Storyteller Izzy Ahrbeck on stage at THE BEAR; Photo: Anastasija Ivanova
Season 12 Kickoff Show
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
We missed you.
All summer we've been thinking about the stories you've been collecting without even realizing it. The awkward layovers, the almost-romances, the wrong turns that became the best part of the trip, the quiet moments at home that felt bigger than any vacation. Summer has a way of handing us material we don't know what to do with yet. That's exactly what THE BEAR is for.
We're kicking off our 12th season the way we always do: with untold stories. Eight brave souls will take the stage to share something they've never told before, not at THE BEAR, not anywhere. Names drawn at random from our legendary top hat. The only rule is that the story has to be new to the stage.
These 5-minute stories BEAR witness to the awkward, the inspiring, the heartbreaking, the hilarious, and everything in between. The kind of stories that remind us we're not alone, especially after a few months apart.
At the end of the night, the audience votes for their Favorite Story, and the winner earns an invite to The Eve of the Champs, our annual storytellers' showcase in June 2027.
🐻 How It Works
Want to share a story? Put your name in the hat. We draw names randomly throughout the night.
New to storytelling? Don't worry, we love first-time voices and offer supportive coaching to help you shape your story. You can also check out our workshop to prepare your story for THE BEAR stage.
🎤 Want to tell a story?
Come early to put your name in the hat, or email us in advance if you'd like feedback before you hit the stage: 📩 hello@THEbEAR-storytelling.de
Because if you've got a story, we've got a stage. And after a summer apart, we're more curious than ever to hear yours.
🎟 Tickets & Community
TICKETS: 15-20€ suggested donation. Less if you really can't, more if you can. Your donation covers our overhead, everything else runs on volunteers and on you, our storytellers and listeners.
📍 Event Details
DATE: Thursday, September 17, 2026, 7 pm
HOST: TBA
MUSIC: James Harper
VENUE: Theatre Pool, Boxhagener Straße 18, 3. Hinterhof, 10245 Berlin
Every show we invite our audience to share a story anonymously on a small slip of paper we hand out. Here it is in advance, so you can ponder it before you arrive.
Audience Question:
Tell us about something you did this summer that you haven't told anyone.
Meet Your Musician
JAMES HARPER
Musician and podcaster producer James Harper
is the creator of award-nominated podcast Filter Stories, a show that uses our morning coffee as a lens to understand the world. His narratives explore history, science and sustainability, and he writes the piano music that underscore the stories.
His podcasts have been heard hundreds of thousands of times, and he has produced narrative podcasts for a wide array of clients, including Porsche (Driven Minds), Duolingo (Spanish Podcast), World Coffee Portal (5THWAVE), Specialty Coffee Association (World Coffee Championships), and others.
Growing up half Italian in Sydney, he’s lived in Hong Kong and Rome and began his career working for the Bank of England in 2009. However, his passion for coffee was simply too strong to resist, and in 2016 moved to Berlin to become The Barn Coffee Roaster’s Wholesale Manager, and then in early 2018 hopped on a flight to Guatemala to dive deeper into the world of specialty coffee as a documentary podcast producer.
When he is not traveling around the world, James generously accompanies storytellers at THE BEAR adding another delicious layer to our evening.
THE BEAR presents is made possible by the generous performances of our storytellers, our team of volunteers, and the “Verein zur Förderung der Kunst des biographischen Geschichtenerzählens e.V.” .
Special thanks to our partners Berlin Erleben on Youtube and the public speaking training companies Moving Speaker, Female Speaking Berlin as well as UnMaking Boxes, Sales Chakra and Theatre Pool.
Stories connect us. Because we all have stories to tell.
Please support our mission to bring compassion into our communities through the Art of Autobiographical Storytelling.
We thank you for your generosity.
Verein zur Förderung der Kunst des biographischen Geschichtenerzählens e.V.
IBAN: DE25 8306 5408 0005 2236 28
Or you can buy the team some cups of coffee for those long nights… Thank you.