Gin Müller, Simonida Selimović, Mariama Nzinga Diallo & Edwarda Gurrola
JUSTITIA! Identity Cases
‘Who are you? Who are you really? Can you prove that you are who you are?’ JUSTITIA! Identity Cases is a fast-paced show about the relationship between theatre, court and social media that originally premiered in 2022 and now returns to brut Wien. How are identity cases handled in court, in theatre and in social networks? Who judges, who gets judged? Who feels in the right, and what is justice? JUSTITIA! Identity Cases is a performance lecture and courtroom drama in several acts and shows above all, that identity trials are never clear-cut cases – a show that poses controversial questions and refuses easy answers.
This trial centres around hotly debated issues of identity politics. Inspired by cultural scientist and writer Mithu Sanyal’s novel Identitti and by conflictual public debates, the court in Identity Cases presents itself as a theatrical performance, as a media-based courtroom drama of embodied ‘trans-identities’. To perform in these contexts also means to create a credible narrative of one’s own identity. Accusers, lawyers, defendants, witnesses, judges and spectators all play their own roles in the struggle for the just, performative verdict.
Identity Cases of 2022 marked the beginning of Gin Müller’s four-year research project JUSTITIA!, which dealt with the relationships between theatre and court, law and justice. Following the performances JUSTITIA! IL*LEGAL MONSTERS (2023) and JUSTITIA! Data Ghosts (2025) that both premiered here, Gin Müller, Edwarda Gurrola, Mariama Nzinga Diallo and Simonida Selimović now return to present a revival of the first part, JUSTITIA! Identity Cases. The production was invited to the 2023 Impulse Festival and nominated for a NESTROY prize.
Team 2026
Gin Müller is a director, theatre scholar, performer and queer ar/ctivist. Their works negotiate activist and political issues as well as collective forms of collaboration on stage and beyond.
Simonida Selimović is an actress, feminist rapper and activist against racism and for equal rights for the Roma community. She has appeared in the children's series Operation Dunarea and in Nina Kusturica's feature film Ciao Cherie. In 2010, she co-founded Romano Svato, the first feminist and professional Roma theatre association, as well as Mindj Panther. In the Viennese independent theatre scene, she developed Heroes (2015) together with her sister Sandra Selimović and collaborated with Tina Leisch and Alireza Daryanavard, among others. She performed in a production by Volker Lösch at the Schauspiel Essen and worked with Yael Ronen at the Gorki Theatre in Berlin on the production Roma Armee (2017), based on an idea by her and Sandra Selimović.
Mariama Nzinga Diallo is an activist, Pan-Africanist, photographer, artist and performer who studied contextual painting at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. She is also a tireless fighter for human rights, against occupation, colonialism and oppression. Mentally decolonised, Mariama Nzinga Diallo is a staunch supporter of the No Borders movement and a world in which freedom, justice and humanitarianism apply regardless of any borders.
Edwarda Gurrola is an actor in theatre and film. Since she was a child, she has performed in various TV formats and telenovelas. In 2015, she was nominated for an Ariel, the Mexican film prize, as best actress.
Selina Shirin Stritzel is a freelance theatre-maker, political education worker and trans-media artist. She studied critical studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
Team 2022
Natalie Ananda Assmann is a freelance artist, theatre-maker, curator and performer. Her work is set at the interface between theatrical intervention in the public realm and queer-feminist, anti-fascist image production.
Andreas Fleck worked as a production manager and dramaturge for various theatre institutions and independent theatre groups. He has been the artistic director of WUK performing arts since 2023.
Sandra Selimović is an actor, director, rapper and Roma activist. She is a co-founder of feminist Roma theatre association Romano Svato and a champion against discrimination and marginalisation by mainstream society.
Pressestimmen
“This performance poses grave questions surprisingly nimbly.”
Petra Paterno (Wiener Zeitung)
Credits
Revival, 2026 premiere:
Dramaturgical revision Gin Müller, Selina Shirin Stritzel Based on a version written and directed by Gin Müller, Selina Shirin Stritzel, Natalie Assmann, Andreas Fleck Text Mariama Nzinga Diallo, Andreas Fleck, Edwarda Gurrola, Gin Müller, Sandra Selimović Performance Edwarda Gurrola, Mariama Nzinga Diallo, Simonida Selimović, Gin Müller Visuals/Videos Sabine Marte, Magdalena Fischer, Hicran Ergen, Nils Olger Sound/music Lisa Kortschak Social media Hicran Ergen Production management Wilhelm Binder, Ines Kaiser Assistenz Katalin Pászti Video programming Oliver Stotz Set design Rupert Müller Costume design Noushin Redjaian Graphic design Georg Starzner
Orginal 2022 version:
Concept & performance Gin Müller Performance Edwarda Gurrola, Mariama Nzinga Diallo, Sandra Selimović Dramaturgy & directing Gin Müller, Natalie Ananda Assmann, Selina Shirin Stritzel, Andreas Fleck Visuals Sabine Marte Sound/music Lisa Kortschak Social media Hicran Ergen Assistant Ines Kaiser Video patches Oliver Stotz Set design Rupert Müller Costume design Noushin Redjaian Graphic design Georg Starzner Photography & video documentation Magdalena Fischer
A co-production by Verein zur Förderung der Bewegungsfreiheit and brut Wien.
With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA7, 2022–26 “Konzeptförderung”).
Dates & Tickets
February 2026
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14 * Followed by an artist talk, moderation: Selina Shirin Stritzel
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
On Fri. 06.02., the show will be followed by an artist talk, moderation: Flori Gugger.
Content notes
The performance uses theatre fog.
Downloads
Abendprogramm_JUSTITIA_Identity_Cases (PDF)
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