collaborations

For as long as I can remember, I have been 'making' theater myself. Immersing myself completely as a 'cog' in a larger 'theater machine' is just as vital an artistic experience for me as initiating and shaping the entire process from the ground up. This comprehensive 'do-it-yourself' approach offers me a sense of artistic wholeness; driven by this joy of hands-on creation, I have—throughout my professional life as an actress—always collaborated with colleagues to devise, write, and conceptualize our own evenings of performance. The shifts in the cultural funding landscape brought about by the pandemic were, initially, a positive development. There was a growing interest in creating more accessible entry points for cultural practitioners to navigate the 'jungle' of grant applications. I, too, benefited from this; for the first time, it became possible to launch projects without needing personal financial resources. Now, the challenge lies in remaining aware of these positive shifts in the cultural funding landscape and advocating for their preservation—both in terms of how funding institutions manage their bureaucratic processes, and on the part of us, the cultural practitioners. We must continue to learn what it truly means to embrace our responsibility—and our personal accountability—whether we are acting as performers or as project initiators, especially in these times." Claudia’s projects have been supported by, among others: Fonds Daku, Cambridge Society Paris, Landesförderinstitut M-V, Vorpommern Fonds, the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Hanseatic City of Greifswald, the Hanseatic City of Stralsund, and many others.

The jury wrote the following about the piece:
"As an audience, we were captivated and carried along, witnessing the nave of the church transform into a spaceship. We were right there on this immense, highly emotional journey. The imposing sound of the organ drew us out into the cosmos, while Alice’s (Claudia Roick) virtuoso performance immersed us in a multitude of deeply emotional spaces—exploring themes of sensitivity and spirituality, longing and loneliness, the act of searching and the presence of hope, disappointment, fear, and so much more. Language and music intertwined as perfectly as rhythm and fugue. The text—masterfully woven together from both *Alice* stories—allowed us to shift between intimate and expansive spaces, to lose ourselves in imagery, and to constantly conjure new visions within our own minds. The power and euphoria of the performance shied away from no question, no abyss.
We were drawn into something—but where was, and is, Alice truly? In outer space, or inside her own mind? That interpretation is left entirely to the viewer.
This is a piece one would love to see the artists perform again in 20 years’ time!"

Sandra-Uma Schmitz, Jury Chair - October 22, 2022