Frank Soehnle

earned a degree in puppet theatre from the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Stuttgart from 1983-1987, directed the Karlsruhe puppet theatre “Marotte” from 1987-1990 and founded the independent touring theatre “figuren theater tübingen” with Karin Ersching in 1991. Since then, he has made guest appearances worldwide, with solo and ensemble productions. Outstanding solo pieces include “Nachtgesichter” (1991), “Flamingo Bar” (1996), and “salto.lamento” (2006) – visual poems on the threshold between the visual and the performing arts.

Throughout Europe, his directing work explores the relationship between puppeteer and puppet, and sets visual accents in modern and classical texts.

Soehnle’s independent art puppets are often sexual, human-animal, or mythological hybrids, which he builds using a mixture of specific material and found objects. He prefers marionettes that are played in full view, but the spectrum extends to objects that transform into puppets. His works move within a literary, personal, or political context, as in “Kinder der Bestie” (Children of the Beast, 2000), together with the actor Yehuda Almagor, or “liquid skin” in collaboration with the Australian dancer James Cunningham. Since 1989, Soehnle has collaborated with the music group rat’n’X. Instructor at various universities (Stuttgart, Berlin, Bochum, Charleville-Mézières, Jerusalem, Tours).

http://www.franksoehnle.de