Gerd-Theo Umberg

Gerd-Theo Umberg (* 1943 in Säckingen ) is a German theater director , theater director and university professor .

Life

After graduating from high school, Gerd-Theo Umberg studied law in Hamburg, Münster and Bonn. In 1968 he staged the play "The Notification" by Václav Havel at the " Studiobühne at the German Studies Seminar of the University of Bonn " with great success . He then changed his studies and learned directing as an assistant to Rudolf Noelte , Hans Schweikart and Samuel Beckett .

In the 1970s he worked as a freelance director on various German theaters. He staged a. a. in Heidelberg, Ulm, Wuppertal and Düsseldorf. In 1980 he became operations director at the Berlin Renaissance Theater and at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. In 1986 he moved to the Munich Residenztheater with Artistic Director Günther Beelitz . He then returned to the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus as commercial director.

From 1996 to 2004, as director of the Darmstadt State Theater , he played a key role in the structural and technical renovation of the three-part house in Darmstadt.

Since 2001 Gerd-Theo Umberg has taught at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts . From 2002 he was professor there and in the winter semester 2005/2006 took over responsibility for the theater and orchestra management course. In 2008 he also became vice president of the university. He retired two years later.

Due to a debt burden of 600,000 euros, his successor John Dew banned him from entering the State Theater in Darmstadt. Umberg is one of the critics of the financial resources of state theaters. He assumes that the number of independent theaters will decrease significantly in the next few years due to the low financial resources.

Umberg has lived in Vienna for a long time and is married to the actress and director Elisabeth Krejcir .

Gerd-Theo Umberg is a member of the board of trustees of the Kulturforum Frankfurt / Rhein-Main.

Honors

• 2004: Johann Heinrich Merck award from the city of Darmstadt.

literature

• Running through Vienna in Darmstadt. In: Darmstädter Echo. 2nd August 2014.