Viola Köster is a dramaturg, director and author. Before she found her way to the theatre, she studied Political Sciences at the FU Berlin and supported an environmental NGO in Brussels, which continues to have a strong influence on her theatre work. She has primarily focussed on the issues of work and exhaustion, along with the most varied manifestations of rebellion by people against systems, searching for expressive forms that are artistically experimental while using clear language. After assisting Armin Petras and Victor Bodó, and on the neighbourhood project “New Hamburg” by Björn Bicker and Malte Jelden, she worked as a dramaturg at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen and Schlosstheater Moers, where she collaborated with directors including Lucia Bihler, Anna Elisabeth Frick and Ulrich Greb. At Schlosstheater Moers she recently directed the new adaptation of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” by Soeren Voima and co-directed the Thomas Bernhard evening “Der Keller. Eine Entziehung” with Roman Mucha. At Landestheater Bregenz she created the classroom play “Geteiltes Land” together with the actor Yael Schüler as a reaction to the massacre on 7 October 2023 and in 2025 she directed the world premiere of Elena Messner’s “Schmerzambulanz”. Viola Köster is Dramaturg at Schauspiel Köln from the 25|26 season.