In the organizer's words:

When women* experience violence at the hands of their current or former partners, it is a horrible and unacceptable situation. Anyone who experiences this should be allowed to free themselves from it. But what if the perpetrator and the victim have children together? Violence in parental relationships never only affects the adults. It also affects the children's everyday lives - and they experience how the support system lets them down.

Fathers have a right to contact. However, violent fathers often use this right to exercise power - at the expense of those who actually need protection. Institutions such as youth welfare offices or family courts rarely recognize these dynamics. They perpetuate what should have ended long ago: Dependence, control, fear. The documentary theater performance "The Divided Child - Feminist Voices on Separation Violence and a System that Fails" is based on conversations with those affected. The voices of the children always resonate - children whose safety is not a priority in the system.

Director Heinrich Horwitz gives their stories visibility in an artistic translation. Four performers take up the space on behalf of those who often remain unheard and give them shape and voice: children and their mothers who have to survive in a system of violence.

PARTICIPANTS

Heinrich Horwitz (director), Katja Musafiri (text), Valerie Renay (performer), Lena Whooo (performer), Ryke Übermut (performer), Maria Walser (performer), Asha Hedayati (panel), Sebastian Tippe (panel)

Katja Musafiri is co-founder and board member of the refugee network Flamingo e.V. For the play "Das geteilte Kind - Feministische Stimmen über Trennungsgewalt und ein System, das versagt" (The Divided Child - Feminist Voices on Separation Violence and a System that Fails), she has spent the past year talking to mothers affected by (separation) violence and its continuation by the institutions involved and writing down the texts in order to make the situation visible on stage.

Katja is a journalist and has been working in the social media team at "taz" for over ten years. Since 2023 as deputy team leader. She also works as a media trainer for NGOs and gives workshops on social media and community management, as well as advising on discrimination-sensitive reporting. In projects with the association Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen, she campaigns for differentiated and diverse reporting on social media and against hate and agitation in comment columns.

Heinrich Horwitz is a director, choreographer and actor. Heinrich has realized productions in the independent scene, at various municipal theaters and in the new music scene. Heinrich studied acting direction and choreography at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts Berlin and is a winner of the Tabori Prize 2023. Heinrich's productions have been invited to the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Bremen Opera, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Deutschlandfunk Cologne, festivals such as Ruhrtriennale, Tanztage Berlin and Ultima Oslo.

In addition to directing and choreography, Heinrich also works as an actor in theater, film and television. Heinrich holds a permanent directing mentorship at the ADK in Ludwigsburg and lectures as a guest at various universities in the fields of directing, acting and dramaturgy.

Alongside 185+ actors, Heinrich Horwitz is a co-signatory of the #ActOut Manifesto and an activist for queer visibility in culture and media, as well as being active in cultural politics.

Valerie Renay is a Berlin-based French-Caribbean performer, musician, singer and educator who creates music and performance works centered on the emotional body. As a versatile artist, she is omnipresent in the international alternative scene. Her work and mentoring deals with ideas of identity, our place in society, our spiritual quest and everyday psychosis. Renay transcends genre boundaries and explores the "in-between space" where she reveals a certain darkness that soothes the heart.

Lena Whooo is an Afro-German activist, artist, actor and writer based in Berlin and New York.

Lena's work revolves around themes of identity, healing, pain and joy - poetic, political and personal all at the same time. As a leading actor in projects such as "Old & New" (Cinewaves Production), "Between the Lines" (Met Filmschool) and "21st Century Schizoid Man" (Beyondflix), Lena combines cinematic and performative forms of expression. On stages such as the Badisches Staatstheater, the Staatstheater Karlsruhe and festivals such as TEDx Youth Munich, MELT Festival, LOC Fest NYC, School of Glimmers Bremen and many more, Lena weaves spoken word, movement, expression and voice into intense spaces of experience.

Trained at the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, among others, Lena Whooo stands for an intergenerational, interdisciplinary practice that combines vulnerability and empowerment.

Ryke Übermut: trained as an actor in Berlin, then studied physical theater and devising at the Folkwang University of the Arts. After working on various stages in Germany and Switzerland, she trained in fine arts. Her independent artistic practice works at the interface of visual and performing arts. She also leads workshops and works as a lecturer in devising, acting and physical theater.

Maria Walser works as a dancer, actress and choreographer. She was an ensemble member of the Tanztheater Nürnberg and the Tanztheater Oldenburg. Maria has been working freelance since 2011. She has collaborated with Sergiu Matis, Costa Compagnie, Jule Flierl, Das Helmi, Heinrich Horwitz, Sebastian Mauksch and Prinzip Gonzo, among others. She has shown her own work at the Tanztage Berlin in the Sophiensäle, Ballhaus Ost and Dock 11 Berlin. She has staged and choreographed for the Atze Musiktheater. Maria has been training as a practitioner in transformative bodywork since 2025. She is the mother of two children and lives in Berlin.

Asha Hedayati: Born in 1984 in Tehran, studied law at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Asha Hedayati has been working as a lawyer in the field of family law for almost ten years, focusing on representing women affected by violence in separation, divorce and violence protection proceedings. In addition to her work as a lawyer, she trains social workers from women's shelters and women's counseling centers throughout Germany and is a guest lecturer for family law and child and youth welfare law at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences and the Paritätische Akademie for students of social work. As a panelist and speaker, she regularly speaks publicly on the topics of domestic violence and violence against women. Her book "Die stille Gewalt: Wie der Staat Frauen alleinlässt" was published by Rowohlt-Verlag in 2023.

Sebastian Tippe is a qualified teacher, author and speaker specializing in gender equality and violence prevention. He works as a specialist consultant in child and youth welfare and has been committed to feminist work with boys and against sexism and toxic masculinity for many years. In addition to his work as a consultant, he gives talks, holds workshops at schools and publishes specialist articles on educational and social issues. In 2020, he founded the association SHESPECT - Unterstützung für Frauen bei Hate Speech und Sexismus e.V.. His book "Toxic masculinity. Recognize, reflect, change" was published by edigo Verlag in 2021.

The performance will be followed by an audience discussion with the lawyer and author Asha Hedayati and the educator, lecturer and author Sebastian Tippe - moderated by Katja Musafiri.

An evening as part of the Flamingo e.V. open space "Dara Tûyê - درخت توت - The Mulberry Tree. Feminist voices on war and gardens".

TRIGGER WARNING

The following announcement addresses domestic violence, separation violence and the effects on children. The theater performance deals with the experiences of those affected and structural failures in the support system. The content can have a stressful effect.

- Language: German

- Price: 5,00 EUR / 3,00 EUR

- Location: Room 5 - Berlin Room

- Admission from 18:30

- Part of: Relationship family