Piro&Friends: From Pop-up Pavilion to Brewery Stage
I was sitting on the stage. Niklas Koinzer sat on my right, while Piro Rempel and Franziska Brietzke sat on my left. In front of me on the table lay the theatre script on my tablet. Franziska was using a tablet too, Niklas had his script on a laptop, while Piro had the original book in front of him. Four microphones ensured that everyone in the big brewery hall of the Lille Bräuerei could hear us clearly. A handful of people were sitting in smaller groups on the beer garden benches between the fermentation vessels, each with a drink in hand or within arm’s reach on the table. As the clock struck 19:00 on the 27th of May 2026 the bar turned the music down and Piro Rempel, who organised the event, greeted the crowd. He explained who we were and what we were going to read.
Then it was my turn to start: „Albert Camus – The Just… “
Act 1
It was one of many grey winter days in Kiel in 2025. To Piro Rempel, it was the perfect day to visit the art hall. It certainly could have been, with one exception – his expectations. Piro, 31, is a trained actor who temporarily moved from Cologne to Kiel to study for a master’s degree in business administration.
So, a smaller scale art scene like Kiel’s, centred around the city gallery, a few smaller galleries and an art hall that had already been closed for around three years, felt to him like: „My God, the art scene is so shit here. There is nothing.“
But he was not ready to give up yet. As the art hall provided an alternative in the pop-up pavilion at the Old Market, Piro decided to check it out. He entered an exhibition built around one sculpture. The pavilion was filled with information explaining how the artist created the sculpture, leaving him with the impression that it was a big deal. But when he finally saw the sculpture, he thought: „What?! This is horrible. That’s the centerpiece of the whole exhibition – everything that museum Kiel had to offer for the city?“
Furrowing his freckled forehead, Piro Rempel wondered if there was a way to participate. In a conversation with staff, they informed him that he could rent the pop-up pavilion himself. An idea occurred to him: „I can do this better.“
And so, with a small smile peeking through his beard, he did.
Act 2
„Kiel is not the most artistic city I would say because it’s more known for science and the military”, Piro explains. The city gave him the pop-up pavilion from 5th to 9th January 2026, where he put together a mixed exhibition. Four to five artist friends entrusted Piro with their paintings, drawings, photographs and clay models for the time being.
But as a performer himself, he wanted to contribute by doing live readings. So, one day after our Campus Radio Aktiv broadcast he asked us if we would like to do a table read with him. His brown-green eyes lit up, and his smile widened when we agreed. Speaking a little louder and faster, he continued to explain his idea to us.
To be honest, over the weeks where we did not know whether Piro would get the pavilion, I was so focused on my exams that I forgot about it. So, I was pleasantly surprised when he added me to a WhatsApp group called Piro&Friends.
He confirmed that he had got the pavilion and sent out the usual information for an event. We also planned a meeting to choose what we would read on which day.
Alongside award-winning film scripts, favourite short stories and self-written poems, we decided on Albert Camus „The Just “. Part of the discussion was whether we were allowed to read them publicly, as the rights belonged to the writer or the publisher. Luckily, we were able to obtain the rights.
In the professional theatre, table reads are when directors and actors sit together and read the play out loud. It is more than simply reading because you are already giving the characters emotion. „You just read it, which is, as an actor, quite a relief because you don’t have to learn all the lines. It’s actually a bit lazy in a way”, explained Piro from an acting perspective. For the public table read, it was only us actors reading in front of our guests.
Act 3
Piro Rempel wanted to be able to properly host the guests at his pavilion exhibition. So, he reached out to companies that might sponsor the event with drinks. Or rather, he asked Jonas Voß, a friend from his business master’s program who had taken on managing the group’s Instagram presence. When Jonas contacted the Kiel brewery Lille Bräuerei, he was put in touch with its social media manager. Lille gave a positive response as the brewery wanted to support more cultural events. They kindly provided us with two crates of beer and soft drinks.
Sadly, the social media manager could not attend our readings at the pavilion. Still interested in the project, he followed it on social media. As the table reads attracted a regular audience, he thought that this format could also work well at the Lille brewery hall. They spent around three months planning the event. In that time, it became public that Landgang Brauerei, the Hamburg-based company that had taken over Lille Bräuerei the previous summer, had filed for insolvency – affecting the Kiel location as well. Piro quickly reassured us that it would not affect the project. „It’s not a financial contract we have. Neither are we paying them, nor are they paying us. It is a collaboration”, stated Piro.
Both parties agreed that we would read on the 27th and 28th of May 2026. Two weeks beforehand, we met on Zoom because Piro had already moved back to Cologne. We did not have enough time, so we decided not to prepare a new play and instead reassigned some speaking roles. Wednesday the 27th came faster than expected. While Piro took the train to Kiel, Jonas and Niklas collected the borrowed equipment from the Open Channel Kiel. We met at 13:00 in the theatre room of the Bunker-D for our public final rehearsal. Afterwards we headed to Lille Bräuerei and prepared everything so that we could start reading on time.
The brewery hall began to fill up about half an hour before the reading started. I quickly went to the toilet one last time before I went up on stage. Sitting in the middle, I started to get a little nervous when Piro Rempel, to my left, greeted the guests. I knew I would be opening the play shortly after.
Act 4
Piro Rempel let the last word hang for a moment in the completely silent room before he thanked the guests for listening to our table read. Sent off with applause we stepped off stage to give the guests a chance to talk to us and reflect on the play.
Jonas noticed that the people were exchanging irritated glances whenever they heard background noise, as they did not want to be distracted from the play. Niklas added: „The people who were here, seemed to be very interested and listened attentively.“ „One of the girls I talked to said she never listened to lectures as attentively as to our reading,“ said Franziska, who had spoken with several guests afterwards. Piro added: „But she was Russian – and the play was about the Russian revolution. “
Some audience members thought it was an interesting and engaging introduction to the story, as well as thought-provoking. Others praised how convincingly we inhabited our roles and how distinctive each character sounded.
The first evening was a success and fulfilled Piro’s wish: „I want to bring art to the normal people who do not want to dress up for an opera.“
The second evening was different. To be honest, nobody came.
Piro decided we would wait for half an hour after the official start. If fewer than six guests turned up, we would not read. I could see that Piro’s energy to read and excitement to perform were already fading. He grumbled quietly into his beard and joked about the situation as if he didn’t care.
As nobody came and time passed, we had nothing to do but chat and enjoy the evening together. Somehow, that brought back the cheerful Piro I was used to. In the end, the evening turned into a small celebration, and Piro taught us a new card game.
Act 5
For some, an experience like this would have meant the end of the project – but not for Piro&Friends. „Life is pointless without art,” said Piro. „If we could reach people with a message from Albert Camus – if we could get them thinking about the questions raised in the play – that would be terrific“, Piro added with a smile.
Even though Albert Camus’ existentialism still feels relevant today, as we can all relate to frustrations with everyday life and the systems around us, we decided as a group to leave „The Just“ behind. „There is so much we can build on from where we are right now“, concluded Piro.
Right now we are considering the idea of something more contemporary – maybe a comedy. „I believe people actually need humour and comic relief. They need fun,“ explained Piro when asked about future table reads.
Let us know in the comments what you would like to hear next.
