The Back Door

In recent years, he has appeared in several short films and, between school and university, worked as a dishwasher, cook, waiter, barman, bicycle courier, workshop assistant and sales assistant; he also spent a year volunteering at a homeless shelter. In addition to German, he speaks fluent English.

She is currently rehearsing »Caligula« at Phönix Theatre in Linz for the opening of the 26/27 season. Lena Kalisch wrote the children’s book »Nayan macht die Augen auf« and is currently receiving a grant from the Federal Ministry of Culture to write a play. She lives in Vienna and Tel Aviv.

Most recently, she appeared as an actress in her colleague Jakob Leanda Wernisch’s graduation production »Keine Hoffnung, Baby!« and, as director of »Passio sanctarum virginum Agapis, Chioniae et Hirenae« by Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, demonstrated that feminist themes from the Middle Ages remain highly relevant today. In addition to German, she speaks fluent English and has a good command of French.

With the production »K.I. and Abel« directed by Bianca Thomas, she was invited to the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China in 2024. In 2024, she appeared as part of the ensemble in Elfriede Jelinek’s *Sonne, los jetzt!*, directed by Christina Tscharyiski. In 2025, she appeared in Lukas Schöppl’s graduation production (#”s” weg!) *Der Hofmeister – oder: Vorteile der Privaterziehung* as well as in *Sonettfabrik*, directed by Michael Sturminger, at the Lausitz Festival.

At the Max Reinhardt Seminar, he played numerous roles in productions directed by his colleagues, as well as in Shakespeare’s »Macbeth«, directed by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson. In addition to German, he speaks fluent English and plays the trumpet.

Anja Thiemann performed in the Sorbian Pioneer Theatre as a child and also appeared as an extra at the German-Sorbian People’s Theatre in Bautzen. She initially studied ethnography at Humboldt University in Berlin. Whilst studying acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, she returned to Bautzen for the first time and appeared in the Sorbian translation of Kleist’s *Der zerbrochne Krug*. Her career took her back to this stage on numerous occasions, where she performed in Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. She also directed the Sorbian production of ‘Lovers’ by B. Friel here. She now lives in Vienna and works as a professor of drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. Her research focuses on ‘Drama from a female perspective’, and through the working group ‘Forgotten’ Women Playwrights, she successfully campaigns for the rediscovery and staging of female playwrights from past centuries: for example, Olympe de Gouges, Gina Kaus and Lida Winiewicz.
 

From 2014 to 2022, he was artistic director of the Perchtoldsdorf Summer Festival. From 2018 to 2023, he taught as a university professor of musical theater direction and dramatic performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His work has taken him to the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the National Theater in Taipei, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Theater an der Wien, the Zurich Opera House, the Aalto Theater in Essen, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, and the opera houses in Wiesbaden, Graz and Cologne.

Michael Sturminger has been a guest at the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Cherry Orchard Festival Moscow, the Wien Modern Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, the Prague Spring Festival, White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg, Sydney Festival, Toronto Festival, Grafenegg Festival and the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals, where he staged »Jedermann« from 2017 to 2023, among other works. His »Salome« at the Klagenfurt City Theater was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize for »Best Overall Opera Production« in 2018, while Bernhard Lang's new opera »Hiob«, for which Sturminger contributed the libretto and staging, was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize for »Best World Premiere« in 2024.

He has close artistic partnerships with John Malkovich and Bernhard Lang. Sturminger has worked with famous opera artists such as Christian Thielemann, Anja Harteros, Anna Netrebko, Cecilia Bartoli, and others, as well as numerous important film and theater artists.

As a freelance costume designer, she created the costumes for several installation-style station theatre productions in Vienna directed by Veronika Glatzner. In 2024, her costumes were featured at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden in the production »Komödie der Worte«. Together with Marie Sturminger, she designed the costumes for the opera »Otello« at the Staatstheater Kassel, as well as for the production »Sonettfabrik«, directed by Michael Sturminger, which opened the Lausitz Festival in 2025.

He has worked, amongst others, at the Tyrolean State Theatre, the Theater an der Wien, the Perchtoldsdorf Summer Festival, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the MuTh, the Klagenfurt City Theatre, the MARKK, the KHM Vienna, the Lighthouse Festival, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg State Theatre, the Rabenhof Theatre and the Lausitz Festival – in collaboration with Veronika Glatzner, Laura Malmberg, Marie Sturminger, Andreas Donhauser, Renate Martin, Christof Hetzer, Nina Samadi, Manuel Biedermann, Philipp Lossau, lichterloh.tv and Michael Sturminger (among others).

In 1999, he released his debut album, »pop loops for breakfast«, on the new labels »Morr Music« and »charhizma«. This was followed by numerous further releases worldwide on international labels. In 2003, he received the »Qwartz Electronic Music Award« in the Best Album category for »Welcome Tourist«. In 2008, »Angst Is Not A Weltanschauung« was released – an album listed by MICA – music austria among the top ten records from Austria for the decade 2000–2010. In 2018, the album »Stop Making Fans« was released on Morr Music, followed in 2022 by the album »Music For Shared Rooms«, featuring selected pieces of theatre and film music. Concerts and tours have taken place worldwide in recent years. As well as working as a musician and remixer, b. fleischmann is also active as a DJ and producer. Since 2001, b. fleischmann has also been working regularly on theatre and film music both at home and abroad.

In 2009, she founded the collective RAUM+ZEIT with Bernhard Mikeska and Lothar Kittstein (invited to the Swiss Theatre Festival in 2019; awarded the Friedrich Luft Prize in 2022). From 2019 to 2022, she was Deputy Artistic Director at the Burgtheater. Alexandra Althoff has been Director of the Max Reinhardt Seminar since 2024.