About us
To inspire free thinking, humanist ideals, and new visions by performing visceral art that will lead to social discourse and the empowerment of oppressed people. In our ever-shifting and expanding world, individuals are constantly bombarded with the violence of commerce media pushing disinformation and dehumanization. We seek to reclaim authorship of the human experience and combat harmful fantasies with empowering narratives.
Mission
Who we are
Broken Cage Collective is a performing arts collective based in Berlin, Germany. Originally founded in Seattle, Washington by Ben Wippel, who continues to lead the group in Berlin, our artists come from various backgrounds with a diverse set of skills to contribute to the socio-political arts. We wish to continue building a network of curious and daring creatives.
WHAT WE DO
We create and produce shows and lead workshops on theatre and performance. Whether we’re presenting variety shows (Uncaged!), staged readings of new plays (A Broken Concert), or fully immersive spectacles (Diary of A Hole, Manifest Destiny), we aim to engage our community with questions and discussions that break down the barriers of ignorance and judgement.
Ben Wippel is a theater artist from Seattle. He received his BFA in Musical Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts, where he has taught classes in Voice & Speech and Text Analysis. In Seattle, he worked professionally as an actor and voice coach and started his first production company Broken Cage Collective which produced new works and variety shows.
After moving to Berlin in 2019, Ben received his MFA in Devised Performance from Columbia College Chicago and Arthaus Berlin. In Berlin, Ben has performed standup comedy, musical cabaret, and created original characters for immersive theater groups like Phantazonia and Noir Night Market. He also produced his socio-political spectacles, Diary of a Hole with prideART Berlin and Manifest Destiny at Tłusta Langusta in Poznań in collaboration with Cosmino Productions.
About the founder
“Ben's use of movement and mask is very rich and offers an additional example of his ability to perform a wide range of work and to devise within vastly different genres.”
Thomas Prattki, Arthaus Berlin (formerly LISPA)
