J.V.Neumann 2024

Jens Vilela Neumann

LIFE

I was born on 29 February 1976 in Löbau in Saxony. Thirteen years of childhood in the GDR were above all a wonderful time for me. With the plans to leave the country, the first demonstrations in 1989 and the move in the same year to Herford in Westphalia, I was thrown out of the ‘valley of the unsuspecting’ into the ‘golden west’ by the historical twister. After culture shock, A-levels and various trips (East Africa, Eastern and Western Europe), 18 months of peace service followed in Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It was there that I encountered the theatre. This was followed by four years of international theatre studies (2 years acting and 2 years directing) to become an ‘Intercultural Theatermaker’, which I completed at the Utrecht Theatre Academy in the Netherlands, following the methods of Jacques Lecoq, among others.

After two years as a freelance director in Holland and further travelling (North America and Africa), I moved to Berlin in 2004, where I have been working ever since. During the first years in Berlin I got to know different facets of theatre. Through my work at the Grips Theater and the Atze Musiktheater, I learned how to deal with classical dramaturgy and municipal theatre.

For 20 years I have been running the non-profit production company Paradise Garden Productions, which realises theatre productions in Germany and internationally and deals with historical and socio-political conflicts.
In this context, I have written and directed numerous plays and realised projects in several African countries. My politically and socially influenced works were performed at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin in 2022, among others. The main themes are decolonisation, coming to terms with colonialism, migration and integration/inclusion.

I still live in Berlin and am the father of three children.

THEATRE - PLAY DEVELOPMENT AND DIRECTING (selection)

  • 2025 HEAVY SHIT - realised by the EXIL ENSEMBLE the ‘Scattered’ Premiere on 14.09.2025 at the Kungerkiezthetater Berlin 
  • 2025 Transit Zwickau: It's further home than the moon - premiere on 10 May at the Horch Museum in cooperation with the Stadttheater Zwickau Plauen funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation
  • 2024 Chains of steel and smoke - premiere on 12 December at the CCC in Yaounde Cameroon, further performances in Baffousam and elsewhere.
  • 2024 Taboo, my darling? - with the EXIL ENSEMBLE the ‘Scattered’’, premiere on 22.06. at the KungerKiezTheater Berlin
  • 2024 The Robbers, freely adapted from Schiller - by and with the BürgernOhneBühne, premiere on 26 October in Freiberg (Saxony)
  • 2024 Ceremony for a Wound - with the BürgernOhneBühne, premiere on 23 May in Freiberg (Saxony)
  • 2023 Ex-trahere Matrix - from colonialism to climate injustice - a hybrid of theatre, performance and film documentation in Lomé/Togo. Premiere on 09.12. at the Goethe Institute in Lomé. Further performances during the tour in Berlin, Marburg and Paderborn in summer 2024.
  • 2023 Work and ecstasy: our dance around the golden calf - by and with the BürgernOhneBühne, premiere on 1 June at the Obermarkt in Freiberg and in the Festsaal in Freiberg (Saxony), further performances in Mittweida.
  • 2023 Das Hamlet-Syndrom, unser Ringen um Haltung - premiere on 3 March at the Theater-Ost, with the EXIL ENSEMBLE the ‘Scattered’’, further performances in four different venues in Berlin as well as at the University of Paderborn and at the Plauen-Zwickau Theatre.
  • 2022 Restitution Art Lab - a hybrid of theatre, performance, film documentation and symposium - premiere on 17 June at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin
  • 2022 Zum Guten Menschen - with the EXIL ENSEMBLE the ‘Scattered’, premiere on 21.01. at the Theater-Ost 
  • 2022 Evadam, Experiments on Myth - premiere on 10.1. at the Schlossplatztheater Berlin with the EXIL ENSEMBLE the ‘Scattered’
  • 2021 Auf?bruch/departure? - artistic exchange during and despite Corona - premiere 16.06. at the Theater Vorpommern cooperation project with artists from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Cameroon
  • 2020 Heroes - unwanted / chronic / overwhelming! - by and with the ‘Ensemble der sTrotzenden’ Premiere 14.11. in the Hans Scharoun-Saal Berlin.
  • 2019 Past / Present / Future Cameroon - Premiere 28 June at the Goethe Institute Yaounde.
  • 2019 Magna Salus - Of optimisation processes, fire accelerators and self-empowerment strategies - on the political dimension of ‘health and illness’ with the ‘Ensemble der sTrotzenden’ Premiere 28.11. at the Scharoun-Saal Berlin.
  • 2016 Water Games - performances at the Ibsen Festival in Oslo, guest performance tour through Germany: at Pathos / Munich, Peter Weiss Haus / Rostock, citytheater Greifswald, citytheater Jena and citytheater Konstanz 
  • 2015 Water Games theatre adaptation of the classic ‘An Enemy of the People’ by Hendrik Ibsen - premiere at the HIFA Harare International Festival of the Arts, Zimbabwe.
  • 2014 Miguel K. quer Justica - theatre adaptation of Kleist's novella ‘Michael Kohlhaas’ - premiere at Teatro Elinga Luanda, Angola.
  • 2013 Identity - a bloody romance - a fusion of theatre, live music and film. Premiere in Maputo / Mozambique
  • 2012 The Visit of the Old Lady - by F. Dürrenmatt - Teatro Avenida (Henning Mankell) Premiere in Maputo / Mozambique
  • 2010 Rui o Rei da Rua - by David Craig, Teatro Avenida Maputo / Mozambique
  • 2010 Othello - with the Shakespeare Company Berlin, premiere 31 March at Heimathafen Berlin 
  • 2009 Ola, my sister - by Magdalena Grazewicz: world premiere on 18.06. GRIPS Theatre Berlin
  • 2008 Next door - by Ramlose at the GRIPS Theatre Berlin, premiere 03.04. nominated for the ‘Ikarus’ 2008
  • 2007 Oh how beautiful is Panama - theatre adaptation and direction of the classic children's book by Janosch for the Atze Theater Berlin, world premiere until 2024, more than 450 sold-out performances
  • 2006 Flimmer-Billy - world premiere at the GRIPS Theatre Berlin, performed for 13 years with more than 400 sold-out performances

SHORT FILM (selection)

  • 2021 The wilful child - based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
  • 2021 The race that died - based on a story by Credo Mutwa, with artists from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Cameroon
  • 2020 Take One - music and film project with young people
  • 2019 MR. SAFARI - portrait film
  • 2002 5 Uhr 53 - Festival screenings: 09.01.2003, Bamberg; 06.06.2003, Hamburg, Short Film Festival - Made in Germany,

EXHIBITIONS (selection)

TEACHING (selection)

INDIVIDUAL REFERENCES

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