Alena Starostina (*1983, St. Petersburg) and Ivan Niolaev (*1985, St. Petersburg) were among the co-founders of "theater post" in 2010 and worked there together until 2022, before they had to flee just a few days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine due to their public rejection of the invasion, Putin and Russian politics.

The two have worked as artists, directors, performers, curators, costume designers and co-authors and have been involved in the creation of more than 40 productions. Together they won the Russian national theater award "Golden Mask" twice in the category "Experiment" for productions in the "theater post".

The couple have lived in Germany since fleeing Russia and have been resident artists in Hellerau since fall 2022. The first two parts of their project "Letters Home" - "Acedia" and "Mutus" - were premiered there at the Festspielhaus Hellerau as part of the Open Studio.