American Tet enters into the lives and world of a military family, the Krombachers. The father, Jim, served in Vietnam before building a career in the Army; while the son, Danny, currently serves as a military policeman in Iraq. And then there is Elaine, an exemplary military wife and mother – an upright patriot who teaches the spouses of new soldiers the ins and outs of military life. As the play opens the family, including the rebellious daughter, Amy, await Danny who is coming home on leave. Danny’s return brings unexpected complications into the black and white world of duty and pride. Coming home, too, is Danny’s friend, Angela, who has been gravely injured in the war. Meanwhile, Elaine encounters a woman from another world, Nhu, - from Vietnam - who unsettles her and sets about the unraveling of her unquestioned assumptions and world-view.

 

American Tet is a brutal account of the effect of the current war in Iraq and past wars, on soldiers and soldiers’ families. As the author, Lydia Stryk, writes “It’s not a pretty play. But it’s not a pretty world.”

 
What´s important? Who is right? How does terror begin and most of all ­ why?

 

 

Esther Slevogt writes in her TAZ review: ein ziemlich beeindruckendes Stück..., das sich keine wohlfeile Moral leistet oder seine Figuren denunziert. (Es) liefert vielmehr eine sehr authentische Zustandsbeschreibung jenes tief verunsicherten US-Amerika, das sich nun Barack Obama zum Präsidenten wählte...                read the whole review HERE

 

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Lydia Stryk
* DeKalb, Illinois, trained to be an actress at the Drama Centre, London, later studied history, education and journalism. She has a BA in History from Hunter College, an MA in Journalism from NYU and a Ph.D. in Theatre from the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York.
She is the author of fifteen full-length plays and a few short ones. Her work has been anthologized in America and published and translated into German by Per Lauke Verlag, Hamburg. Her plays have been seen at festivals around the United States and in Europe and produced at many theatres throughout the US, and in Germany at Schauspiel Essen and Theaterhaus Stuttgart. She lives in Berlin

 

Daniel Krauss
* Giessen; studied film directing at Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin. He has studied with Martin Scorsese and Mike Newell. His first feature film was Heimatfilm with Fritzi Haberland. He has directed plays by David Mamet and Georg Büchner for Vagantenbühne; movie and TV acting included Baader, and Der letzte Zeuge. He can currently be seen in the new Sat1 series, Dr. Molly & Karl. He lives in Berlin and teaches film in Kapstadt and Berlin.

 

studied acting at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, performed extensively in Dallas, Texas in theatre, film and TV and won acting awards for Jane in Vieux Carré and Alma in Summer and Smoke, both by Tennessee Williams. She moved to New York City where she studied with Jeff Cohen, before co founding the deep ellum ensemble. The group created several original plays and came to Berlin to perform them, which is how she discovered the city and decided to relocate here. She has performed many plays with English Theatre Berlin over the last 9 years as well as pursuing her writing ambitions.

Moon Suk  

is a Korean “poet of the heart” and a graduate of Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea. She was awarded the Richard Wagner Scholarship and trained as an opera singer at Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. She started writing poetry during a UK tour with The King and I in 2002/03. She has published three volumes of poetry: Moon like Moon, Mond und Sterne, and Mondsüchtig. The German public loved Moon also for her role as a witty and charming TV presenter for ZDF Morgenmagazin from 2005 to 2007. Moon Suk has lived in Germany for 20 years.

Peter Gilbert Cotton

*Boston; works in TV, film and theatre. Some recent German TV credits include Berlin Tatort and Auf immer und einen Tag. He began acting in Boston and spent more than a few years in New York. He’s actually been leading a duel career. He is also a TV/ documentary film journalist / producer and works as a voice-over talent.

Jill Holwerda 

*Grand Rapids, Michigan; moved to New York City in 2000 to study theatre at New York University. She performed in many independent film projects and on stage in plays including The Importance Of Being Earnest, Hugo, and Daughter Of The Tree. She has lived in Berlin for two years. She would like to give a special thanks to Nadim.

Christian Serritiello
*Canterbury/UK; trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London; graduated with a Masters degree in theatre in 2004. He landed several small roles at the BBC before moving to Vancouver, and appeared in several American TV series, notably Blade the series. He recently played young Roman Polanski's father in a Biopic feature film about the director entitled Polanski unauthorized due for release 2009.

Vanessa Rottenburg 

*Augsburg; after her graduation went to a theater academy and studied acting. Meanwhile you could see her playing different characters at the adk-theater Ulm. During her studies she also started training as a screenwriter. She is a student at the film acting school Berlin.

Jan Giese

studied piano, music and physics in Frankfurt/Main, later sound engineering at Universität der Künste, Berlin. Created several radio plays, composed film scores and designed sound for Fenster mit Aussicht by Vera Lalyko, Mia by Robert Schäfer, and Die Geschichte von Anna und Paul by Katia Riemann; wrote  the music for Woyzeck, directed by Daniel Krauss. He works for Hessischer Rundfunk, Deutschlandradio, Radio Eins, and for BMW.

Jan Müller

worked as assistant to the set designer at Stadttheater Freiburg, Schillertheater Berlin, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Staatstheater Stuttgart, and the Salzburg Festival. Since 1994 he has worked as a freelance set and costume designer at many theatres and operas throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Lately he has worked with directors Markus Heinzelmann (Theaterhaus Jena), and Cordula Däuper. His last work in Berlin was Wiener Blut at HAU 1.

Juliane Friedrich

*Dresden, studied at Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee. Has worked as costume and set designer for many theatre, film, and TV productions since 1997.

Katherine German

grew up on a llama ranch in Colorado and has been involved in the performing arts since childhood. Studied at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, then toured the UK extensively with American folk singer, Heather Myles. She eventually made her way back to Denver where she worked at the Bug Theatre in both an artistic and administrative capacity. She was also involved with the International Experimental Cinema Exposition (TIE), and is currently curating the LAB program at English Theatre Berlin.