Acclaimed director Thomas Ostermeier returns to BAM with a bold
reimagining of An Enemy of the People in its US premiere
Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz production highlights the prescience
of Ibsen’s themes, from industrial pollution to institutional corruption
American Express is the BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival sponsor
An Enemy of the People
By Henrik Ibsen
In a version by Florian Borchmeyer
Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz
Directed by Thomas Ostermeier
Adaptation by Florian Borchmeyer
Set design by Jan Pappelbaum
Costumes by Nina Wetzel
Music by Malte Beckenbach, Daniel Freitag
Lighting design by Erich Schneider
Paintings by Katharina Ziemke
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Nov 6—9 at 7:30pm; Nov 10 at 3pm
Tickets start at $25 In German with English titles
Talk: On Truth (and Lies) in Democracy
Co-Presented by BAM and the Onassis Culture Center NY Hosted by Simon Critchley
With Thomas Ostermeier
Nov 7 at 6pm
BAM Fisher (Hillman Studio, 321 Ashland Pl)
Tickets: $15 ($7.50 for Friends of BAM)
Brooklyn, NY/Oct 7, 2013—Iconoclastic European director Thomas Ostermeier electrifies
Henrik Ibsen’s classic and prescient tale of industrial pollution, institutional corruption, and social
conformity via audience interaction, paint bombs, and rock concert style set destruction. As one
man, Dr. Stockmann, works to alert his small spa town to the poison infiltrating the waters from
which it makes its livelihood, he is increasingly defied and defamed by a convoluted web of
vested interests. Ostermeier’s innovative, energetic staging of the work drives “Ibsen’s drama
effortlessly into an era of iPods and global financial crises, teasing out the audience’s complicity
in social evils which, almost 150 years on, we still see around us” (Sydney Morning Herald).
Thomas Ostermeier is the artistic director of Berlin’s Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz and has been
instrumental in establishing Schaubühne as one of Europe’s leading venues for contemporary
theater through innovative productions of works by playwrights as diverse as Marius von
Mayenburg, Sarah Kane, and Henrik Ibsen. Considered one of the leading voices in contemporary
theater, he has a singular directorial style that is lauded throughout Europe and the US. Since
1999, Ostermeier has served as the resident director and an artistic director of the Schaubühne. In
2004, Ostermeier was appointed associate artist for the Festival d’Avignon. In 2009, his production
of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman won the Grand Prize of French Critics and his production of
Hamlet was honored with the Barcelona Critics Prize. His productions of Nora (A Doll’s House),
Hedda Gabler, and Hamlet have toured internationally in festivals and theaters all over the world.
Ostermeier was named an Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in
2010. Past works at BAM include Nora (A Doll’s House) (2004 Next Wave); Hedda Gabler (2006
Next Wave); and The Marriage of Maria Braun (2010 Next Wave).
Time Out Berlin has hailed the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz as “one of the most important
places for avant-garde theater.” It was founded in 1962 (in a different location) as the Schaubühne
am Halleschen Ufer in Berlin, a private theater with a committed political and social agenda. Peter
Stein served as the artistic director from 1970 until 1985, and was later succeeded by Luc Bondy,
Jürgen Gosch, and Andrea Breth. In 1981, the Schaubühne moved into the former Universum
Cinema, built in the 1920s by Bauhaus architect Erich Mendelsohn, located on Lehniner Platz. The
directors at the Schaubühne under the artistic leadership of Thomas Ostermeier since 1999 are
bound by their interest in the steady development of the acting ensemble, the contemporization of
classical material, and the intensive exploration of contemporary drama. Alongside directors from
Berlin such as Ostermeier, Michael Thalheimer, Friederike Heller, Patrick Wengenroth, as well as
Falk Richter and Marius von Mayenburg (both also playwrights at the Schuabühne) the theater
offers a platform in the city to notable directors from abroad, with current productions by Romeo
Castellucci, Alvis Hermanis, Katie Mitchell, Rodrigo García, Yael Ronen, and choreographer
Constanza Macras. With them, the Schaubühne continues its tradition of contemporary and critical
new interpretations of classics, from Greek myths through Tenessee Williams and Bertolt Brecht,
with the core of the repertoire composed of contemporary playwrights.
For press information contact Adriana Leshko, [email protected], 718.724.8021.
Credits
American Express is the BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival sponsor
Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Major support for theater at BAM provided by:
The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund
The SHS Foundation
The Shubert Foundation, Inc.
BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival supporters: Brooklyn Community Foundation; Robert Sterling Clark
Foundation; Con Edison; The Irene Diamond Fund; The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation; Leon Levy
Foundation; McKinsey & Company, Inc.; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Stavros
Niarchos Foundation; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.;
The Skirball Foundation; Viacom, Inc.; Time Warner Inc.; The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation; The Wall
Street Journal; and The Winston Foundation, Inc.
Stevia In The Raw and Monk Fruit In The Raw is the Official Zero Calorie Sweetener of the Next Wave
Festival. Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Sovereign Bank is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the
official piano for BAM. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.
Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of
Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New
York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with
support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the New York City
Council including Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Finance Committee Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr.,
Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and
Councilwoman Letitia James; and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol,
Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.
General Information
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp
building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene
neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651Fulton
Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks.
BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith
and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house
dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great
Performances, offers small plate and prix-fixe dinner menus prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé
Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a drink and small plate menu available starting at 6pm.
Subway:
2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater)
D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train:
Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center
Bus:
B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM
Car:
Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.
###