Our Mission
At Wake Up Theater our mission is to illuminate the world’s most pressing environmental, social and political issues through the captivating and transformative power of live performance. By raising the curtain on stories that matter, we strive to empower individuals to become informed, engaged citizens, who recognize their capacity to shape a more just, sustainable and compassionate world. Guided by a deep sense of responsibility, we are dedicated to creating a safe and inclusive space where diverse perspectives can flourish. For only together can we amplify the voices of change and build the path toward a better future for all.
“Studying acting is not about learning to pretend better. It’s about learning to tell the truth.” To tell the truth about the character living within you, often in the dark shadows of your ego, so that they can be seen by the light of their presence.
– Ellen Burstyn, winner of more than fifty awards as Best Actress
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Upcoming Workshops
If you have not registered your interest profile with us, please complete the “Get Involved With Our Theater Group” and select the workshop you would like to attend on that profile form. (We can’t contact you or process your request if you haven’t registered with us.)
27 April 2024 10:00 – 17:00 at Eine Welt Haus
Exploring Vulnerability On Stage
In this workshop we will gain a better awareness of the social face (or “mask” as Carl Jung termed it) that we have unconsciously chosen to present to the outside world. We will use Sanford Meisner’s teachings on text and improvised scenes to allow you to begin setting aside your mask so that you can step into the shoes of vulnerable characters on stage.
As Meisner famously said, living truthfully under imaginary circumstances frees us up to fully be with our characters. As we develop this skill, it also means we will be living truthfully in our real lives as well.
Participants limited to 12. Register now.
You can read a bit more about Sanford Meisner and learning to live truthfully through acting here.
29 June 2024 10:00 – 17:00 at Eine Welt Haus
The Power of Authenticity in Movement
In this workshop we will explore the power of authenticity in movement to more fully develop our character’s connection with our audience. We will explore the visible/invisible game to understand our need to both be seen and not be seen, to enhance our self-awareness, and to be better aware of the space we are moving in and the many ways we can use that space.We will explore bringing movement out of our authentic self and our vulnerability, our emotional capacity in responding to music, and – yes – even falling authentically! Finally, we will use these tools to better and more fully develop our characters and to better understand the “heart” of a clown.
Participants limited to 12. Register now.
14 September 2024 10:00 – 17:00 at Eine Welt Haus
Being Prepared For The Unexpected
You may have noticed that life frequently does not go as planned. If you are unprepared to adapt to the changes in the moment, there will be stress and poorly reasoned responses. If you expect the unexpected, you can learn flexibility and responsiveness and discover new and interesting possibilities!
Theater offers the perfect place to learn and practice this skill because the consequences of failure end when the curtain closes. In this workshop we will explore the tools of improvisation in performance that will help you reduce your fear of mistakes and “just go for it”. The resulting skills and self-confidence will pay many dividends in your real life!
Participants limited to 12. Register now.
Read about earlier workshops…
Play Reading
Play reading offers a chance to get to know new scripts and to revisit old favorites. With no audience and no “right way to do it”, it can also offers a safe environment to develop creative skills, expand imagination, and get a better sense of how words are bestowed with life when transforming written material into performance.
We’ll look at a different play each time (usually once a month). Everyone chooses a character and someone will read the stage directions for each scene. Then each participant reads their lines in character and with enthusiasm and trying to incorporate the performance directions into their delivery – to laugh when their character is intended to laugh, to convey despair if that as appropriate, and so on. At the end, we can have fun exploring the themes and, perhaps, talk a bit about whether it would be suitable for a future production.
If you have not registered your interest profile with us, please complete the “Get Involved With Our Theater Group” and select the play reading you would like to attend on that profile form. (We can’t contact you or process your request if you haven’t registered with us.)
26 April
This month we will be reading a play written by David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole, that deals with the way family members survive a major loss. Becca and Howie’s four-year-old son Danny is killed in a car accident when he runs out into the street after his dog. Becca’s brother also died a year before of a drug overdose, and her mother, Nat, is still struggling to deal with that. Becca’s sister, Izzy, is pregnant out of wedlock but excited about becoming a mother. Jason, the teenage driver of the car that killed Danny, is struggling with his own guilt and wants to dedicate a book he has written to Danny and seeks forgiveness from Becca.
Rabbit Hole is a gripping story involving family members dealing with deep loss in their individual ways – and in ways that we all can recognize in ourselves and in our own families. The play was adapted to make a successful movie starring Nicole Kidman in 2010.
Participants limited to 8. Register now.
25 May
This month we will be reading a play written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, that deals with the fate of a married woman, who, at that time in Norway, lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Despite the fact that Ibsen denied it was his intent to write a feminist play, it was a great sensation at the time and caused a “storm of outraged controversy” that went beyond the theater to the world of newspapers and society.
Ibsen had completely rewritten the rules of drama with a realism which was to be adopted by Chekhov and others, and which we see in the theater to this day. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A Doll’s House was the world’s most performed play in 2006.
Participants limited to 8. Register now.
Read about earlier play readings…
Performances
None currently scheduled.
Podcasts
April workshop leader
In our podcast today we chat with Bogdan Tabacaru, an experienced actor and director who has brought a number of very successful plays to the stage here in Munich such as Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull and Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor.
Director of our November, 2023 production of “The Dumb Waiter”
Today we will chat with Susan Voight, one of the founding members of WUT. Susan is acknowledged as a gifted actor and has taken on the challenge as director to bring Nobel Prize winning Harold Pinter’s play, The Dumb Waiter, to the stage at Pepper Theatre last November.
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Blogs
Where Actor Meets Director
Where does the actor meet the director in the process of creating a memorable dramatic performance? How do I, as an actor, blend my preparation and emotional passion for my character with the the vision of the director so that we can truly be partners in this creative endeavor? This recent, memorable workshop on exploring the expressivity of our emotions and bringing that to the stage offered some inspiring insights.
Read more …
Emotions: My Connection To Stage and Life
Harold Pinter was considered to be one of the most influential of modern British dramatists with a career spanning more than 50 years as a playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. He wrote plays that emphasized that unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. Coming to understand what this means for me personally has been a long journey.
Read more …
Pinter and Protest
Harold Pinter was considered to be one of the most influential of modern British dramatists with a career spanning more than 50 years as a playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. He wrote plays that emphasized that unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. Coming to understand what this means for me personally has been a long journey.
Read more …
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