Arno Wüstenhöfer

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Arno Wüstenhöfer (born October 9, 1920 in Karlsruhe , † July 19, 2003 in Wuppertal ) was a German actor , director and general manager .

biography

Wüstenhöfer was the son of the mine director Paul Wüstenhöfer. After graduating from school, he studied law and German for five semesters and also trained as an actor.

Intendant in Lübeck

Wüstenhöfer worked from 1946 to 1959 as a freelance actor and director on various stages in Lübeck . From 1959 to 1964 he was director of the Lübeck Theater .

General director in Wuppertal

From 1964 to 1975 he was general manager of the Wuppertaler Bühnen . Under Wüstenhöfer's direction, the Wuppertal Theater has developed into one of the leading theaters in Germany.

One of Wüstenhöfer's great merits is the sponsorship of Pina Bausch , whom he brought to the Wuppertal Theaters in 1973 as ballet director and chief choreographer, whereupon the Wuppertal Ballet was renamed the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch . With her appointment, he laid the foundation for Bausch's international career.

Wüstenhöfer was invited twice to the Berlin Theatertreffen , where he took part in 1968 with his production of Peter Hack's Moritz Tassow and in 1972 with his production of Frank Wedekind's Schloss Wetterstein .

In the summer of 1976 he was appointed director of the Basel Theater , but turned down the position due to cuts in state subsidies.

General manager in Bremen

From 1978 to 1985 he was the successor to Peter Stoltzenberg General Director at the Bremen Theater .

In 1978, he engaged the dancer and choreographer Reinhild Hoffmann and the dancer and choreographer Gerhard Bohner as directors of the Bremen dance theater, which continued to develop as a result. The theater on Goetheplatz was used almost exclusively for high-class music theater. In its first season in 1978/79 the play, which appeared in the cramped Kammerspielhaus, had great success. Two theater productions were invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen . In 1979, the trade journal Theater heute named the Bremen Theater Theater of the Year .

In 1980 the theater company refused to continue to appear in the Kammerspiele and demanded its own management with its own budget. Instead, the budget was cut. The responsible Senator Horst Werner Franke rejected an offer from Wüstenhöfer to resign ; but the contract with him was later extended to 1985. In 1981 a demonstration against the Bremen theater death took place. Numerous national theater greats also protested against its closure, including Claus Peymann and Bernhard Minetti . After the 1980/81 season, many ensemble members and directors left the theater; the acting division was almost idle.

In 1981/82, despite strict austerity measures, well-known guest performances could take place. Wüstenhöfer received nicknames such as “Sparno” and “Sir Arno” for his clever austerity and for the noble, self-critical manner of management. A new theater company was signed for the 1982/83 season. In November 1984 the opening of the New Playhouse took place, which solved the capacity problems of the theater; also a success from Wüstenhöfer. For reasons of age he left the Theater Bremen after the 1984/1985 season. Tobias Richter followed him in office.

He then worked as a freelance director and actor for a few years and continued to live in Bremen at Violenstrasse No. 22. In the 1987/88 season he appeared in a new production of the musical My Fair Lady at the Bremen Theater, his former place of work ; he played a "funny, affable-whimsical" Colonel Pickering.

Wüstenhöfer was one of the founding members of the Else-Lasker-Schüler-Gesellschaft , which was launched in autumn 1990.

Honors

Wüstenhöfer received the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1971 .

In 1973 he was awarded the Silver Leaf by the Berliner Dramatiker Union for his services to the promotion of contemporary dramatic creation.

On July 8, 1985, he was awarded the Senate Medal for Art and Science from the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen .

For his work as general manager of the Wuppertaler Bühnen, he was awarded the title of professor in 1989 by the then NRW Prime Minister Johannes Rau .

Wuppertal named the Arno-Wüstenhöfer-Weg after him in his honor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Denker: TOO LITTLE PEPPER IN ::: . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue March 3, 1988. page 198.
personal data
SURNAME Wüstenhöfer, Arno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor, theater director and artistic director
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 2003
Place of death Wuppertal