Directors in Residence

MATTHEW EARNEST (New York)  ●  NANCY BISHOP (Prague)  ●  BEN TWIST (Edinburgh)  ●  ROBERT CHEVARA  ●  DANIEL BRUNET (New York)  ●  TERENCE LAMUDE (New York)  ●  JUDE CHRISTIAN (London)

In the summer of 1999 English Theatre Berlin started a new programme in which young innovative directors together with the theatre´s artistic team present productions to Berlin´s theatregoers.

Directors express their visions, world views, and aesthetic principles in their plays, performances and productions. In each respective production, they provide a unique form to the diversity of theatrical approaches and their interpretation. In this, regional differences play a major role. The DIRECTORS IN RESIDENCE programme presents various forms of theatre from different countries and characterized by cultural differences. Mutual exchange will help to identify common cultural ground. This will be undertaken anew in each production, as a new cast will be working with a new director under new circumstances.

A surprisingly large number of people from English-speaking countries are active in Berlin's theatre scene. For the past ten years, English Theatre Berlin provided a central communication venue for this disparate group of exiles, eccentrics, and experimentalists. The DIRECTORS IN RESIDENCE programme brings them together for limited time periods with directors from their native countries; together, they create theatre for Berlin, their new home town.

Our first Director in Residence was MATTHEW EARNEST from New York City who staged Suzan-Lori Parks´ play Venus.

STEP TWO was NANCY BISHOP (Prague) with Road to Nirvana by Arthur Kopit.

BEN TWIST (Edinburgh) took over STEP THREE and directed Giles Havergal´s stage adaptation of Graham Greene´s novel Travels with my Aunt, one of the most succesful shows at English Theatre Berlin ever.

For our 2002 season ROBERT CHEVARA (London) directed a fabulous production of Caryl Churchill´s modern classic, Top Girls.

DANIEL BRUNET (New York) directed and designed Frank McGuinness´ Someone Who´ll Watch Over Me for us.

For STEP SIX we worked together with TERENCE LAMUDE (New York) who directed our first co-production with the English Theatre Frankfurt/Main, Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan which opened in Berlin and subsequently moved to Frankfurt for a three-week run.

STEP SEVEN - Young English director JUDE CHRISTIAN took over DC Jackson´s comedy My Romantic History.