Present

PRESENT is a dance theatre performance by Un-Label in coproduction with the Pfefferberg Theater Berlin.

We are travellers. Stuck in the present. In the darkness. Partially present, partially absent.

We are like wrapped presents. Surprises waiting to be revealed. As long as the present remains unwrapped, everything is possible. The stories we live destroy the wrapping. Stories created by our incomplete and automatised perception wrapped into the sweet, familiar illusions of our present existence. Again and again and again.

Sign language is an integral part of the performance.

When it comes to talking about accessibility in the arts, the main things that come to mind are audio descriptions, subtitles, or sign language interpreters. However, these are all foreign objects external to the stage. Our aim is to rethink accessibility, and to see it instead as an opportunity to experiment artistically.

PRESENT is the first performance of a research process which is taking place over a number of years. During this process, we want to find new creative approaches that will enable us to create an artistic product as an equal experience for all. Our central question, is to ask ourselves how we can use accessible aids in such a way that they become part of the performance itself, enriching the work with their own aesthetic possibilities, and thus becoming art forms in their own right. In this production, the focus will be on the integration of sign language.

Premiere: 1 Sept 2018 // Pfefferberg Theater Berlin
Producer: Lisette Reuter
Director & Concept: Costas Lamproulis
Dramaturgical Advice: Nils Rottgardt
Music: Maximilian Schweder
Lighting Designer: Christian Herbert
Costume and Scenic Designer: Sarah Haas
Production Assistance: Lara Weiss
Communication Assistance: Caroline Lampe
Sign Language Interpreter: Konstanze Bustian (Skarabee)
Dancers: Wagner Moreira & Dodzi Dougban
Acting: Jana Zöll