Masculinity in Crisis

"It feels like we are in a circle, we play there, but the question is outside the circle and we cannot even see it."

About Masculinity in crisis

Masculinity in crisis was a collaborative project, that dealt with the concept of masculinity in Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany) in 2017. It included a series of open discussions and workshops, which aimed to attempt a redefinition of masculinity. During the six weeks, we developed a theater play under the title Brutal! and presented it at Ringlokschuppen Ruhr with non-professional actors. The performance raised some burning questions. which were discussed with the audience: how does complying to the social prescriptions regarding our gender socialization affect our authentic identity development? How does following the dominant cultures transform us into social marionettes, totally disorientated from ourselves? And then, what’s the “meta” term of masculinity in a theatrical context? How do power relations and manly strict hierarchy structures apply on stage?

Masculinity in crisis documentary from Elias Adam on Vimeo.

Specifically:

#1 Open Call
the participants were introduced to the universe of discourse: masculinity structures in society and theater

#2 Discussions and text-development workshops
the participants went through a series of open discussions and storytelling workshops. We collaborated with the Intercultural Empowerment-Network for Scholastic Women και το Silent University Ruhr.

#3 Lecture – performance
after a short period of rehearsals, the participants staged a lecture-performance titled Brutal!

The team

  • Project manager and director: Elias Adam
  • On stage: Omar Mohamad, Waffaa Almonayer, Majd Assassa and Elias Adam
  • Participating during the text development phase: Omar, Waffaa, Majd Hamza, Ismail, Roberto, Mirela, Stavros
  • Dramaturgy: Sebastian Brohn
  • Production: Teresa Künstler
  • Video: Stavros Dimopoulos
  • Photography: PolyNice