want by zayd dohrn
directed by geordie brookman
Feb. 26, 2021
Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg (TAK)
Prinzenstrasse 85 F
Berlin - Kreuzberg
In 2020-21 we inaugurated the Acting Muscle Ensemble, bringing together a group of committed longtime students to produce a fully realized staging of Zayd Dohrn’s Want at Berlin’s cutting-edge Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg (TAK). Want was originally produced at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf theater in 2011. Dohrn is Professor and Chair of the Radio/TV/Film Department at Northwestern University and the recipient of the Horton Foote New American Play Prize and the Kennedy Center Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award.
The Ensemble Project gives our emerging actors a chance to work with a professional director and experience how a full rehearsal process and elements of staging — set, lights, sound, costumes — come together to bring a story to life. Due to Corona restrictions, the production was recorded without a live audience on February 26, 2021, and was streamed online the following summer.
The Ensemble
Ryan Lozon is a Canadian software developer, registered nurse, and actor. His love for acting began with parody home videos he produced with his brother as a child. He has written and acted in a number of sketch comedy videos and performed throughout Berlin with his improvised comedy troupes Ducks and Glasses and Century Hotel. In 2018, he played in the New York DCM improv festival. He has now turned his focus to more dramatic roles and has been working with The Acting Muscle since early 2019.
Stacey Robinson comes from Denver, Colorado. Her passion for acting began at a young age watching turner classic movies religiously. After years as a spectator, she has finally ventured onto the stage herself and is hooked for life. Previous works include The Swell Mob, an immersive theater experience at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018, as well as various scene study workshops in Berlin and Denver. She and her partner are currently working on a short film based on the Wizard of Oz and a film-discussion podcast, which they hope to release early next year. When she isn't making, watching, talking, or dreaming about movies, she works as an English teacher and Tarot reader. She has been training for over a year with The Acting Muscle, where favorite projects include scenes from Proof and anything by John Patrick Shanley.
Geordie Brookman is an award winning director of theatre, musicals, festivals and events. He was the Artistic Director of the State Theatre Company South Australia from 2012 - 2019. His productions have played throughout Australia, the UK and Asia and been included in the Adelaide Festival, MONA FOMA, Midsumma Festival, Daeugu International Musicals Festival and The Adelaide Cabaret Festival. His premiere production of Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know To Be True (co-directed with Scott Graham) enjoyed two acclaimed UK tours across 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Adam Ludwig is an American actor and educator. He is a graduate of the MFA Acting program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and holds a BA in Theater from Middlebury College. Television work includes Sex and the City, Fringe, Gossip Girl and Quantico. His most recent stage appearance was in JUNK on Broadway (2018 Tony nomination, Best Play). He is the founder of The Acting Muscle, where he teaches and coaches emerging actors in Berlin.
Julia Torrens is a Spanish educator who lives in Berlin. She graduated with a degree in German and English translation in Barcelona and moved to Berlin in 2014. She has participated in several film projects, including her role in Obaba (2006 Goya ten nominations and award for Best Sound). Her passion for artistic expressions took root when she started taking music and dance lessons as a child, and continued as she studied dance in Barcelona, Berlin and Santiago de Chile, where she worked as a professional dancer and instructor. She returned to Berlin in 2019 and works as an educator in a Spanish-German kindergarten. She has been working with The Acting Muscle since 2019.
Lena Steffen works and lives in Berlin. After spending multiple years abroad studying cultural and creative industry management in Australia, Denmark, and South Africa, Lena returned to Germany to start her professional career in innovation management. In 2019, Lena reawakened her long standing passion for acting by joining The Acting Muscle. As a child and adolescent, Lena could often be found on the stage. She was involved in projects ranging from an adaptation of Lysistrata, to various carnivalesque comedic and dance performances, to a multi-art installation called Der unbekannte Krieg (The Unknown War), which was awarded the Preis für kulturelle Bildung by the German Office for Culture and Media.