"I see myself as a playful heart, a fluid feline being, a transformative vibration of cellular mass with many talents and a deep curiosity for the possibilities of interpersonal and transcendental encounters."

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Stage beast (german: Rampensau) Marilyn Nova White (they/them), born with half-Bulgarian roots into a non-artsy, working-class environment in Mannheim, is a Berlin-based, changeling performance artist, actor, and Drag King. Marilyn’s interdisciplinary and autobiographical work explores queer embodiment, Drag, and theatre through questions of origin, identity, desire, social norms, gender, and transitions – from impermanence and death to transformation. Queer-feminist perspectives shape Marilyn’s artistic approaches, alongside themes of sex education, kink, pleasure, and discomfort. And of course: humour always finds a way in. As Drag King Marilyn Moustache, Marilyn has been creating performances since 2017 that are creatively intimate and full of resistance – where glam, trash, and comedy meet.

Since mid-2025, Marilyn has been delighted to be part of the public heroes agency, which represents Marilyn in the field of acting, advertising and people casting in Berlin.

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It all began with a first ballet performance in a bear costume at the age of seven. This was followed by an initial qualification as a medical assistant (2005) and seven years of employment in the commercial sector. A transformative turning point came in 2012 with the completion of Theater Pedagogy BuT® at the Theaterwerkstatt Heidelberg—marking the start of an autodidactic and experimental artistic career. Since then, Marilyn has been internationally active in the independent theater and performance scene, expanding their skills through alternative learning paths, self-organized, and collective processes.

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Since 2017, Marilyn has been a Drag King – engaging with drag as a multifaceted playground for the performative exploration of gender and identity. In the MALED IT! Drag King workshops, which Marilyn has been offering internationally since 2018 – at institutions such as UdK Berlin, UdK Musical, HfS Ernst Busch, QueerKAstle, Kaserne Basel, Queer Identity Romania, among others – participants not only learn the art of Drag Kinging, but also enter a queer space of connection and exchange.

Beyond the workshops, Marilyn also shares insights into Drag Kinging through talks and panel discussions – at festivals, in educational settings, or within artistic residencies. For Marilyn, this form of knowledge-sharing is both community work and artistic practice.

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Both stage and film are central professional fields for Marilyn, providing a space to grow as a performer and explore new forms of play and expression. In 2023, Marilyn completed a three-month intensive acting program at the Schauspielfabrik Berlin and, in 2025, deepened their passion for film acting with a six-week training focused on camera acting and the Meisner technique at Actors Space Berlin.

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The young ballet bear later gained experience in dance styles such as Hula-Hoop Dance, Jazz Dance, Contemporary, Contact Improvisation, Belly Dance, Tribal Fusion, Bharatanatyam, Hip-Hop, Go-Go Dance, Voguing, and Frame Up, eventually becoming a dance instructor specializing in ATS (American Tribal Style Bellydance). Marilyn also has extensive teaching experience in theater and circus pedagogy.

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Marilyn’s multidisciplinary arts have been realized in collaboration with groups and artists such as Frauen und Fiktion, CHICKS free performance collective, Tümay Kilincel, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Taylor Mac, and the University of Cologne.

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In 2024, Marilyn was selected for the FAIRSTAGE Fellowship Program—a model project for discrimination-free and fair working conditions in Berlin’s theater scene, as well as an opportunity to engage in cultural politics.

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Additionally, in 2022, Marilyn received the NEUSTART KULTUR research grant from the Fonds Darstellende Künste to further develop their artistic projects.