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lighting, scenery, puppers and everything else that falls under the rubric of theater so that we can create a warm and inviting space for the audience. The contrast exists regardless of how much warmth we are able to generate; outside is an inescapably cold and cynical world. Hamsun was cut down as an artist and as a human being in that world. Fear of suffering the same fate just might strike all of us out there...

Ulrike Quade, Jo Stromgren

ULRIKE QUADE PRODUCTIONS (NL) and JO STROMGREN KOMPANI (N) rank in the rara avis category European theater makers because of their specific personal styles and their unusual way they mix theatrical elements. The epic narrative of their productions and certain obvious communications intentions can also be considered hopelessly old-fashioned in relationship to current trends. Nevertheless, their influence on audiences all over the world is demonstrated by a list of engagements that covers over 50 countries. The confidence in their productions that has been shown by conservative and avant-garde theatrical circles alike suggests that their work is of worldwide significance.

ULRIKE QUADE Ulrike Quade is one of Holland's most outstanding visual theater makers. She has created her personal theatrical signature by combining puppetry, dance, (physical) theater and scenography. She consistently explores her personal theatrical language, in which the expressive power of visual images is of the greatest importance. The productions speak directly to audiences through their intensity and openness, and in the surprising way that objects and subjects come to life. Quade graduated from the theater department of the Utrecht School of the Arts with a master's degree in scenography. She was the first Dutch director to be awarded a Directors Lab Scholarship by New York's Lincoln Center in 2004. Together with Duda Paiva, she created the successful performances Dead Orange Walk, Two Old Ladles and the double bill Nude Volume/Angel. Dead Orange Walk was nominated the most remarkable and innovative performance of the New Theater Makers Series of the 2003/2004 season. Me too - a sideshow (2006), about Siamese twins, was her first solo project. Many collaborative efforts and co-productions followed. Quade's works have been performed at the leading international theater festivals in Europe and throughout the world. In 2007, she collaborated with director Jos van Kan on The Second Goodbye-, a co-production with the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company in Taipei, Taiwan, in the same year, she was invited by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts in the USA to make a first version of The Wall, which she created in 2008. Me too-a sldeshowwas invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009. The Writer, her most recent project, is an international

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