About me

Ekaterina „Katja“ Ladynskaya was born in St. Petersburg 1994. She is a theater director, writer, artist and performer. She is also a political activist and a part of an oppositional Russian against-war-movement. Her works were shown in Munich, Nuremberg, Baden-Baden, Fürth, Bremerhaven, Stuttgart, Regensburg and many other German-speaking cities.

She published her first poetry book 25 часов в сутки (25 hours a day) in 2010. 

At the age of 16, Katja moved to Germany to study Business Economy at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, and four years later she became a bachelor. 

In parallel with her studies she worked as an assistant director at Galli Theatre Amalienpassage in Munich. She also studied acting, took part in several children's plays and conducted improvisation courses for children.

She was the author and the actress in her one-woman-shows Der Spiegel (The Mirror), which was premiered in 2013, and (UN)BEWUSST ((UN)CONSCIOUS), with premiere in 2016. Both projects were premiered at Galli Theater Amalienpassage. 

At that time Katja was also a member of LMU English Drama Group, being an assistant director in several plays including August: Osage County (Direction: Azeret Koua). 

Katja studied theatre direction at August Everding Theatre Academy in Munich. In 2015 she directed a play Dekalog IV. She also took part in several drama- and opera direction workshops with Carl Hegemann, Andreas Homoki and Sebastian Baumgarten.

In 2016 Katja worked as a second assistant director in Anton Tchekhov's play Iwanow at Residenztheater in Munich (Direction: Martin Kušej). She also wrote a song for this play.

Katja although has been studying theatre direction at the Academy of Performing Arts in Regensburg. At the time of studies she directed a play Judas written by Lot Vekemans, made two short films and made several direction assistances. In 2018 she took part in a theatre-pedagogic project at a Children's Cancer Clinic in Regensburg.

She also directed an overheadprojector-performance Projections of Lulu; a comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) indoor and outdoor in the cooperation with the children protection home in Regensburg; and a children’s play Cinderellas Shoes.

In 2017 Katja took part in the project Gratwanderung with a painting and a verse of hers. Her works were exhibited at St. Klara Art Gallery in Regensburg.

Since 2020 she is working as a freelance theater director, writer, scenarist and performer.

In recent years, Katja has been recognized multiple times for her work, receiving awards such as the ADK Friends' Grant for exceptional artistic achievements, the Prof. Dr. Neumüller Scholarship, scholarships from bayern innovativ and GVL, as well as the Young Playwright Scholarship from the Deutsche Literaturfonds.

During the 2020/2021 season, she staged her final univercity production of Harper Regan by Simon Stephens, which had previously premiered as a one-hour film in Regensburg, at the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, as part of the Conditions Of A Necessity festival. This was followed by a performative reading of her self-written piece, Heaven GmbH, at the Gostner Hoftheater in Nuremberg, a production of the classroom self-written play Momentum Ich (inspired by Goethe's Faust and Schnitzler's Leutnant Gustl) at the Stadttheater Fürth, and a performative reading titled Ich lege mich hin und sterbe! in collaboration with the city of Regensburg, EBW Regensburg, the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime, and the League of Antifascists.

In the 2021/2022 season, Katja conceived The Eumenides at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven. There was also a revival of Ich lege mich hin und sterbe! in Regensburg, followed by the staged reading of Weder Herbst, noch Besuche.

In the 2022/2023 season, Katja directed Antigone at the Theater Phönix Linz, The White Rose at the Stadttheater Fürth, My Language Worlds n in Hannover, Bromance at the Theater Schloss Maßbach and the Theater der Stadt Schweinfurt, and The Thermal Resistance at the Landestheater Coburg. The performance War and Peace took place in the Neupfarrkirche Church in Regensburg. In addition, in 2022, Katja published her book Welten Parallel (Parallel Worlds) with the Schultz & Schirm theater publisher, which features seven of her plays, and in 2023, she released her eighth play, The White Rose.

For information on her latest political projects, you can visit this link. Information about her recent productions can be found here.

As my website is written in German - I'm working on an international version already - if you have any questions regarding my projects, please feel free to get in touch with me via mail: [email protected]

I would be happy to answer your questions!

Photos: Konstantin Skiba