TELL ME WHY. Aids im Köln der 80er – Oder: Die Angst vor der Unberechenbarkeit der vielarmigen Krake

In the organizer's words:

That's what it's all about

"Tell Me Why. AIDS in Cologne in the 80s. Or: The fear of the unpredictability of the many-armed octopus" takes viewers on a journey through time: when a pear was chancellor, "Twix" was still called "Raider" and a virus terrified the world.
In addition to this look back at the early years of the disease, which divided society (including the queer community) and put solidarity to the test, the Petra P. production office also brings the topic into the here and now together with experts: Has the disease lost its horror? What is it like to live with HIV today? Does AIDS still have a lobby?
Once again, the boundaries between fiction and documentary are blurred: those who were among the early victims of the disease in the 1980s are given a posthumous voice, while at the same time awareness is raised for the concerns of those suffering from the disease today - without pointing a finger, but instead imaginatively theatrical, (self-)ironic, cheerful and touching.

That's why you have to go in

In its new participatory project, the queer ensemble, known for its brilliant bridges between high culture and shrill trash, dedicates itself to a topic that is rarely dealt with in the theater: HIV / AIDS. Not light fare, but the signature of the production office Petra P. is to tell even serious topics in an unexpectedly entertaining way. Most recently at the Sommerblut Festival 2025 with "Traudl Junge" (awarded the Sommerblut Foundation Prize, nominated for the Cologne Theater Prize and the Kurt Hackenberg Prize for Political Theater): "An evening of theater could hardly be more entertaining and thought-provoking." (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger)

PSST

Behind "Tell Me Why" is the production office Petra P. alongside the experts who were found especially for the project: Daniel Breitfelder, Johannes Brüssau, Sebastian Kreyer. Firmly anchored in Cologne's independent theater scene, they read a wide variety of que(e)r material, which also means discovering the tragic in the cheerful and the cheerful in the tragic.