Naya de Souza
The Self DETERMINATOR: Graz Edition (2026)

How can we face a world where global leaders, billionaires, and even minorities aligned with conservative values claim identities they do not enact? To find an answer, Naya de Souza brings together stand-up comedy and lecture performance. Her cabaret juxtaposes the German self-determination law with the lived reality of a trans woman. Each joke comes with an aftertaste that directs our attention to everyday acts of structural violence. De Souza employs comedy as a political tool to examine post-truth governance and the collapse of moral coherence in contemporary global politics.

Naya de Souza (1991, Caatinga, Brazil) is an artist who moves between disciplines such as performance art, stand-up comedy, and cooking. She works under different alter egos and sees art as a perpetual process of immigration and translation. Her work has been showcased in institutions such as Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin; Kampnagel, Hamburg; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin; Münchner Kammerspiele; Theater im Park am Belvedere, Vienna; CCCB, Barcelona; Primavera Pro, Barcelona; Berlin Art Week; and WIENWOCHE. She lives in Basel.

Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’26
With the kind support of the Swiss Embassy in Austria

English and German
For ages 14 and up
45 min

Photo: Marisel Bongola

Hanik Soleimani
Zai el lila: Cabaret Version (2026)

In this cabaret, stories roll one after the other. Sometimes storytelling is the only way out of the labyrinth of ordinary, everyday nonsense, such as that of bureaucracy. Through puppetry and Byzantine-inspired music, Hanik Soleimani tells a series of captivating tales like a modern-day Scheherazade. Using autofiction, she narrates her troubles with residence permit procedures in Germany and those of leaving behind her life in Iran. To Soleimani, stories serve as weapons at the immigration office to buy time in Berlin, keeping the authorities as well as the audience hooked with yet another cliffhanger.

Hanik Soleimani (1995, Tehran, Iran) is an artist who works across music, puppetry, dance, theater, and performance. Puppetry is a central part of her theatrical work. In her performances, she often uses music and singing as a dramaturgical, storytelling tool, and for her latest piece, she wrote the songs and cocomposed the music, drawing from Byzantine traditions. Soleimani sings with the Jigarâki Trio and the Berlin-based band OVIS and has performed at Theater Baden-Baden; Ballhaus Ost, Berlin; Odeion Athinon, Athens; and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, among others. She lives in Berlin.

Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’26

German, English and Farsi
For ages 14 and up
45 min.

Photo: E. Orta

Naya de Souza + Hanik Soleimani

steirischer herbst/Naya de Souza + Hanik Soleimani

steirischer herbst
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Naya de Souza + Hanik Soleimani