Petra Schönwald

was born in south-eastern Germany. In Salzburg she studied German language and literature, worked as an assistant director and in publishing at Residenz Verlag. She then worked as a dramaturge and theatre pedagogue at the Salzburg Landestheater. After a short interlude as an industrial diver and blogger, she finally became a director and has been working as such since 2009. She has directed at the Schauspielhaus Salzburg, the Hans Otto Theater Potsdam, the theatre junge generation Dresden and the Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen, among others, and has realised her own projects in the independent scene, such as productions and acting workshops with young prisoners in the Berlin and Brandenburg prisons. She is also part of the collective "Anonymous Residents".