Kolja Schallenberg
Kolja Schallenberg (born April 1984) 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 a 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.