BA in Theatre and Media Studies (Berlin/Dublin), MA International Dramaturgy (Amsterdam/Ghent).
After assisting the theatre collectives Rimini Protokoll and lunatiks production in Berlin, she worked for art festivals and conferences, such as Transmediale – festival for art and digital culture, the 3rd international Dance Congress as well as projects of the International Theatre Institute, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and Wikimedia Germany.
From 2013 until 2016, she was involved in the program development and organisation of the international performing arts festival 'Foreign Affairs' at Berliner Festspiele. In 2017, she was dramaturgical advisor to the artistic program team of the multidisciplinary art centre Vooruit in Ghent. Moreover, she conceptualised talk and reflexion programs for festivals in Brussels and Amsterdam. Since late 2017, she has been a member of the program board of Zürcher Theater Spektakel. In 2021, she joined the board of the German centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI).
She has repeatedly acted as an advisor to young performing artists graduating from the MA program DAS Theatre at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) and also taught at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).
Her work as a freelance dramaturg includes collaborations with theatre and performance makers such as Nuray Demir, Samara Hersch, doublelucky (Christiane Kühl & Chris Kondek), Jaha Koo, rubberbodies collective, Abhishek Thapar, Margo Van de Linde, et al. Together with creative technologist and hacker Nathan Fain, she created the lecture performances Right Is the Might of the Community. A lecture on future democracy (2015, commissioned by HAU – Hebbel am Ufer Berlin) as well as Looking for Lena. Physiognomic fragments for the promotion of human recognition and human love (2017, Theatre Academy Helsinki).
Maria was born in 1987 in East Germany (GDR). She currently lives in Berlin.
- 2022
- Body of Knowledge by Samara Hersch for Kyoto Experiment performance dramaturgy
- Zürcher Theater Spektakel festival program
- Body of Knowledge by Samara Hersch for Schauspiel Leipzig / Residenz performance dramaturgy
- Im Tod - in my time of dying by Leon Pfannenmüller (Theaterhaus Jena) & Sankar Venkateswaran (Theatre Roots & Wings, Attappadi) theatre dramaturgy
2021 - Zürcher Theater Spektakel festival program
- Resilient and clean, urgently needed by Abhishek Thapar for the International Summer Festival at Kampnagel (Hamburg) installation dramaturgy
- For the Time Being by Samara Hersch for Freespace, westKowloon (Hong Kong) performance dramaturgy
- Wie macht man gute Kunst für Ostdeutsche? von Rika Weniger, Noah Voelker & Burkhard Körner (Neubrandenburg/Amsterdam) theatre dramaturgy
- Kaxxa Infernali: Explosions by Jimmy Grima & the rubberbodies collective (Malta) theatre dramaturgy
- A Cow Is a Cow Is a Cow by Abhishek Thapar (Amsterdam) theatre dramaturgy
- Dramaturgy NOW. International online workshop and forum curated by Danae Theodoridou & Betina Panagiotara at Onassis Stegi (Athens) workshop contribution, co-facilitation
- Call Me Anytime You Want by Samara Hersch (Melbourne/Amsterdam) performance dramaturgy
- POSTOST 2O9O by Rike Flämig, Anna Hentschel & Zwoisy Mears-Clarke (Berlin) performance dramaturgy
- Quiet Storms by Nahuel Cano (Amsterdam) performance dramaturgy
- How to be together? conference curation
- Calls of the Hummingbird by Ogutu Muraya, Sitawa Namwalie, Wanjiku Mwawuganga & Sarah Camille (Nairobi/Zurich) listening piece co-curation
- Zürcher Theater Spektakel festival program
- Kerogen Voices by rubberbodies collective (Amsterdam) theatre text
- Spy on Me 2. Artistic Manoeuvres for the Digital Present, HAU Berlin festival dramaturgy
- Body of Knowledge by Samara Hersch (Amsterdam) theatre dramaturgy
2019
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A Song to Hear You Arriving by Sofia Dinger (Lisbon) performance dramaturgy
- Body of Knowledge by Samara Hersch (Amsterdam) theatre dramaturgy
- Zürcher Theater Spektakel festival program
- Reverse Engineering by Abhishek Thapar (Amsterdam) theatre/game dramaturgy
- speculative bitches von Nuray Demir / HAU Berlin performance dramaturgy
- Institutional Dramaturgies. an excerise in getting contaminated with Nienke Scholts (Amsterdam) workshop
- Zürcher Theater Spektakel festival program
- Upstairs Geology V by Ira Melkonyan (Amsterdam) performance/installation dramaturgy
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The Hairs of Your Head Are Numbered by doublelucky productions (Leipzig/Berlin) theatre research, dramaturgy
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2017
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Artikel about Cuckoo by Jaha Koo for MMCA Performing Arts: Asia Focus (Seoul) festival text
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My Home at the Intersection by Abhishek Thapar (Amsterdam) theatre dramaturgy
- Arts centre Vooruit (Ghent) institution dramaturgy
- Performance Platform (Amsterdam) online plattform curation, text
- Daylight Chamber. a space for reflection with Nienke Scholts (Amsterdam) curation
- Improvised Feminism by Margo Van De Linde (Amsterdam) performance research
- Artist talk programme at Bâtard festival (Brussels) talks curation, moderation
- Foreign Affairs / Berliner Festspiele festival program
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Right Is the Might of the Community. a lecture on future democracy with Nathan Fain / HAU (Berlin) performance lecture concept, text, dramaturgy
- Foreign Affairs / Berliner Festspiele festival program