To mark the end of its double anniversary, Sophiensæle looks back on its engagement with 120 years of the building’s history and 30 years of independent theatre: What gets told, what is missing, what connects – and what remains invisible? Previous artistic research projects have explored Yiddish theatre, communist and anarchist movements, crip history, anti-colonial entanglements and Nazi forced labour.

For the third edition of House stories, we invite our audience to join us for soup, bread and drinks. Together, we want to talk about how a theatre venue can remember in ways that are collective, multi-voiced and contradictory, and how this history still resonates today. In small table conversations with our guests Anujah Fernando and Heinrich Horwitz, we will discuss the role of archives and the artistic strategies that can make gaps visible and fill them in new or different ways.

The focus is on how we engage with anti-colonial and queer historiography today. As a cultural institution in Berlin-Mitte, we pay particular attention to the neighbourhood around the building and how it has developed and changed over time. We look forward to exchanging ideas with the audience and our guests!