kainkollektiv

actor, director and author

In over 80 productions at various theaters he has worked with Daniela Löffner, Katja Paryla, Lisbeth Colthoff, Theo Fransz, Alexander Lang, and Thomas Thieme, among others. After studying visual communication at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, he worked as an acting apprentice at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar from 1999 and at the Junges Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf and the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf from 2003. Steindorf received the Gustaf Theater Prize 2015 as best actor of the Junges Schauspielhaus. He has been realizing his own projects as an actor, director and author since 2007, is a member of the theater collective Pièrre.Vers and co-founder of the artist collective projekt-il. He has been designing theater formats for the Asphalt Festival Düsseldorf since 2012. Since 2015, Alexander Steindorf has increasingly worked as a co-initiator, director and author in various participatory projects with refugees, citizens and visual artists. The production “Garden of Eden” (projekt-il) – with over fifty refugees and citizens of the city of Düsseldorf at the Junges Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf – was awarded the Integration Prize of the City of Düsseldorf in 2016.

artistic director, director

(born 1984), has worked since 2005 as a director, dramaturge, musician and musical director in theater productions in NRW, Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne (together with Anna Viebrock and Händl Klaus), Bremen, Croatia, Poland, Cameroon, Madagascar, Greece. She founded kainkollektiv together with Fabian Lettow in 2010.

She has appeared on stage as a performer and pianist in several productions. After graduating from high school, she studied theater studies and comparative literature at the Ruhr University Bochum and the Université Charles-de-Gaulle in Lille and led seminars on Marguerite Duras and contemporary music theater. She develops her theater works in the field of tension between different musical styles and in dialogue with contemporary and classical musicians, singers, composers, electro-sound and radio play artists. Her theatrical search is for the possibilities of contemporary music theater, which she describes as “OPERations for contemporaries”. One of the latest creations BLACK EURYDICE was created with a team of artists from Africa Europe, Iran & Canada, exploring new feminist aesthetics and narratives with the series GAIA (2020) and KASSIA (2021).

Since 2018 she has been running the tak Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg in Berlin together with 4 other independent groups. She lives in Bochum with her three children.

In 2024, she will receive the “Präsenz vor Ort” scholarship from the Ministry and Frauenkulturbüro NRW: “With the selection of music theater director, developer and performer Mirjam Schmuck, the jury is radically positioning itself as an all-encompassing female artist. As a director and founder of the performance collective kainkollektiv, which often realizes large-scale transcultural performance projects on Europe and its (post-)colonial heritage in international collaborations, Mirjam Schmuck is constantly searching for her own specific artistic position and the realization of her personal artistic visions as a mother and feminist.

artistic director, author, director

1978 in Essen, has been working as an author, director, dramaturge and theater scholar since 2005. He studied history, theater studies and German language and literature at the Ruhr University Bochum and in Coventry, England. From 2006 to 2010, Fabian Lettow worked as a dramaturge at the Schlosstheater in Moers. He is a co-founder of kainkollektiv and writes his own docu-fictional texts and scenarios, which are often based on thematic and site-specific research. The Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Mülheim, the Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf, the Schauspiel Dortmund, the Schlosstheater Moers and the Schauspielhaus Bochum are the regular venues for his theater work. In addition, he has developed a series of international works in recent productions (in Poland, Cameroon, Croatia), some of which have also been performed in other languages and for which he was (co-)responsible for the translations, including productions in Polish, French and English. He sees his theater work, which is always created in correspondence and collaboration with different arts, artists, places and media as well as in the search for and continuation of traces, narratives and legacies of the respective histories and geographies of the project contexts, as a “theater of contemporaneity”. Fabian Lettow lives in Bochum with his three children.

dramaturg, creative producer

Immanuel Bartz is Dramaturg and Creative Producer. He worked with the directors Johannes Conen, Jo Fabian, Albrecht Hirche, Bastian Kabuth, Sandra Reitmayer and Charlotte Sprenger at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Stadttheater Fürth, Theater an der Ruhr, Neues Theater Halle, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Staatstheater Cottbus, Dock11/Eden***** Berlin and Theater der Keller Cologne. In 2016 Bartz was a dramaturg at the Theater der Keller. From 2017 to 2021 he was a dramaturg and creative producer with Collective Ma’louba. With Ma’louba he co-created among others the productions Ya Kebir (2017), Reine Formsache (2019) and Overdose. The Unfinished Show of Pain and Joy (2020-2021) and co-curated the Festival Kultur der Vielfalt – Chancen des Perspektivwechsels (2021). Since 2022 he is part of kainkollektiv, Nassim Soleimanpour Productions and undBorisundSteffi.

production manager

is a freelance production manager in the performing arts. From 2017-2020 she worked regularly at düsseldorf festival! Since 2019 she is working as production manager for the kainkollektiv from Bochum as well as the fabien prioville dance company from Düsseldorf. In 2022 she supported the international tanzmesse nrw as venue manager. In 2022 she was also production manager for “Ein Mensch wie Ihr” – a theater evening in the Stadthalle Mülheim with 3 productions, co-hosted by Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheimer Theatertage and Theater an der Ruhr.

financial administration

Studied literature and media studies in Düsseldorf.

Since 2001 freelance production manager and administrator especially for independent theater and performance projects in NRW, including festivals (currently Impulse Theater Festival, Düsseldorf Festival) and individual events. In addition, production management and/or administration for independent theaters and collectives in NRW (currently for kainkollektiv and the Freihandelszone Köln).

singer, performer, composer

Founded the OpusXX Orchestra out of her passion for the fascinating and neglected repertoire of women composers over the centuries. Her experience in musical direction from both her harmonic roots as a continuo player and her lyrical aspect as a singer give her a unique insight from the conductor’s podium. Vanessa has worked with renowned ensembles such as the Ensemble UnitedBerlin, the Zafrann Ensemble, the Mosaik Ensemble, the Chroma Ensemble and the Michaelis Consort and has performed at important festivals for contemporary music such as MärzMusik, MIKROMUSIK Festival for experimental music and sound art, ULTRASCHALL Festival, Documenta 14 and Duisburger Akzente. She completed a master’s degree in viola da gamba at the Université de Montréal before moving to Germany to continue her opera studies with KS Jeanne Piland at the Robert Schumann Hochschule. Her extensive operatic repertoire includes Dorabella, Hänsel, Medoro, Niklaus, Ciesca, Carmen, Lucienne, Hermia, Cherubino and Giulo Cesare. She frequently performs as a soloist with the Berlin soloist ensemble Phoenix16, with whom she performs avant-garde and experimental vocal music. Vanessa has worked as musical director and performer with the theater ensemble kainkollektiv, the Beggar’s Opera Berlin and the baroque ensemble The Dansant, which she leads from the viola da gamba. Vanessa was recently awarded a scholarship by the Royal Philharmonic Society of London for their masterclass in contemporary music conducting with Jessica Cottis. She has been the mother of a boy since 2015. Homepage: http://vanessachartrand.com/

video
Anna Homan is a documentary and music video director, performer, who’s start of artistic development coincided with a full-scale invasion of her homeland, Ukraine. At the beginning of the war, she found a temporary home in Berlin and started to collaborate with German artists. Their influence helped to build an understanding of the importance of the female gaze in art and civil world. Most of Anna`s directors works cover the topic of the War in Ukraine and connection to the secret complex and extraordinary world of women.
Now GOMAN works on her documentary project, that uncovers feelings and destinies of the people in the “country in fire”.

Performerin, Sängerin

Anelisa’s journey into performing arts started in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa. Raised in a small village called Sterkspruit in a musical family where both her parents sang in choirs, Anelisa’s upbringing introduced her to choral, classical and indigenous music from a young age. Her passion for the arts led her to study in Durban, honing her skills on stage in theatrical productions as well as hosting events, performing and recording music under the alias Annalyzer, a pathway into the entertainment industry that has seen her perform and collaborate with artists across the globe.

A prominent LGBTI+QA activist who has hosted and performed at numerous Pride events across the country, she also starred in a renowned queer theatre production, Pink Money, alongside Kieron Jina which toured internationally for 2 years. Then in 2019 she collaborated again with Kieron in a production, Rise of the African Queer, which Yogin Sullaphen did the sound design for. A meeting that soon birthed uKhoiKhoi. uKhoiKhoi is a live looping, musical performance art showpiece, encompassing multilingual expressions through opera, indigenous chants and praise poetry, using a variety of traditional and contemporary instruments to create their unique afro-futuristic sound they call “indigenous electro”.

Instagram: @annalyzer_sa

musician

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actress
Kristina-Maria Peters studied acting at the Schauspielschule Bochum (formerly Westfälische Schauspielschule) from 2005 to 2009. While still a student, she was engaged at the Grillo Theater in Essen in 2007 under the directorship of Anselm Weber, and from 2009 onwards as a permanent cast member, where she worked with Annette Pullen, David Bösch and Cilli Drexel, among others. From the 2010/2011 season, she was a permanent member of the ensemble at Schauspielhaus Bochum for eight years, under the direction of Jan Klata, Christina Paulhofer, Eric de Vroedt, Tamás Ascher and Milan Peschel, among others. In 2019, she toured with the Teatr Nowy Krakow under the direction of the Kainkollektiv, with stops in Krakow, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Warsaw. In the same year, she was cast in the German-language premiere of the play Harry Potter and the Enchanted Child in Hamburg in the role of Delphi Diggory.

costume & set designer

Born in Zagreb/Croatia in 1981. She completed her training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She has been working as a costume designer since 2001 and as a set designer since 2006. Since then, she has decorated numerous dance and opera productions (including Opera Zagreb, Brussels, Malmö) plays (including Schauspiel Bochum) and many youth plays (including Dschungel Wien) and has been nominated several times for the “Croatian Achievement Award” in the costume and stage design categories. She is also a member of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU) and the Croatian Freelance Artists Association (HZSU) and has presented her work in various solo and group exhibitions.

dancer, choreographer

was trained at the Ecole des sables de Toubab Dialaw in Senegal and at the Espace Sony Qlabountasi in Congo. He founded Cie Zora Snake and showed his choreographic works at the SouarSouar (2016), Mantsina sur scene (2016) and Detour de Babel (2017) festivals, among others. The starting point for his vision of dance is hip hop, which for him transcends thinking and allows him to push the boundaries of what is possible – also with the aim of renewing art in Cameroon and Africa.

Illustrator, live drawer

After graduating from the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences with a degree in communication design, Silvia Dierkes worked as a freelance illustrator. After a few short comic projects (24h Comics, fumetto contribution), “1974” is her first longer comic. In addition to drawing comics, she is also on the road as a live artist, in portrait machines or in/for the theater. She worked with kainkollektiv for the first time on the comic opera GAIA.

musician, composer, author

is part of the duo 9T Antiope. It fuses sounds from antiquity – vocals reminiscent of medieval European folk, lyrics full of chariots and fairies – with a fast-paced production from the digital future. 9T Antiope, the duo of Nima Aghiani and Sara Bigdelishamlou, comes from Tehran and lives in Paris. Part of her sound is very old: Sara’s singing bears traces of medieval European folk music, and her lyrics often resemble scraps of heroic verse, peppered with literary allusions. But Nima’s electronic production is racing towards us from a distant future: digital noise, dissonant chirping, the incomprehensible crackling of an AI that crunches numbers. The result is eerie and stirring, like a wandering bard warming his hands on a pile of burning dot matrix printers. Sara studied violin and performance art in Tehran. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sara-bigdeli-shamloo

composer, singer

Alima is a Cameroonian composer, lyricist and singer. She draws her inspiration from the important old and new Cameroonian figures: mantra, conspiracy and incantation, the essence of Fang-Beti music. Their music is influenced by the Mvett philosophy and music that can be understood as a total art, combining music, dance, theater and text. She has been working with various international artists at the Othni Laboratory in Yaoundé for years. In the theater, Alima revealed herself not only as a singer and composer of her own music, but also as an artist with multiple forms of expression. She is particularly interested in the relationship between body, space and voice, both musically and aesthetically. After launching her solo career at the Massao Festival in 2005, she has traveled throughout Africa and Europe with her music. In the work “FIN DE MISSION” at the Othni Theater with the German performance group kainkollektiv, she explored the relationship between Baroque music and Cameroonian Bantu music with her own compositions and arrangements.

actor

He gained his first professional experience as an actor in directorial works by Oleg Zhukov and kainkollektiv. These have taken him to important independent venues in NRW (Ringlokschuppen Mülheim, Pumpenhaus Münster, Theater im Depo and Pact Zollverein), on a guest performance tour to Lisbon, Portugal (Traktor/2009), to participate in the Favoriten-Festival 2010 and finally to the Schlosstheater Moers. Since then he has worked with Susanne Zaun, Philipp Preuß, Catharina Fillers, Roger Vontobel Björn Gabriel and vorschlag:hammer, among others, and has appeared as Valerio in Büchner’s Leonce and Lena, Valère in Molière’s The Miser, Dr. Thomas Stockmann in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984, Eilert Lövborg in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Ferdinand in Schiller’s Kabale und Liebe. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) In 2016, he was awarded an acting prize for Alice in Wonderland at the 32nd Westwind Festival for Children’s and Youth Theater in NRW.

film, video

born in 1978, studied communication design at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. In 2004, he founded the design and artist collective “sputnic” together with Malte Jehmlich and Nikolai Skopalik. Voges has been working internationally as a video artist in theaters since 2004. As a member of the kainEnsemble, he has worked in theaters such as Schauspiel Bochum, Staatstheater Kassel and Schauspiel Dortmund, as well as in the independent scene at Ringlokschuppen, FFT and Kampnagel. In addition to theater projects, Voges worked as a lecturer at the Ruhr University Bochum, the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and the Academy for Fashion and Design.

singer, actress

The soprano and actress Kerstin Pohle embodies a modern, multi-faceted type of performer who combines the worlds of music and theater in a contemporary way. Trained as a classical opera singer, her focus is on contemporary performance and theater. She regularly works with performance collectives such as kainkollektiv or sputnic and theaters such as Schauspiel Essen, Junges Theater Bremen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Ringlokschuppen Mülheim or FFT Düsseldorf. She has also performed at festivals such as the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Montpellier Danse and the Theatertreffen Berlin.

actress, director

was born in 1982 in Nanga-Eboko, Cameroon. She first studied finance at the Institut Siantou, Yaoundé (Cameroon), after which she trained as an actress at the OTHNI – Laboratoire de Théâtre de Yaoundé in Cameroon.

After numerous theater works in Cameroon, including at the Othni Theater Yaoundé (including Waiting for Godot) and at the Goethe Institute there (including 2011 in Frau Holle and Le petit Prince and 2012 in Faust), Edith Voges Nana Tchuinang has been living and working in Germany since 2016.

She has performed at Theater Hagen (in Schiller’s Die Räuber) and since 2013 in numerous productions by kainkollektiv, including Fin de machine/Exit. Hamlet, Fin de Mission, Hagar, GAIA, IS THIS A HUMAN & BLACK EURYDICE. She has been the mother of a daughter since 2018.

dancer, choreographer

born in Montreal (Canada), completed her dance studies (EDCM) there in 1997 and subsequently worked with José Navas, Dominique Porte, Lucie Boissinot and Pablo Diconca, among others. In 2004 she moved to Berlin and has since worked with several choreographers and directors from Europe, as well as Felix Ruckert, Arthur Kuggeleyn, Tino Sehgal, Veronika Riz, A.Rudelbach / A.Effroy, Helge Letonja, Henrik Kaalund, Friederike Plafki, Heike Hennig, Margrét Sara Gudjonsdottir, Kainkollektiv (Bochum) and Cie Parc (Lyon).

Since 2004 she has also been developing her own solo work – Raum zu mieten, Edle Stille and Shoot me – and the duet Tight with Laura Frigato. Since 2012 she has also participated in various productions at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2023 she did the choreography for the production “Die Wand” in collaboration with the kainkollektiv at Schauspielhaus Dresden.

In addition to her artistic work, since 2007 she has been leading personal processes with clients in private sessions according to the Grinberg Method, for which she is a level 2 qualified practitioner – and teaches yoga in Berlin, for which she specializes in yoga for pregnant women and postnatal recovery. Since November 2023, Catherine has been deepening her curiosity for the human body by training to become a naturopath in parallel. She is the mother of a son and a daughter.

actress, speaker

lives and works as a freelance actress, speaker and performer in Düsseldorf. Guest engagements have taken her to the Nationaltheater Weimar, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Ruhrtriennale and the FFT Düsseldorf, where she has worked with Christoph Schlingensief and Luk Perceval, among others.

In various regular collaborations, including with kainkollektiv and her own artist collectives projekt-il and waltraud900, she creates theatrical scores between theater, installation and performance that are in direct confrontation with themes of public space.

actress

is considered one of the outstanding actresses of the Arabic language. She completed her acting and directing training at the HIDA in Damascus in 1989. She is in demand for theater, television and films alike.

From 2004 to 2006 she worked with Ariane Mnoushkine, among others on the play “Gilgamish”. She also worked with the Kuwaiti-English director Sulayman al Bassam and performed in “Richard III – an Arab Tragedy” (2007) and “The Speaker’s Progress” (2011), which were shown at major Arabic-language festivals in and at the Holland Festival, at the Royal Shakespeare Company, in New York, Boston and Tokyo. She collaborated with the English director Tim Supple on the project “One Thousand and One Nights”, which was shown at the Edinburgh Festival and elsewhere. In 2014, her monodrama “Hak” premiered at the Kumbaraci 50 Theater in Istanbul. Her most recent production to date was “While I was waiting” by Mohammad Alattar, directed by Omar Abusaada, which premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels and performed at numerous international festivals in 2016.