About us

waltraud900

is an international female artists’ collective composed of Phaedra Pisimisi, choreographer and dancer; Bianca Künzel, performer and director; Ria Papadopoulou, set designer and Dorle Trachternach, dramaturge; supported by Matin Soofipour Omam, author. Since 2012 they have been continuously working together in different constellations and collaborations – meanwhile under the name of waltraud900. In their works, the artists commit themselves to contemporary issues related to identity and social affiliations from a feministic perspective. Ever since the beginning of the collaboration, interdisciplinary working and multilingualism were an essential basis for the group. The initial question for their works is: How did you become the person, who is now sitting opposite to me, with whom I’ve been working, I’ve been friends and I’ve been discussing political and social issues for years? waltraud900 develops sustainable concepts that are fluid thus constantly integrating new artists and perspectives in modular productions. This way, the collective reacts to current developments while making the already existing diversity of the art scene in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) continuously more visible.

Artists

So far, the following artists have been working with and for waltraud900:

Jamila Al-Yousef
(singer and performer)

Javeh Asefdjah
(actress)

Penelope Caracho
(web design)

Aylin Celik
(slam poet and musician)

Javier Ferrer Machin
(dance)

Merle Forchmann
(photographer and documentary filmmaker)

Amy Frega
(musician)

Niovi Kitsiou
(sound design)

Ekkehard Merholz
(lighting design)

Nazli Saremi
(director)

Camila Scholtbach
(dance)

Juliette Serrié
(percussion)

Matin Soofipour Omam
(author, dramaturge und founding member of waltraud900)

Carina Sperk
(singer and performer)

Katrin Wiesemann
(production management)

Phaedra Pisimisi,

grew up in Los Angeles and Athens. After receiving her dance diploma at the Professional Dance School Despoina Gregoriadou in 2008, she worked as a performer and choreographer in different dance companies based in Athens like Materia Dance Company, Echodrama Dance Company, Allahoo Performing Arts Company and Pink Fluid Dance Company. In 2009 she completed her bachelor’s degree in pedagogy at the University of Athens. She has been living in Germany since 2011 working among others for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater Dortmund, Theater Bonn, Tanztheater Erfurt, Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf as well as among others with independent groups like projekt-il, Theater der Klänge, Rita Aozane Bilibio and Lokstoff!-Theatre in Public Space. Since 2018 she has been collaborating with Zakk-Zentrum für Aktion, Kultur und Kommunikation in Düsseldorf in different intercultural integration projects. Her choreographic works deal with social issues and topics of modern society from a feministic and anti-racist perspective. Since 2022 she has been artistic director of the Skiathos Garden Theatre on the Greek island of Skiathos which is a sociocultural centre and international meeting place founded by a network of international professional dancers, musicians, actors and actresses, directors, architects, technicians and (cultural) pedagogues.

Ria Papadopoulou,

born in Athens/Greece, studied interior architecture, decoration and design at TEI Athens and FH Trier. She completed her master’s degree in stage design and scenography at TU Berlin in 2012 and won the competition for the traveling exhibition KLIMAFLUCHT of the German Society for the United Nations, which has been touring through Germany since 2015. From 2012 to 2016 she was a permanent assistant stage designer at Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus. During this time she created her own stage sets for productions/performances of Ulf Goerke, Juliane Hendes, Simina German, Käthe Lorenz und Ivica Šimić. Since 2016, Rita Papadopoulou has been working as a freelance stage and costume designer /scenographer among others at Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, FFT Düsseldorf, FWT Köln, Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach, Wuppertal Bühnen and Marienbad in Freiburg also working together with directors like Hannah Biedermann, Maja Delinić and the group projekt-il. From 2016 to 2022 she took over the artistic equipment of the Asphalt Festival in Düsseldorf. Since 2017 she is a member of the group pulk fiktion that has been granted the jury award for MAX UND MORITZ at the WESTWIND in 2018 and the Cologne Children and Youth Theatre Award for HIERONYMUS in 2020.

Bianca Künzel,

born in Zwickau, lives and works in Düsseldorf as a freelance performer, director, speaker and lecturer. Guest engagements took her among others to the Nationaltheater Weimar, Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, Ruhrtriennale, Schauspielhaus Bochum and FFT Düsseldorf, where she worked among others with Christoph Schlingensief and Luk Perceval. From 2010 to 2015 she worked as a speaker for Deutschlandfunk and is still presenting her own features there. Since 2010 she is also a lecturer for stage language at Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf. Since 2007 she is a performer at the theatre ensemble kainkollektiv which won the Georg-Tabori advancement award in 2015. The production GAIA was honored by Nachtkritik as one of the most outstanding stagings of the year in 2021. Künzel has been working as a director since 2014. Under her direction, the following productions were created among others: GARTEN EDEN at Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf (2016), awarded with the integration prize of the city of Düsseldorf, further works at the Bürgerbühne of the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus are DO YOU FEEL THE SAME (2017) and DEUTSCHLAND. EIN WINTERMÄRCHEN (2018). In addition, Künzel works as a director for LOKSTOFF! – Theatre in Public Space, Stuttgart. In 2022, Bianca Künzel won the annual scholarship of the Frauenkulturbüro NRW.