The successor to Annette Dabs has been decided: from July 1, 2025, Helene Ewert as Managing Director and Christofer Schmidt as Artistic Director will jointly manage the Deutsches Forum für Figurentheater und Puppenspielkunst e. V. (dfp) in Bochum.
The new dual leadership is well known and networked both in the Ruhr metropolitan region and in the puppet theater scene.
Helene Ewert co-managed the Schubert Theater in Vienna and worked as a dramaturge and production manager in the independent scene in Germany. She is currently a sustainability consultant and head of artistic production at Burg Hülshoff/Center for Literature in Münster. In 2025, she will return to the dfp, where she worked for many years as production manager for the FIDENA Festival and the Fritz Wortelmann Prize.
There, she has already worked with Christofer Schmidt, who is a dramaturge at the dfp. He co-curated this year’s edition of the international puppet theater festival FIDENA and is a member of the editorial team of “double”, a magazine for puppet, figure and object theatre. He previously worked as a dramaturge at German civic theaters and in the independent scene.
“It is very important to us to help this special art form gain more visibility both in the city and nationwide. For example, we want to further expand the forum’s scientific activities and integrate sustainability into all processes from the outset,” says designated Managing Director Helene Ewert.
Christofer Schmidt reveals further goals: “We plan to bring puppet theater to the stages of the Ruhr metropolis beyond our FIDENA festival and the Fritz Wortelmann Prize. We are therefore focusing on consolidating and expanding our collaborations. We will also make our program more open, diverse and transparent.”
Annette Dabs, who has headed the dfp since 1997, will be taking on new tasks from summer 2025.