Gerhard Hess (General Manager)

Gerhard Hess (* in Basel ) is a Swiss artistic director and director living in Germany.

Life, workstations

Gerhard Hess was born in Basel and attended schools in Basel, Alexandria and Zurich. After studying Romance studies and theater studies, he began his theater career as a dramaturge, assistant director and director at the Ulmer Theater and then as assistant director and director at the Mannheim National Theater (director Arnold Petersen). After three seasons as a freelance director, from 1980 to 1984 he was chief stage director of the theater at the stages of the state capital Kiel (General Director Horst Fechner).

During this time, the Kieler Schauspiel attracted nationwide attention through its numerous world premieres by contemporary authors and the rediscovery of Ernst Barlach's “The Real Sedemunds”.

From 1984 to 1998 Gerhard Hess worked as a freelance director a. a. Active at the National Theater Mannheim , the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden , the Saarland State Theater , the State Theater Braunschweig , the State Theater Nuremberg as well as the Theater Essen and the Theater Dortmund .

Since 1991 he has also directed in music theater.

From 1998 to 2013, Gerhard Hess was the artistic director of the Lower Saxony North State Theater in Wilhelmshaven.

He also continues to direct and is involved in various functions in the Deutsches Bühnenverein .

Artistic director in Wilhelmshaven 1998–2013

The aim of Gerhard Hess's work as artistic director was to “expect and trust today's audience in terms of content and aesthetics in German theater , even in a regional theater . Anything else would be sheer cynicism ” The focus of content was Hess dealt with contemporary topics and authors, which led to numerous commissioned works. This included in particular the fifteen-year collaboration with Katharina Gericke , who wrote seven plays for the Landesbühne during this time. In addition to the classic canon, the Landesbühne dealt with numerous lost pieces of cultural heritage between the mystery plays and Widmann's “May bug comedy”. New paths were also broken in the field of entertainment (premiere “Der schenkte Gaul” by Hildegard Knef , premiere “Meta, Norddeich”, premiere “Ubu, König” with Mardi Gras.bb ). The existing children's and youth theater with its theater education department was expanded in 1999 with the establishment of the Dutch-German festival “vis-a-vis” (first in Emden, then in Aurich).

The content of this program was associated with a strong acceptance by the audience; This was described in the trade press as "exemplary in the difficult business of the state theaters and worth a closer look, also for city and state theaters" .

National highlights were the Faust nomination for Jan Steinbach's “Stella”, guest performances in Berlin (Gorkitheater) and Hamburg ( Deutsches Schauspielhaus ) as well as a three-year cooperation with teatr polski in Bydgosz.

Financial cuts that threatened the existence of the state government at the time were averted in 2010 through a fight involving the use of all (new) media.

The artists who temporarily worked at the Landesbühne included a. the directors Philipp Kochheim , Jan Steinbach, Eva Lange, Christian Hockenbrink , Andreas Ingenhaag, Ingo Putz, Reinhardt Friese and the set designers Diana Pähler, Frank Albert and Matthias Nebel.

Voluntary work

Gerhard Hess was involved in the cause of the German theater in numerous committees (partly until today) of the German stage association such as the tariff committee, the committee for artistic questions, the administrative board, the FAUST jury, as an assessor at the stage arbitration tribunal. He is a member of the board of directors of the Deutsche Bühnen pension fund.

Honors

• Director award of the North German Theatertreffen for "Aloen" 1982
• His productions in 1989 and 2015 received Inthega prizes for the best touring performance
• City medal for special services to the city of Wilhelmshaven 2013
• Honorary member of the Landesbühne Niedersachsen-Nord 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ General director Horst Fechner (Ed.): Spielzeithefte des Theater Kiel 1980-84
2. ^ Andreas Fromm, Helga Thieme: Barlach on the Stage, Hamburg, Güstrow 2007 ISBN 3-9809809-2-8
3. ^ Cooperative of German Stage Members (ed.): German Stage Yearbook 1984-1998
4. ↑ Lower Saxony as a business location 2009 pp. 190ff, ISBN 978-3-938630-64-8
5. ↑ Peter Hilton Fliegl Sometimes the circle is a square , Wilhelmshaven 2013 p. 81ff. ISBN 978-3-941929-04-3
6. ↑ Michael Laages in Die Deutsche Bühne p. 28f. August 2006
7. ↑ Peter Hilton Fliegl: Sometimes the circle is a square , Wilhelmshaven 2013 p. 88 ISBN 978-3-941929-04-3
8. ↑ Kieler Nachrichten June 16, 1982
9. ↑ [1] accessed on July 8, 2016
10. ^ Wilhelmshavener Zeitung June 17, 2013
11. ^ Wilhelmshavener Zeitung June 15, 2013