about us
On a visit to Romania in 1997, I met a homeless boy who was about 8 years old. Somehow it happened that I gave him a bottle of shampoo. The next day, he found me and showed me that he had washed his hair, only he had very carefully washed one side and not the other. When I asked why, he said that he wanted to show me the amazing difference between dirty and clean.
His name was Cosmin (and we added the o) and he could turn cartwheels like no one I have ever met.
In ancient Greek, Cosmin means to be in solidarity with life.
Dirty and clean, light and dark – Cosmino make theatre in solidarity with all the complexities of humanity.
Cosmino aims to share:
The potential of polarity
The art of a dream
The beauty of pain
The fragility of happiness
Cosmino Productions was founded in Coventry, UK in 1998 by Rachel Karafistan. Then in 2000, while working as an actor on ‘Millenium Mysteries’ a coproduction between the Belgrade Theatre and Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podrozy, staged in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, Rachel met Polish actor, Kuba Pierzchalski and their collaboration through life and art began.
Today they live and work in Berlin with their two children.
Rachel Karafistan
Rachel Karafistan PhD:
Artistic Director, actor, composer (she / her)
Rachel is an award winning British performer, teacher, academic and director. After falling in love with third theatre and Odin Teatret at the age of eleven, Rachel embraced the potential and autonomy of devised performance. Her teachers include Frankie Armstrong, Marcello Magni, Venice Manley, Linda Wise & Enrique Pardo (Roy Hart Theatre), Philippe Gaulier, Kathryn Hunter and Roberta Carreri (Odin Teatret). She also trained with renowned Bulgarian singer Kalinka Vulcheva (soloist with Les Mysteres de Voix Bulgares).
Rachel is the co-founder (with her partner and long-term Blue Man, Kuba Pierzchalski) of Cosmino Productions and has a repertoire of original performances spanning three decades. Rachel has also performed alongside Kathryn Hunter in ‘Yerma’ at the Arcola Theatre, London and was an actor with internationally acclaimed Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podróży. Her PhD research into Shamanic dimensions within contemporary theatre practice saw her collaborate on a series of workshops with ‘Way of Wyrd’ and ‘Way of the Actor’ author, Brian Bates. Rachel is also a trained Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Hypnotherapist which informs both her teaching and devising practice. She is the founder of Beinthework (Berlin International Theatre Workshops) which has hosted work by internationally renowned theatre practitioners in Berlin since 2009. Rachel has always placed student experience at the very centre of her teaching, facilitating events such as the student led Open Wide International Theatre Festival and the Weekend Workshop Programme both held at Bretton Hall, University of Leeds. Rachel has directed for Greenwich Theatre, East 15 Acting School, Northampton and Leeds Universities and was director in residence for Salzburg Landestheater, Austria. Rachel has held posts at Manchester Metropolitan and Leeds Universities, Rose Bruford College and was External Examiner on the Physical Theatre & Acting BA at East 15 Acting School, UK. Rachel is Pedagogical Co-Director of the DTAP and ADP programmes at Arthaus.Berlin International Postgraduate School.
Rachel is relieved that after so many years of making and teaching theatre, it is still the greatest thrill imaginable.
Kuba Pierzchalski
Technical director, actor, composer (he / him)
Kuba was reared on Polish alternative theatre and trained with Teatr Ósmego Dnia , Teatr Porywacze Ciał and was an actor with Teatr Biuro Podróży from 1997 – 2003. He toured with the company across six continents. Kuba has worked as a movement teacher, theatre director and musician internationally. Kuba has performed with Blue Man Group for 18 years and is part of the permanent Berlin cast.
Kuba’s dream of forming a samba band might still happen.
Eva Rufo
Associate Actor (she / her)
Eva has been dancing since she was 4 years old and the rigour of this discipline has never left her body or her work. She is excited by the potential of creating performances outside of ‘traditional’ performance spaces and since 2006 Eva has been producing her own performances inspired by the Cuentacuentos (storytelling) tradition. Eva has created ten performances to date: Zapominać=Zabić (2006) Nosotro$ollE (2007) Mujeres-Kobiety (2008), Me too (…I want to be an Almodovar girl) (2009) Art. 182 ust.1-3 kc (2009), ¡¡¡Oooooleee!!! (2012), Rayuela (2014), Todo Cambia (2014), Christmas Tales (2016), With Wine, About Wine / Z winem o winie (2017).
Eva regularly runs workshops in dance, storytelling, and TIE throughout Poland: i.e. the Puppet Theatre (Poznan), Off Opera (Poznan), STOP-KLATKA Association of Drama Practitioners (Warsaw), Imaginarium, One World Association (Poznan) and in many primary and secondary schools.
Eva teaches Spanish at the Institute of Linguistics (UAM), where since 1999 she organizes with her students an annual story telling event and since 2006 the Story Festival ‘Una Semana de Cuento’.
In 2018, she directed the ” Five Worlds Project”, the closing concert of the Days of Cultural Diversity at UAM, Poznan. Heartburn is Eva’s first production with Cosmino.
Ash Willison
Associate Actor (she / her)
Ash Willison is an international multi-media artist and performer. She studied theatre in the USA and Russia, and recently completed her MFA in Berlin where she now lives and works collaboratively with artists and communities to create and perform stories. Her many-layered practices in dramaturgy, writing, performance and line art are all grounded in the exploration of movement and embodiment.
Recent work includes Band Practice musical comedy duo (Performing Arts Festival Berlin “Bar Whatever” 2022, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Bob’s Blundabus 2022, Berlin International Clown Festival 2022, 48hrs Neukolln 2022), Lost and Founds (Dogchild Theatre residency in Shaar HaAmakim), Diary of Hole (The Knast, 2022), and continued appearances in variety and cabaret-style performances. Other work includes leading workshops with Platypus Theatre and working with Cottonwood Agile Learning Center to create new shows and stories with young learners.
Ash is assisting on the Under the Starry Sky project and researching and devising for a new Cosmino Production planned for 2024.
Lisa Ullrich
Associate Actor (she / they)
Lisa is a theater maker, actor and Singer for the US and Germany. She works in theater, film and Kabarett. Her formal training consists of a BA in Acting from the Institute of the Arts Barcelona and an MA in Devised Theatre and Performance from Arthaus Berlin (LISPA).
Recent work as a Theatre maker includes Band Practice musical comedy duo (Performing Arts Festival 2022, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Bob’s Blundabus 2022, Berlin International Clown Festival 2022, 48hrs Neukölln 2022), Lost and Founds (Dogchild Theatre residency in Shaar HaAmakim, Israel) and “Bar Whatever” (Performing Arts Festival 2022).
As an actor, some of her theatrical work has included roles such as: Olga, Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Abigail, in Arthur Miller’s Crucible, Hecuba in Euripides Trojan Women, Cassius in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as well as in Film: Abigail in “A Matter of Causality”(2019), which won Oniros Film Award Best Ensemble.
She has also worked as a facilitator with young, non English/German speakers with the English Theater Frankfurt and Stagecoach School.
Lisa is assisting on the Under the Starry Sky project and researching and devising for a new Cosmino Production planned for 2024.
Jo Johnston
Artist, Graphic Designer (she / her)
Jo Johnston, originally from the UK, is now based in Berlin. Jo studied at the Birmingham College of Art and finds inspiration in every walk of life. You can visit Jo’s website here.
Jo curates a joint project with Marcel Kröner called ”The Little Window Galerie”. Allegedly the smallest art gallery in Berlin, each month one artwork from a diverse range of artists is exhibited in a “Schaufenster”. The ‘little window’ is on the busy Berliner Strasse in Pankow, Berlin for everyone to enjoy as they pass by. Jo is passionate about finding ways to release and encourage creativity and works with children and young people on a daily basis.
Jo’s has created artwork for two Cosmino productions, Dreams Die Hard and Heartburn.