Director Thomas Ostermeier Returns to BAM with AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, Now thru 11/10

An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, in a version by Florian Borchmeyer Schaubu?hne am Lehniner Platz, will be directed by Thomas Ostermeier from an adaptation by Florian Borchmeyer in the BAM Harvey Theatre (651 Fulton St), tonight, November 6-9, 2013. Tickets start at $25. Presented in German with English titles.

Featuring set design by Jan Pappelbaum, costumes by Nina Wetzel, music by Malte Beckenbach and Daniel Freitag, lighting design by Erich Schneider and paintings by Katharina Ziemke.

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 Schaubu?hne am Lehniner Platz and has been instrumental in establishing Schaubu?hne 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 Schaubu?hne. 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 Schaubu?hne 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 Schaubu?hne 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, Ju?rgen Gosch, and Andrea Breth. In 1981, the Schaubu?hne moved into the former Universum Cinema, built in the 1920s by Bauhaus architect Erich Mendelsohn, located on Lehniner Platz. The directors at the Schaubu?hne 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 Schuabu?hne) the theater offers a platform in the city to notable directors from abroad, with Current Productions by Romeo Castellucci, Alvis Hermanis, Katie Mitchell, Rodrigo Garci?a, Yael Ronen, and choreographer Constanza Macras. With them, the Schaubu?hne 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.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafe? 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. BAMcafe?, operated by Great Performances, offers small plate and prix-fixe dinner menus prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafe? also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafe? Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a drink and small plate menu available starting at 6pm.

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)

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.

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