Theater Academy August Everding

The Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding, with its eight courses, is one of the most excellent training centers for stage careers in the German-speaking region. With my appointment in September 2022, it will be led by a woman for the first time since it was founded in 1993. The realization of equal opportunities still does not seem self-evident. Theater has always reacted seismographically to the movements and tremors of our society. It is able to depict and publicly negotiate the tensions, conflicts and future plans of our time.

Currently, upheavals and crises are putting our traditional models of representation, economy and action to the test. The pandemic, the return of war to Europe and climate change address us directly. As an artistic training institution, we are called upon to find answers to many questions: How do we want to contribute to the development of contemporary theater? Which narratives and forms reflect our present? How can we establish new forms of participation and which audience are we not yet reaching? In what way can theater become the key to understanding our and other cultures?

The answers to this can only be found together. Theater itself, as a live art form, is predestined to collectively work on, negotiate and reflect on questions that affect our world today. We at the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding are called upon to prepare the breeding ground for these disputes. In addition, it is important to use very specific measures to strengthen diversity and participation and thus take the diversity of our society into account institutionally and artistically. With more diversity on stages, the audience coming to the theater will also change.

Despite many questions about the future of the theater, we look to the next generation with confidence and joy. It is clear that the theater business must courageously face the challenges of the present in order to assert itself and maintain its social relevance. Theater is and remains a key to understanding and shaping culture!

Prof. Dr. Barbara Gronau
President of the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding

In 1993, the Free State of Bavaria set up the Bavarian Theatre Academy on the initiative of August Everding with the intention of enabling the artistic training for a wide range of theatrical professions to take place under one roof. This Academy was based at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. Since the 2022/2023 season, the Academy has been directed by Prof. Dr. Barbara Gronau. With eight courses of study currently on offer and three professionally equipped theatres (Prinzregententheater, Akademietheater, Akademiestudio), the Theaterakademie August Everding is the largest training centre for stage professions in Germany. In this teaching and learning theatre, theory and practice permeate one another in courses in Acting, Music Theatre Performance/Opera Singing, Musical Performance, Stage Directing, Dramaturgy, Scenography and Costume Design, Wigs, Make-up and Special Make-up Effects for Stage and Screen and Arts and Cultural Journalism.

Depending on the course, students conclude their studies with a diploma, a Bachelor of Arts or a Master of Arts degree. The Academy’s cooperation partners are the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München, the Akademie der bildenden Künste München and the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, at one of which students are enrolled, depending on their course of studies. In addition, there are production partnerships with the Bavarian State Opera, the Residenztheater, the Gärtnerplatztheater and the Munich Radio Orchestra as well as with other Bavarian, supraregional and international theatres and festivals.

An average of approx. 40 productions are made with the students each year. Admission tickets for performances are available through the central ticket office of the Bavarian State Theatres.

When the Prinzregententheater is not being used for the Academy’s own productions, it rents out the building to concert organisers. Some 20% of the Academy’s total budget is financed from the proceeds of these rentals. The Theaterakademie August Everding is funded by the Free State of Bavaria, represented by the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts.

The Theaterakademie August Everding has the following honorary members:

• Prof. Dr. Hellmuth Matiasek
• Prof. Klaus Zehelein