Manfred BEILHARZ 

Born on 13th of July, 1938 in Böblingen, Germany.

Studies in German, Theatre and Law in Tübingen and Munich. 2. State exam in law and graduation 1967 in Munich. Already during his studies he founded the Studiobühne (with Peter Stein, Otto Sander and others) at the University of Munich. Assistant director at Münchner Kammerspiele. Studies in Paris and London. 1968 company director and head of the literary department at the Westfälisches Landestheater WLT, Castrop-Rauxel.

After having been artistic director  at Landestheater Tübingen (1970-1975), at City Theatre of Freiburg (1976-1983) and in Kassel (1983-1991), he became artistic director of Schauspiel Bonn (in 1991/92) and from 1997-2002 he was Generalintendant  of the Municipal Theatre of the City of Bonn (including opera, drama and dance). Since 1962 he has directed about 50 productions of drama and opera, e.g. Peter Weiss' „Marat Sade“, Bertolt Brecht's „The Mother“, „Threepennyopera“ and „Mahagonny“ (Music by Kurt Weill); Hans Magnus Enzensberger´s „A Romantic Woman“ (World Premiere),  Shakespeare´s „ A Midsummernight´s Dream“, plays by Botho Strauß, Ludwig van Beethoven’s „Fidelio“, Hans Werner Henze´s „The Hot Oven“ (World Premiere), Maurice Ravel´s „L´enfant et les Sortilèges“, Sergej Prokofiew‘ s „The love of the three oranges“; Verdi‘ s „Falstaff“ and others. At Schauspiel Bonn in 1997, he directed Wedekind‘ s „Spring Awakening“ (as a co-production with the Comédie de St. Étienne, France) with great success. His most recent productions were Alban Berg´s opera „WOZZECK“ at the Opera Bonn and Kleist´s „Der Zerbrochne Krug“.

Together with playwright Tankred Dorst, in 1992 he founded the „BONNER BIENNALE –New Plays from Europe“, a festival of contemporary drama, which takes place every two years at Schauspiel Bonn. He is chairman of the Dramaturgische Gesellschaft, Berlin, member of the Academy of Performing Arts, Frankfurt and member of the European Theatre Convention, Brussels and Paris, as well as August Everding’ s successor as president of the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute and Artistic Director of the festival Theater der Welt 2002 in Bonn/Cologne/Duesseldorf/Duisburg