Rimini Protokoll

Rimini Protokoll is a Berlin-based non-hierarchical theater group that has used each of their works to expand the means of the theater to create new perspectives on reality. Rimini Protokoll often develop their stage-works, interventions, performative installations, and audio plays together with experts who have gained their knowledge and skills beyond the theater. An illustrative example of this practice is Rimini Protokoll’s decision to partner with UNC’s Center for Demography to create 100% The Triangle with Carolina Performing Arts. Rimini Protokoll likes to transpose rooms or social structures into theatrical formats. Many of their works feature interactivity and a playful use of technology.

The artists that first formed Rimini Protokoll—Helgard Haug, Daniel Wetzel, and Stefan Kaegi—met at university, where they were all studying theater. Since their early days, the artists have been exploring the possibilities of theater, using their projects as both playgrounds and testing sites for works that are directly relevant to society. They value play, systems, and the surprises of the everyday as they invent radical new forms of theater. Rimini Protokoll is interested not in perfecting a theatrical form, but rather in defining theater as a place in the making with no truly fulfilled form. They seek to learn from those who participate in and collaborate with their works, turning away from an emphasis on the singular genius of the artist. By involving everyday people and audiences in their works, Rimini Protokoll seeks to answer the question “Can theater change your life?” with a resounding YES.

100% City was developed by Helgard Haug, Daniel Wetzel, and Stefan Kaegi. Helgard Haug and Daniel Wetzel produced 100% The Triangle. With “100% City” Rimini Protokoll has created a worldwide, ever-morphing work, in which 100 statistically chosen inhabitants of the city gather on a theater stage. In October 2023, the collective will work with local co-creators to present 100% The Triangle. While Rimini Protokoll hails from outside the American South, the production embodies many aspects of Southern Futures at CPA. It’s a project that embraces close listening wholeheartedly, providing a space where community members can share hidden or unknown aspects of their lives from the stage. In this moment of heightened visibility, audiences are invited to view their region from a more expansive perspective.