Viva Schudt
Viva Schudt (1972) studied fine arts, specializing in stage design, at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. After earning her diploma and completing her master’s program (1999), she worked for three years in Lucerne under the artistic direction of Barbara Mundel with various directors, including Rene Pollesch and Rimini Protokoll. In Lucerne, she regularly designed multifunctional spatial installations. In 2012, she conceived the alternative performance space in the auditorium for the Schauspielhaus Hamburg.
Since 2002, Viva Schudt has been working as a freelance set designer for theater, opera, and dance, designing sets and costumes for institutions such as the Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theater Basel, Theater am Neumarkt in Zürich, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Hannover, Ruhrfestspiele, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Münchner Kammerspiele, Residenztheater München, Schauspiel Köln, Theater Freiburg, and Schauspiel Frankfurt. She also works regularly in the independent theater scene, with both amateur and professional performers.
In 2023, she was invited to the Theatertreffen Berlin as the set and costume designer for Nora, directed by Felicitas Brucker. She has also been nominated multiple times as best set and costume designer in the critics’ poll conducted by Theater heute.
Viva Schudt has two children and lives with her family in Freiburg.