Biography 007

Christiane Fichtner - Biography

Christiane was born on 25 May 1974 in Essen. She had a very happy family. Her mother worked as a prompter in Gelsenkirchen's city theater. Her father was an ear specialist at the clinic in Essen. Her twin brothers were six years old when she was born. They desperately wanted her to be "one of the boys" in their gang.

When she learned how to talk, she was very hard to understand at first. She whispered. She whispered her happiness and her sadness into the world. Her vocal chords were examined, and they were diagnosed as not underdeveloped. A friend of the family found out why she whispered. C.F. whispered because everyone would become quiet and listen to her attentively. She didn't stop talking this way until she started school and made friends with Anita. Anita played volleyball and wanted her to cheer her on from the sidelines. And so Christiane's voice grew bit by bit. She even sang a solo in a gospel choir at the Catholic Church.

She wasn't the "one of the boys" like her brothers had hoped she would be. They had expected more from a sister. Not a little creature that crawled. But at least her thick blond hair was good for making paintbrushes. And they liked her whispering, for she whispered beautiful and mysterious stories to them.

But she didn't like keeping secrets and having little adventures, like catching spiders. What she did like was to keep the tree house looking nice. She painted the wood planks on the inside and the outside. She made curtains and carpets out of old material. She made shelves and benches out of boxes. She planted a garden around the walnut tree. She daydreamed whole days away.

Christiane absorbed theater-life like a dry sponge. She sat often at her mother's feet, looking up at the stage from the prompter's box. She knew all the actors by their feet. And she knew the whole play. She often whispered entire passages along with the actors. Her dearest wish was to be in a premiere. But that never happened. She was always sent to bed.

She didn't like school from the start. She didn't see why she had to learn to write. She wanted to write with an electric typewriter and didn't see the use of learning that scribble. She knew early on that she wasn't going to become a mathematician. But she loved history, languages and art.

At the age of four she wanted to be a princess, at the age of ten, a forest ranger or a storyteller. At fourteen, she developed an interest in neighborhood boys and in fashion. She decided to become a hair stylist. She found a job as an apprentice hairstylist downtown. But life in the hair salon soon lost its charm. She started to make crazy art using hair. She fastened it with wire, hung material between the hair, and created hair sculptures. And she did elaborate and imaginative make-up for her friends for the carnival (on Fat Tuesday).

After she became a hair stylist, she decided to quit. She applied at the Theater of Cologne for a two-year internship as a make-up artist. Her secret wish was to work backstage in a musical.

At this time, she also founded a street theater group in Ehrenfeld called the City Lionesses (Stadtlöwinnen). She developed her own plays, costumes and make-up for the group and was also a script-writer, director and actress, all at the same time. The group became an established part of the alternative scene. It was very successful within that context.
Because she was exposed to many new ideas, she outgrew her old life. Before she had her final exams she already applied for the "akademie" in Berlin to study to become a drama teacher. She wanted to learn more about theater, dance, and movement. And how to use her own voice, and to combine it. She wanted to learn how to stage plays and how to transfer her repertoire of artistic work to different areas of practice. She wanted to make herself useful for children, youths and adults.

She passed the final exams for certification as a make-up artist with honors. She found a publishing company to publish her most recent play. She moved to Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. She was inspired by the fact that two theaters there staged her plays. She continued to work on new plays, first for the theater then for the TV station WDR. She had a stamp made that said, "Christiane Fichtner, playwright".

She graduated from drama education studies. Already before graduation, she started working as a director. She made a movie about women's soccer. The film will be shown at the Berlinale this year. Today, she is a well-known author and director for film and TV. She works for WDR and Arte, among other TV channels.

 

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