New Theater in Berlin's Kreuzberg to Close in June 2015 After Two-Year Run

Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff launched New Theater in Berlin's Kreuzberg in August 2013, operating as a small theater staging amateur plays with a rotating cast of friends. The venue, which opened after their bar venture in Neukölln, features intimate performances that blend goofy and incisive themes, often set in social spaces like restaurants. Productions include Apartment (2014), set in a postapocalyptic New York ramen shop with costumes by designer Nhu Duong, and the upcoming musical Hotel Moon, with a libretto by Henkel, Pitegoff, and writer Pablo Larios, and music direction by Dan Bodan and Trevor Lee Larson. The cast for Hotel Moon includes artists such as Amelie von Wulffen, Grayson Revoir, and Simon Denny. Despite initial uncertainty, New Theater gained popularity, attracting visitors from local artists to artworld figures like Josephine Pryde and Stedelijk Museum chief curator Bart van der Heide, leading to sold-out shows. However, it will close in June 2015 due to landlord disputes in the gentrifying neighborhood. Henkel and Pitegoff, both photographers in their mid-twenties, fund the theater independently without state support, maintaining separate artistic practices while exploring collaboration and audience engagement through performance. They emphasize the emotional connection in theater, where audiences feel a mix of embarrassment and love for friends onstage. After closing, they have no immediate plans to reopen in Kreuzberg.