Detransition, Baby

World premiere 2026
Costume + Stage
Staatstheater Darmstadt

“The Sex and the City problem wasn't just her problem, it was the problem of all women. Only, unlike millions of cis women, no generation of trans women had ever solved it.” Reese and Amy are nevertheless a happy couple, two young trans women in New York, with the dream of a family. But then Amy decides to live as a man again. Amy's detransition and the reasons for it cause the relationship’s collapse. Three years later, when Ames' boss Katrina unexpectedly becomes pregnant, Ames comes up with a plan: Why don't they raise the child together, the three of them? Together and alone, they embark on a debate about a possible future together.

Director: Cy Linke
Starring: Lili Alexander, Hân Nguyễn, Sebastian Schulze
Stage and Video: Lucy/Louis Caspar Schmitt
Stage and Costume: Elin Laut
Artistic Collaboration: Lili Alexander
Dramaturgy: Carlotta Huys
Assistant Director & Stage Manager: Katharina Franziska Schaal
Prompter: Rafael Buchta
Production Assistant: Elena Fünfer
Costume Assistant: Mia Noemi Kettern
Lighting: Selim Elmasry
Sound: Lia Diehl
Video: Max Hennig, Bjarne Benke
Technical Director: Yawo Gomado
Makeup: Christine Schmitt, Lili Alexander
Props: Mara Bangert
Communications: Valentina Tepel
Nail Design: Cailla Inge Volbert
Photos: Elin Laut

I Love Zelal

2026
Costume + Stage
Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin

“A shrine, a monologue, a descent into madness: A character called Lovesick speaks in snapshots to a woman named Zelal. Sometimes he is enthusiastic, sometimes angry, sometimes pleading. The more he longs for closeness, the deeper he falls – into madness and a loss of control. What begins as a shrill fan fiction ends in a bloody fever dream. Unfolding somewhere between horror and pop, this solo performance examines narcissistic reflections, toxic desire and our inability to distinguish between reality and projection.”

Text and Direction: Zelal Yeşilyurt
Starring: Louis Arturo Romeu Pena
Stage and Costume Design: Elin Laut
Voice Over: Zelal Yeşilyurt
Music and Audio Concept: Fee Aviv Dubois, Jurek Stricker, Joel Schwander
Creative Direction Video, Cinematography, Video Editing: Julia Casabona
Digital Art: Berfîn Karakurt, Jonas Koroschetz
Mixing and Mastering: Jonathan Hamann
Light Design: Trung Tran
Dramaturgy: Simon Meienreis
Photos: Elin Laut

Crime Of Passion

2025
Costume + Stage
Site-Specific multimedia installation for Neuköllner Oper

Crime Of Passion examines femicide in opera, its historical roots, and its presence in our daily lives. Carmen, Salome and Violetta refuse to die again and again on stage. Instead, they reclaim their narratives, offering an ancestral, musical, and spiritual resistance. The trio dismantles the white, male, sexist, and racist gaze in high art while intervening in femicide cases, demanding accountability: Why do you kill me?

Direction, Text, Compositions, Arrangements, Music production: Anthony Hüseyin
Starring: Anthony Hüseyin
Sound Design, Mixing, Music Production: Rusnam
Kanun: Dima Dawood
Dramaturgy: Dennis Depta
Stage, Costume, Visual Direction: Elin Laut
3D: Can Karaalioglu
Assistant Director, Dramaturgy: Mick Besuch
Outside Eye: Negar Foroughanfar
Voice Over: Rebekka Gruber, Katharina Beatrice Hierl, Riah Knight
Photos: Elin Laut

I’m A Girl

2025
Installation
PVC, latex, artificial hair, thermoplastic material, automotive lacquer, found objects
Courtesy of Maxim Gorki Theater: I’m A Girl You Can Hold IRL, written and directed by Zelal Yeşilyurt
Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin

Costume Op(Positions) group show, curated by Sarah Seini

Outside Eye: Florian Noethe

PAIN KILLER

2025
Site-specific Installation
PVC, dispersion paint, stainless steel, rubber, physiotherapy devices
WHOLE United Queer Festival

PAIN KILLER is a response to our experience of navigating chronic pain and overstimulation at raves. This year the playground transforms into a pain relief station and sensory spa. You can release tensions, soften overstimulation and experience care at the somatic installation.

Installation Design: Elin Laut, Lucy / Louis Caspar Schmitt
Concept: Elin Laut, Lucy Louis Caspar Schmitt, Bone Ulatowski
Light Design: Madison Pomarico
Somatics: Tasha Hess-Neustadt, Bone Ulatowsk, Madison Pomarico
Outside Eye, Text: Trinity Bouché, Lea Koehne-Volland

CYBERANGEL

2024
Performative multi-media installation
Latex, satin, stainless steel, TV screens, video-projection, found objects
Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin

Winnie lives in her own universe on Tumblr under the nickname CYB3R_ANG3L_3. The endless data streams of cyberspace are the culture to which she connects her innermost being, her thoughts, feelings, and fears. After going through a painful experience, she spends her days between brain and bed rotting in her room. Cyberangel combines performance with multimedia installation and documents Winnie’s daily life in search of healing.

Direction, Text, Performance: Zelal Yeşilyurt
Costume, Stage Installation: Elin Laut
3D Animations: Lou Boettner, Berfîn Karakurt
Sounddesign: Fee Aviv Dubois
Light Design: Juri Rendler
Mixing & Mastering: Jonathan Hamann
Dramaturgy: Anton August Dudda, Simon Meienreis
Assistance: Julia Radewald, Paula Rave, Marco Michelle
Photos: Elin Laut, Johannes Scholl

Bless me, T
(Has anything happened yet?)

2023
Installation
Approx. 60 x 100 cm
Silk, testogel container, medical referral, found objects
Scherben, Berlin
Culterim Gallery, Berlin

The installation focuses on gender transition through transdermal self-medication. The piece explores the rituality of transitioning – questioning its political dimension, privacy and accessibility. The altar displays found personal objects closely tied to the reality and process of transitioning, inviting the viewer to a moment of public intimacy. You are invited to kneel.

Photos Won Park, Ania Butenina

Just a Phase
(Touch me, gently)

2022
Manual punch needle piece
Approx. 95 x 65 cm
Cotton, stainless steel
Sonntags Club, Berlin
Culterim Gallery, Berlin

The Cutest Criticism

2021
Performative Installation
PVC, cotton, found objects, live ASMR
Collaboration with Almitra Pyritidis, jpeg.love
Napoleon Komplex, Berlin

“We are queer because we refuse to take a fixed form.” (Antke Engel). The Cutest Criticism is a live ASMR performance on the inner critical voice and queer mental health. Hand-knitted pieces show how a person felt while knitting. In a relaxed state, the stitches are loose and soft. Being physically tense creates a tight, rigid pattern. When we are daydreaming, small bumps or holes show. A knitted piece thus works like a diary of mental health. Textile, body and installation merge into one sculpture.

Praying Mantis

2020
Interactive durational performance, 3hours / 4days
PVC, cotton, stainles steel, artificial hair, moss
Display, Berlin

After the apocalypse, the few species that have survived will start to live in symbiosis with each other to survive, rather than exploitation. From this state of being, a new ritualistic cult will arise. One member of this cult visits our present world, and invites you to a one-on-one ritualistic sequence.

Photos: Christina Huber