Between 2001 and 2006, Katharina Schmitt studied theatre directing at the Academy of Arts in Prague. Ever since, she has been writing texts for performances and directing plays at theatres in the Czech Republic and throughout the German-speaking parts of Europe. In 2006, Schmitt received a writing fellowship from the Theaterhaus Jena and won the Lenz Award for her play Knock-out. In October 2007, she received an invitation to the Drama Workshop Days at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In 2010, her play SAM was presented at the Autorentheatertage of Deutsches Theater Berlin and she received a Writer’s scholarship of the Akademie der Künste Berlin. SAM has been, so far, staged in theatres in Berlin, Prague, Wiesbaden and Bielefeld and was turned into a radio play for Deutschlandradio. Her plays have been translated into English, Czech and Polish.
Marsha Ginsberg is a set, costume designer and installation artist. Collaborations with Katharina Schmitt: Jelinek’s er nicht als er; Meetfactory, Prague; Knock Out,Theaterhaus Jena and Thalia Theater, Hamburg; Ginsberg developed the environment for David Levine’s HABIT at Watermill Center, subsequent viewings; Mass MoCA, Toronto’s Luminato Festival. Recent work in opera with directors Christopher Alden, Roy Rallo and Ken Rus Schmoll has been presented internationally: Theater Basel, Opera National de Bordeaux, Nationaltheater Weimar, Spoleto Festival, USA, Tanglewood, etc. Exhibits: Solo: “Pavlov’s Lab and other rooms” at Gallery Magnus Muller, Berlin; “Design Life Now” National Design Triennial, Cooper Hewitt Museum, ICA Boston, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. Grants: NEA/TCG Design Fellowship; MacDowell Colony Fellowships. Education: MFA NYU Tisch School of the Art, Visual Arts at Whitney Independent Study Program; BFA Cooper Union.
SAM is inspired by Tehching Hsieh’s performance Cage Piece from 1978/79, in which Hsieh locked himself in a cage in his studio for the duration of one year. He was not allowed to talk, to read, to write, or to listen to radio or watch TV. A lawyer watched over the process and made sure Hsieh never left the cage. A friend came daily to bring food and take a single photograph of the performer, visitors were allowed to come to the studio for one afternoon every three weeks.
SAM uses the basic situation of Hsieh’s Cage Piece as a starting point for a performance; looking at the role and the work of the actor, it questions the relationship between performer, the audience and the audience’s expectations.