Born in Weimar in 1985, Olivia Wenzel studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice at the University of Hildesheim from 2004 to 2010. She lives and works in Berlin and writes theatre texts & prose and makes music as OTIS FOULIE.
In 2016, Wenzel developed the play “Die Erfindung der Gertraud Stock” as a performer at Berlin’s Ballhaus Ost with the collective voschlag:hammer – a work about biography, age and the supposed life of an 84-year-old lady. Prior to this, Wenzel worked with Rahel Jankowski, Hieu Hoang and Banafshe Hourmazdi on “We are the Universe” at Ballhaus Naunynstrasse – a performative collage that explores Afrofuturism and science fiction by black authors.
Wenzel’s texts were performed at the Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin (“Fitz & May”, 2016), at Ballhaus Naunynstrasse (“Mais in Deutschland und anderen Galaxien”, 2015) and at the Thalia Theatre Hamburg (“Vom Sitzen auf angestammten Plätzen”, 2014).
For her theatre play “Jiggy Porsche taucht ab” she received the Munich Prize for German-language drama in 2011.
In addition to theatre, Wenzel has worked as a substitute teacher and coach at schools in Neukölln, worked with young people in theatre education and organised text workshops with children as well as staged reading series with texts by young authors. Olivia Wenzel is a member of the cobratheater.cobra network.
Olivia Wenzel was author of our Writers Room 2016/17.