Prize shower for acting students from the Thomas Bernhard Institute with Elfriede Jelinek’s “The Silent Girl” at the national competition
And then you came. At the very end of this exciting, inspiring week, you swept us away, shook us up, and didn’t let us get away. And there was a lot at stake. How do you talk about silence? How do you take advantage of something that is hard to believe, the crime of the NSU, from which our entire society largely ducks? We think this is great art. Your game was as concrete as the blood stain on the floor, precisely coordinated and special in every single moment
Jury-Statement
Salzburg (OTS) – At the national competition for German-speaking acting students in Frankfurt, the graduating class of the Thomas Bernhard Institute at the University of Mozarteum won several prizes for their production of Elfriede Jelinek’s “The Silent Girl” in the 2024 summer semester. In addition to the main prize of the competition, the Ensemble Prize Switzerland, and the Audience Prize/Student Prize, we are pleased about two solo prizes for Payam Yazdani and Joyce Mayne Sanhá.
This year’s national competition, combined with the 35th meeting to promote young actors, took place from July 7th to 13th, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main and was organized by the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt – 180 aspiring actors and 18 Studies were represented. The funding prize of the Federal Minister of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany amounting to 25,000 euros was awarded at the suggestion of an independent jury consisting of Anna Böttcher (actress), Robert Gerloff (director), Angela Obst (dramaturg), Stefanie Reinsperger (actress) and Joana Tischkau (choreographer, artist and director).
The ensemble – Colin Johner, Victoria Kraft, Joseph Lang, Valerie Martin, Lena Plochberger, Joyce Sanhá, Fayola Schönrock, Payam Yazdani and Adrian Weinek (final year drama class at the Thomas Bernhard Institute) – was selected for its production “The Silent Girl” by Elfriede Jelinek received several awards for the NSU trial:
- Ensemble Prize Switzerland/Main Prize (worth 10,000 euros)
Donated by the Conference of Universities of Performing Arts and Literary Writing Switzerland (KDKS)Excerpt from the jury statement: „
And then you came. At the very end of this exciting, inspiring week, you swept us away, shook us up, and didn’t let us get away. And there was a lot at stake. How do you talk about silence? How do you take advantage of something that is hard to believe, the crime of the NSU, from which our entire society largely ducks? We think this is great art. Your game was as concrete as the blood stain on the floor, precisely coordinated and special in every single moment
. You were brave, you came close to us, you had power, you had something to say. We saw a consistently excellent ensemble, with a clear tone, never moralizing. You had a sense of humor until the laughter got stuck in our throats. You were an organic body that dissolves into individual strong voices, sketches concrete situations and characters and then comes together again to form a whole. You have climbed and roamed through this complex Jelinek language structure, you have consistently thought it through and achieved it. You were mercilessly precise and all present (..)” - Student prize (endowed with 2,000 euros)
Selected by the student participants from the group of directors of the German Stage Association and the Cooperative of German Stage Members (GDBA) - Solo prizes (worth 1,000 euros each)
Payam Yazdani und Joyce Mayne Sanha
The ensemble prize goes to students of the Thomas Bernhard Institute for the second time in a row (after 2023 with “Tartuffe” by PeterLicht). The two winners of solo prizes already have permanent engagements – Joyce Mayne Sanha at the Berliner Ensemble and Payam Yazdani at the Junge Schauspielhaus Hamburg .
The awards are the crowning conclusion of the academic year, after the directing award at the Körber Studio Junge directing in Hamburg went to directing graduate Giulia Giammona for “Penelope” by Leonora Carrington in June.
The national competition for German-speaking acting students, organized by the European Theater Academy GmbH “Konrad Ekhof” Hamburg, offers young actors in Germany, Austria and Switzerland a chance to present themselves, learn from each other and discuss study goals, methods and the future of theater together . The competition promotes students’ ability to deal with professional criticism and their own judgment and provides an insight into the different training paths offered by universities.
Questions & Contact:
amelie.niermeyer@moz.ac.at
+49 176 10057489