FIGURES OF POWER

Ursula Gisemba is an interdisciplinary artist from Kenya. Her work, ranging from live performance to film, probes the boundaries of form and representational methods. A SONG FOR ALICE follows a series of projects in which she explores the histories of female African leaders in freedom-seeking or political movements. Ursula Gisemba is a stipendiary of the SPIELART residency programme – a cooperation with Artist in Residence Munich: Villa Waldberta, City of Munich.

Olga Prusak has been active as a theatre playwright since 2016. She has written numerous pieces for the stage. Her work SCATTERIN RAVENS was shown during the 2020 Belorussian-Jewish festival in Minsk. Olga Prusak has been living in Munich, where she works on several theatre projects since September of 2022. She is a stipendiary of the Netzwerk Münchner Theatertexter*innen.

Demjan Duran graduated from his Directing Studies at the Theaterakademie August Everding in 2020. At the centre of his works lies the examination of his birth country, Yugoslavia. Through his research of the past, he digs out topics for the here and now and puts them into a current macrosocial context. In TURBOVOLK3000, he questions the power of music through the pop phenomenon turbo-folk as a soundtrack to Yugoslavia’s dissolution.

Theresa Seraphin is a part of the directorial management team of the Netzwerk Münchner Theatertexter*innen that has been providing agency to contemporary text formats and their authors since 2016. As an author, she puts an emphasis on collective work processes and open project developments. Among her current projects are ERIK*A (2023, Schauburg Munich), UNISONO (makemake produktion, WUK Vienna).

René Dumont is an actor and speaker among others in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. He was a long-standing ensemble member at the HAMBURGER SCHAUSPIELHAUS, the MÜNCHNER KAMMERSPIELEN, the RESIDENZTHEATER and many more. As a narrator, he has participated in numerous radio plays, school radio programs for BR and author readings at the LITERATURHAUS MÜNCHEN. He lives in Munich and has been freelancing since 2019.

Janet Kyeyune, born in Uganda, is a German actress, singer and musical performer. She has gained a wide range of experience in musical productions and on tour as a singer throughout Germany. She is also a versatile actress in front of the camera in film and television productions.

Gwen Njibamum was born in Braunschweig and has been expanding her artistic skills as an acting student at Macromedia Munich since 2021. She has lived in Munich since 2008 and works as a dancer and singer.

Virginia Olivia Obiakor is a social work student, an actress in film and television, a spoken work artist, and an intersectional queer feminist activist. As an theatre actress she is currently part of the Young Pathos production "Luizi* lebt". Her heart's passion is writing about personal experiences as a Black young woman in a white-dominated society. In 2022, her first lyrics appeared and were published in magazines such as Magazine of Color.

Michael Schröder has a degree in acting and has worked as a musical mentor for the Düsseldorf Department of Culture. After a four-year permanent engagement at the Schauburg, he now works as a freelance author, speaker and singer.