives and projects during her studies. Her work has been shown at the Münchner Kammerspiele, Kampnagel Hamburg and the Sophiensaele Berlin, among others. From 2016 to 2023, she toured as the queer displacement of the character Hamlet in Boris Nikitin’s production. Her first solo work Traumascape appeared at the Sophiensaele in 2021. In 2023, her new work “ANTIGONE” celebrated its pitched premiere at Ballhaus Ost Berlin.
Set Design
Dina Zaitev, born in Chișinău, Moldova, is a post-Soviet Jewish artist and theater maker. Her interdisciplinary works often explore social issues and question traumas of her own socialization. With a background in stage and costume design (diploma 2022), she combines text, performance, objects and spaces. In 2023, she developed a theater project with Michael Neil McCrae on the transgenerational transmission of trauma and Jewish identity. She is currently a master student at the HfBK Dresden and a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
Video
Marco Prill, born in Anklam in 1980, was active as an artist and dancer in the Fritz Reuter Ensemble, where he discovered his passion for art. At 16, he built his first pinhole camera and discovered photography. After training in image and media design, he moved to Berlin and later to Dresden, where he worked on numerous dance and theatre projects. From 2015-2023 he was a theatre photographer and video artist at the tjg. theatre junge generation Dresden. He has been freelancing again since 2024.
Benjamin Schindler, born in Dresden in 1982, discovered his passion for visual storytelling as a cinema operator, photographer and illustrator. He studied media art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and has been making short films and documentaries since 2010, often focusing on identity and virtual realities. His film “PLAYLAND USA” (2019) premiered at the Max Ophüls Prize and was shown in cinemas. In addition to film projects, he designs video installations for Dresden dance companies. His music theater piece Rapid Motel was performed in Berlin, Leipzig and Zurich in 2022/23.
Costume
Nico Navarro Rueda, born in Bogotá, works as a fashion designer, illustrator, costume designer and artist in Berlin. Their work experiments with movement, form and color, inspired by identity, gender studies and spirituality. After graduating in design in 2013, their is currently studying fashion design at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee. They worked with numerous dancers, performers and directors, including Melanie Jame Wolf, Przemek Kamiński and Thea Reifler. Most recently, they designed the costumes for “THE GREAT GRAND OTHER” by Michael McCrae, Matthias Schönijahn and Dina Zaitev.
Technical management/lighting design
Martin Mulik is a freelance lighting designer, lighting technician and photographer based in Dresden. He has been working as a technical director and lighting designer with the theatrical subversion since 2017 and also in collaborations with various artists from the fields of dance, art and performance. He also regularly works as a lighting designer and technician at cultural institutions such as Beatpol Dresden, HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden and Tabacka Kulturfabrik Kosice. In 2021 he published his first art photography book LEFTOVERS.
Production management
Nicole Meier completed her cultural and management studies at DIU Dresden with a Master of Arts (1.0). She has worked as a production manager and project manager for numerous ensembles and institutions, including the guts company, M.I.R Dance Company, and HELLERAU. She has organized projects such as “Dresden as a guest in Avignon” and the 30th anniversary event of the Saxon Cultural Senate. She directed several evening programs at the Dresden Music Festival and was a research assistant at the Saxon Academy of Arts. She has also implemented projects for the bpb and passes on her knowledge of cultural financing. In 2024, she took over the production management for “DIE KUNST, VIELE ZU BLEIBEN” in Dresden.
Artistic direction, idea and concept: Michael McCrae
Texts, performance & music: Ana Berkenhoff, Juliet Meding & Michael McCrae
Dramaturgy & Outside-Eye: Friederike Falk
Set design: Dina Zaitev
Costume: Nico Navarro Rueda
Video: Benjamin Schindler, Marco Prill
Lighting & technical direction: Martin Mulik
Production management: Nicole Meier / art.revoultion
Thanks to Matthias Schönijahn and Constantin von Thun
In co-production with HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts
Supported by Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz der Stadt Dresden Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.
