She completed her acting degree in 2017. After working for four years as a freelance actress, including in Cologne’s independent theatre scene and at Theater Bonn, she has been a member of the nö theater collective since 2018. She toured kindergartens in North Rhine-Westphalia and Denmark with the ‘Katze Bartputzer’ series of plays, also taking on the role of director. In 2021/22, she was at the Württembergische Landesbühne Esslingen and travelled through the classrooms and public libraries of Baden-Württemberg. Since the 2022/23 season, she has been part of the ensemble at the Junges Theater at Theater Münster. Soraya also works as a stilt walker and voice artist and loves performing at theatre festivals.
Photo: Lars Erhardt

She ran various children’s and youth theatres before serving as artistic director of the Junges Ensemble Stuttgart (JES) and artistic director of the Schöne Aussicht festival from 2002 to 2022.
Since 2022, she has been working as a freelance director across genres at various theatres, with a focus on theatre for young audiences.
In addition, Brigitte Dethier has been committed for many years to promoting professional children’s and youth theatre within international associations and organisations. From 2018 to 2024, she was chair of the German ASSITEJ; she had been a member of the association’s board for over 20 years. She has also served, among other roles, as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Centre for Children’s and Youth Theatre in the Federal Republic of Germany and on the Executive Board of the German Stage Association, Baden-Württemberg Regional Association. In 2014, she was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg for founding and successfully running the JES. In 2009, she received the German Theatre Prize DER FAUST for her production ‘Noch 5 Minuten’, together with the Belgian choreographer Ives Thuwis-De Leeuw. In 2025, she received the FAUST Prize for her life’s work.
Photo: Annette Hauschild, OSTKREUZ Agentur