Meet our jury
YAMA TESSA HART
Culture maker, structure and culture changer
Yama Tessa has been living artistic and cultural practice for 20 years as empowering, intersectional, power- and discrimination-critical processes beyond conventional career categories. Tessa’s work encompasses performing arts, film, community and cultural education, as well as artistic, facilitation, organisational and research activities. Stations were the founding, Artistic and Executive Directorship of the Bread & Roses Theatre in London (2012–2022), as well as Project & Artistic Direction of AfroPolitan Berlin (2020–2024). Yama realised over 20 productions with Goblin Baby Co. since 2013 and works curatorially, for example for the Max Ophüls Preis film festival. They write and publish poetry, prose, essays, non-fiction and performance texts. In 2025, Yama Tessa was on parental leave, among others from a position at kultur_formen. Their name is self-chosen, Tessa Hart since 2006, Yama newly and brought back since 2025.
SUSANNE TOD
Access Dramaturg, Theater and Cultural Educator
Susanne works across various productions and projects staged in sign languages or bilingually in spoken and sign language. Her focus lies particularly in experimenting with sign language as a stage language in collaboration with Deaf artists such as Eyk Kauly, Athena Lange and Jan Kress. Further works have been created with, among others, ‘Leute wie die’, Regina Rossi and Rykena/Juengst. From 2012 to 2022, she initiated and led the youth club TheaterPlus at the Ernst Deutsch Theater together with Eyk Kauly. In 2019, she and Theater Mär received the Hamburg Children’s Theater Award for the production “Und wir flogen tausend Jahre” (“And We Flew a Thousand Years”), a bilingual spoken and sign language production for children aged 5 and above. Alongside her artistic work, she is active as a curator and consultant for various cultural institutions seeking to implement greater structural accessibility. Susanne is a member of the artists’ collectives [in]operabilities in Hamburg and baff in Berlin.
CÍNTIA RANGEL
Choreographer, Dancer, Costume Designer
Cíntia completed her Bachelor’s degree in Art History at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) in 2011 and subsequently studied Dance at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). From 2011 to 2013, she worked as a creative dancer for the Cia de Dança Contemporânea da UFRJ company, and from 2013 to 2014 she also participated in the Centro Experimental de Dança Afro-contemporânea for experimental contemporary Afro-Brazilian dance. In 2015 she moved to Munich, where she worked on several projects in the fields of film, theater, dance and festivals. Since 2020 she has been living in Munich and Berlin, where she collaborates with, among others, Grupo Oito, and was recently seen in Ligia Lewis’ performance “Wayward Chant” at the Gropius Bau. At Theater o.N. she appeared in the production “Flip-Flop” in 2022. In 2024 she designed the stage and costumes for the production “Ein Fest für die 13. Fee” (“A Celebration for the 13th Fairy”) for sighted, blind and visually impaired audiences, and in 2025 she developed her first original production for children aged 2 and above, “Baobab”, for Theater o.N.
VERA STROBEL
Artistic Co-Director of Theater o.N. and FRATZ International
Vera studied German Studies and Philosophy at Ruhr University Bochum. In addition, she worked as a freelance journalist and as an assistant in directing and production. After formative years at Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim, she transferred to Theater o.N., where she established international contacts, managed guest performances, and accompanied numerous guest tours, some lasting several weeks. In co-leadership, she has been shaping the content direction of Theater o.N., FRATZ International, and Berliner Schaufenster since 2012 and has dramaturgically supervised various productions. Together with her colleagues at Theater o.N., she initiated the international festival FRATZ International and the regional platform for theater and dance for the youngest audience, the Berliner Schaufenster.
DAGMAR DOMRÖS
Dramaturge, Artistic Co-Director of Theater o.N. and FRATZ International
Dagmar studied German Studies, American Studies and Political Science in Hamburg and Massachussets. She worked as assistant to the artistic director at the American Place Theatre NYC and as a dramaturge at the Stadttheater Heidelberg (2001 – 2005), where she conducted the Heidelberger Stückemarkt for two years. In Berlin she worked as producer and dramaturge for the GTA – German Theater Abroad (2005 – 2008). In 2010, she was part of the relaunch of Theater o. N. and the implementation of the new fields of focus “Theater for the youngest” and “Participative projects with children and youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods”. Since 2012 she has been part of the theater’s artistic direction and has devised various forums for professional exchange and FRATZ symposia, which reflect current topics and discourses in relation to the production processes in theater for young audiences.
DOREEN MARKERT
Artistic Director of Theater o.N., FRATZ International and Offensive Tanz für junges Publikum
Doreen has been working for approximately 15 years as a freelance curator, producer and dramaturg with a focus on dance for young audiences. Following projects such as Lucky Trimmer, Etape Danse and Berlin Diagonale, she began working for Theater o.N. in 2013/14, where she played a significant role in shaping the organisation’s structural professionalisation and realising artistic projects in the field of dance for young audiences. She is a co-founder of Offensive Tanz für junges Publikum (Offensive Tanz for young audiences) and will take over as its Artistic Director in 2026. Doreen grew up in rural Thuringia. She engages with the particularities of artistic work and cultural participation in both urban and rural regions. Since 2010 she has been closely connected to the Ponderosa dance centre in Brandenburg, where last year she initiated the first performances for young audiences as well as a professional exchange in cooperation with Theater o.N., under the heading “Tanz von Anfang an!” (“Dance from the Very Beginning!”).