In late November Theater der Zeit will publish the first book of our project entitled "Theater als Intervention. Politiken ästhetischer Praxis". It covers topics we dealt with during our first annual conference "Politics of the Applied. Theatre and Art as Intervention" and focuses on the observation that theatre is seen differently in connection to society now than it formerly was.

"Theater als Intervention. Politiken ästhetischer Praxis" is going to be published in German.

Recent years have seen a shift in the way that theatre commands and acquires social legitimacy. It no longer suffices for theatre to invoke its aesthetic pleasures or contributions to cultural life to prove its legitimacy. Instead, theatre is increasingly expected to meet concrete societal goals, to commit to explicit social and political engagement. Theatre practitioners now head to novel contexts like deprived areas, therapy groups, corporate enterprises or prisons in order to initiate and oversee transformation processes. But what does it mean when theatre becomes in this way an instrument for political and social intervention? This volume establishes a theory of performative interventions by drawing upon practices dominant in the realm of applied theatre, which have until now gone largely unnoticed in the field of theatre studies.

To accompany the publication Theater der Zeit will host an event on December 8th, 8pm at Einar & Bert Theaterbuchhandlung, Winsstraße 72, 10405 Berlin.

Students and people associated with Freie Universität Berlin will be able to attend the event free of charge. Others will have to pay an admission fee of 8,00 Euros.