24 April 2024

The 2024 O.E. Hasse Prize goes to Antonia Siems

The O.E. Hasse Foundation is to award the O.E. Hasse Prize 2024 to Antonia Siems, a third-year student at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin (HfS Ernst Busch). The prize, which comes with 5,000 euros, is awarded annually with a view to fostering outstanding talent; it is presented in alternate years to students of the HfS Ernst Busch in Berlin and the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. The prize is being presented on 30 April 2024 at the HfS Ernst Busch.

Born in Saarbrücken in 2001, Siems took her qualifying exam for university entrance in 2020 as a Steiner school student in Nuremberg followed by philosophy and German studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). In early 2022, she passed the entrance exam for the HfS Ernst Busch and, following an internship in theatre direction and technical assistance at the Vagantenbühne theatre, she began acting classes in the summer semester of 2022.

From the jury statement by Klaus Völker:
“Antonia Siems is driven by a curiosity about life; she is fascinated by opera and dance but could just as easily have pictured herself as a gardener, a cook or a carpenter. She takes notice of the little details and quirks that don’t jibe with the overall concept of a character. When she acts a part, she keeps it open, so that the person she is playing remains transparent and contradictory. She lets everything that is assured slip away into areas of insecurity; she ‘disembodies’ the character in order to give it a new body and lend it presence and a sense of validity. She was convincing as Lulu, coming across as the ideal actress to play the part in the original version of Wedekind’s eponymous drama.”

The O.E. Hasse Prize, which is administered by the Akademie der Künste, was instituted in 1981 by the O.E. Hasse Foundation. This allows the Akademie to discharge the bequest of theatre and film actor Otto Eduard Hasse (1903–1978) and fulfil his intention of fostering young acting talent. The selection committee for the award is made up of members of the foundation’s board, its chair Klaus Missbach (Vienna/Nuremberg), André Jung (Munich), Klaus Völker (Berlin) and Jossi Wieler (Berlin), who are also members of the Akademie der Künste’s Performing Arts Section.

In recent years the award has been presented to William Bartley Cooper (2017, Munich), Noah Saavedra (2018, Berlin), Julia Windischbauer (2019, Munich), Emma Lotta Wegner and Alexander Wertmann (2020, Berlin), Rasmus Friedrich (2021, Munich) and Jakob Gühring (2022, Berlin). No prize was awarded in 2023. The next presentation will be made in 2025, this time to a student at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich.

Event details
The 2024 O.E. Hasse Prize goes to Antonia Siems
Scene from Frank Wedekind’s Lulu as curtain raiser, followed by award ceremony
Klaus Völker will deliver the encomium.
Tuesday 30 April 2024, 7.30 pm
Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts (HfS), OBEN stage
Zinnowitzer Str. 11, 10115 Berlin
Advance registration is requested; please contact presse@hfs-berlin.de