KEYENBERG 3 // ein AUSWÄRTSSPIEL der studiobühneköln

A DOCUMENTARY GROTESQUE
ABOUT HOME, IDENTITY, AND THE GARZWEILER OPEN-PIT MINE
A co-production by ANALOG and studiobühneköln

What remains of a place when it disappears? 
What remains of us when the ground beneath our feet crumbles away?

KEYENBERG 3 stands on the edge. On the edge of an abyss, on the edge of a decision, on the edge between what was and what could still be. Drawing on the real-life history of the relocation of the village of Keyenberg near the edge of the Garzweiler open-pit mine, the performance label ANALOG develops a poetic and political exploration of loss, identity, and the longing for home—a concept that promises as much as it conceals.

Two villages, the same street names, the same church—and yet: a divided community, a rift that has not healed. What happens to people who are uprooted before they can put down new roots? And what emerges when “home” is no longer something that grows, but something that is made? 

KEYENBERG 3 is not a traditional documentary theater piece. It is a reenactment that oscillates between cold abstraction and jarring hyperrealism, a play that explores the boundary between an idyllic village utopia and a ghostly void. A journey toward a utopian third place—a place beyond loss and reproduction, beyond old and new. 

Accompanied live by Ben Lauber on drums and a soundtrack he composed specifically for the production, an intense exploration emerges through the interplay of the performers—one that navigates demolition, reconstruction, loss, and new beginnings, with an open-ended conclusion. KEYENBERG 3 is a work-in-progress in the ANALOG series “Fictional City Biopic,” which is dedicated to cities and regions across Germany that differ radically from one another.

By and with: Jonas Becker, Dorothea Förtsch, Hanna Held, Lara Pietjou, Ingmar Skrinjar
Live music: Ben Lauber
Director: Daniel Schüßler
Set and Costumes: Ivan Bazak
Composition: Ben Lauber
Production Manager: Hanna Held
Dramaturgy: Laura Becker
Technical Director and Lighting Design: Tommy Vella
Set Design Assistant: Lilith Hellman
Inclusion Dramaturgy: Rina Schmeing
Assistant Director: Ricarda Clahsen
Financial Management: Niels Nester
Public Relations: neurohr & andrä