FLORIANA FRASSETTO (Swiss), studied at Academia Alessandro Fersen in Rome from 1967 to 1969. She completed her training as an actress while attending a school for mime and acrobatics at Roy Bosier‘s Teatro Studio. She then worked with the company of Roy Bosier in several school productions that toured Italy. The idea of founding MUMMENSCHANZ resulted from meeting, in late 1970, Andres Bossard and Bernie Schürch—two young Swiss clowns called “Before and Lost” that performed a partially spoken show. Floriana became the third member of the new company in 1972, and together they co-created the repertoire of MUMMENSCHANZ, converting the spoken numbers to masked visuals. Floriana has performed on tour worldwide for the last 47 years. She feels herself an artisan of fantasy and has always been motivated to construct new shapes along with Bernie. Other notable experiences include the choreography and the costumes for Giancarlo Sbragia’s Faust and André Heller‘s musical, Body and Soul, and an artistic collaboration with Isabelle Baudet for the children’s musical Oliver Twist in Lausanne (Switzerland). She is the artistic director of MUMMENSCHANZ.
TESS BURLA was born in 1981 and grew up in Murten, Switzerland. After completing her studies in psychomotor therapy, she trained as a dancer in Barcelona and Berlin. In 2009, she completed a master’s in dance education at Zurich University of the Arts. She has been a member of Cie Chapeau (and formerly Paula fliegt) since 2015. She gained experience working with Marcel Leemann, and as part of Brigitta Schrepfer’s Somafon, human kinetics movements arts, and Collectif de Marchepied. Burla works as a freelance dancer and is a founding member of cie deux plus. In addition to dance performances in collaboration with live musicians (Simone Abplanalp and Ursula Hofmann), she also made an appearance as part of the clown duo Nasva and Ravu in 2018. Her journey with MUMMENSCHANZ began in 2019.
SARAH LERCH was born in 1983 and grew up in Bern, Switzerland. She studied acting at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri (ATD) before going on to create her own dance and theater productions. From 2009 to 2011, she toured throughout Europe with the Czech company Continuo Theatre. She then returned to Switzerland and completed a master’s degree in physical theatre at the ATD. She is a two-time winner of the Migros Kulturprozent competition and a member of the Swiss Study Foundation. In 2014, she co-founded the international company Wakouwa Teatro and gave birth to a baby boy. She is a versatile performer and choreographer working on a variety of major stage projects, with collaborators such as Volker Hesse, and she regularly teaches acrobatics and aerial silks. From 2019 to 2020, she was co-director of the Theaterzirkus Wunderplunder with Kevin Blaser. Sarah joined MUMMENSCHANZ in 2021 for its 50th anniversary production.
KEVIN BLASER (Swiss), born in 1990, is a young artist from Ticino. In his early age he showed a strong interest in movement and art. He stood out in gymnastics and in skateboarding in which he found a companion with whom he travels the world. Passionate for music, he perfected his skills in percussion and drums, with which he continues to play in various bands. Through theatre he discovered the means for full expression of himself and entered the school for physical theatre Accademia Teatro Dimitri, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2015. He played in theatre and cinema productions such as Gilgamesh (from Patrizia Barbuiani), Gotthard 2016 (from Volker Hesse), and Tutti Giù (from Niccolò Castelli). In July 2016 he started his journey with the MUMMENSCHANZ company.
MANUEL SCHUNTER was born in Munich (Germany) in 1985 and has lived primarily in Switzerland since 2007. He completed a bachelor’s degree in physical theatre at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri and a master’s degree in expanded theatre at the Bern University of the Arts. He has since given numerous performances and toured as a clown in the world of circus and vaudeville (with Circus Monti, Circus Roncalli, Das Zelt, Circus Sarrasani and at Circus Knie’s centenary celebrations, among others). He was a permanent ensemble member with the Theater Madame Bissegger and the Origen Festival. Manuel’s theater engagements have included performances with the Stadttheater Freiburg, LAC Lugano, and Espace Nuithonie. Besides his activities as a performer, he also directs various stage productions and lectures at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Manuel has been a member of MUMMENSCHANZ since the summer of 2022.
ERIC SAUGE (Swiss) is the technical director of the company. With more than 10 years of experience in the entertainment business, he now specializes in lighting and machinery effects. Back in Switzerland he continues to train in the field of lighting for theater and television. In 2014 he met MUMMENSCHANZ in Lausanne and, wishing to return to the theatre scene, he joined them as their technical director.
