Kolja Schallenberg


Kolja Schallenberg is a German director and playwright.

Career

Born in Hagen, Germany, Kolja studied classical singing at the Musical school in Dortmund. He graduated in cultural and media management from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. He studied Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, led by Peter James. He also attended courses in adult education at Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. Furthermore, he an attended to the Masterclass in Directing at the Shakespeare's Globe.
From 2002, Kolja has been involved in a number of theatrical productions across Germany as associate director: Konzertdirektion Landgraf, Stage Entertainment Germany, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen and Thalia Theater Hamburg, just to mention a few. During this period, he collaborated with some notable personalities such as Günter Grass, Prof. Hermann Schmidt-Rahmer, Euro Voices, Laith Al Deen and many more.
In 2006, Kolja debuted as director with "the Show must go on" at Schauspielhaus Dortmund, followed by "Frühstück bei Goethe" at The Staatstheater, Nürnberg, "Alles muss raus" and "24 Stunden - LebensTräume" at Schauspielhaus Bochum.
For his work, Kolja received multiple invites to festivals and awards: der Literaturwettbewerb Dortmund, das Fringe Festival Hamburg, K15-Festival and was nominated for best director at the IV. international directors festival.
In 2014, he took the role of artistic director and he is co-responsible for the highly regarded spectacular productions shown all over the world on board of AIDA Cruises, the German arm of Carnival Cruises.
Since 2016, he is the artistic director of Transparence Theatre - Transgender on Stage.

Theatre

As Director (Notable works)

The Show must go on. Revue. 2006 Ein Gespräch im Hause Stein über den abwesenden Herrn von Goethe. 2006 Shark Kiss. 2007 Über die Schädlichkeit des Nikotins. 2007 Frühstück bei Goethe. Collage. 2008 Alles muss raus! Lyrik, Prosa, Szenen und Musik aus allen Epochen. 2008 24 Stunden – Lebensträume. 2009 Die Bakchen. 2009 2009. Reopening in 2012.Stücke Schießen. New Writers. New Texts. New Plays. 2009–2011 Die Signatur des Pelikans. A Strindberg Project. 2010 Meine tolle Scheidung. 2010 Samsara - The Circle of Life. 2015 Fernando Montano presents Hollywood Classics. 2017 Mary Stuart - The Musical. 2017

As Writer (Notable works)

Awards

  • Special Award for best play at 7. Dortmunder Literaturwettbewerb for ''Erzähler oder Konstruktive Kritik''