Patty Kim Hamilton is a poet-playwright, writer, dramaturg, director and performance artist. Her work exists at the intersection of the intimate and the political - meditating on bodies, language and memory.  She is inspired by the many artists in her community, and by the works of Ana Mendieta, Patti Smith, and Alice Birch (among other artistic heroes). She studied in California at Stanford University (BA Theatre and performance studies) and completed her graduate studies in Berlin at the Universität der Künste Berlin (Diplom Szenisches Schreiben). The intention in her artistic work is to observe and reflect, to make space for unheard narratives, and to be an impulse for conversation and transformation. She also is passionate about teaching, minimizing barriers of entry, and creating platforms for historically underrepresented writers.

Her plays have been staged or read at Schauspiel Hannover, Schauspielhaus Graz, Theater Bremen, Theater Bielefeld, Ballhaus Naunynstrasse and Deutsches Theater Berlin, and have received many awards and nominations.  She currently teaches at the Universität der Künste, Berlin and is a mentor through the Lettrétage Berlin. For more specifics, see the ‘Updates’ page.

In the 2023-2024 season she was a playwright in residence at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and received a world premiere of Schmerz Camp, her play about women in chronic pain, at Theater Bremen. Schmerz Camp was published and is available in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

She is represented by Suhrkamp (mueller@suhrkamp.de) worldwide, except for the United States.

Additionally, she was a mentor for the Diverse Voices Program through the European Theatre Convention, mentoring playwrights at the Belarus Free Theater (through the Young Vic London) and at Staatstheater Braunschweig.  She has had a research residency at HELLERAU: European Center for the Arts funded through the Fonds Darstellende Künste.  In 2018 she produced and choreographed the immersive performance installation the crane wives, which premiered at SOMOS Art House, while concurrently running the drag-adjacent, feminist performance collective JUICY! 

Frequent and beloved collaborators include: Christopher Adams-Cohen, Sarah Kurze, Lili Nacht, Willow Hamilton, Mia Spengler