Markus Zohner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Markus Zohner (born June 13, 1963 in Munich ) is a Swiss actor , director and theater educator . He is the founder and artistic director of the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie , which has toured worldwide since 1987 .

His multiple award-winning productions of plays , operas and epics are presented at theaters and festivals around the world.

life and career

Markus Zohners was born and raised in Munich after his ancestors immigrated to Germany from Moravia . Today he has been living in Lugano / Switzerland for 20 years , which is also the seat of his own theater group, the “Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie”, with whom he goes on tour around the world .

In 2002 he founded the "Markus Zohner Flying Theater Academy for Central Asia", which brings excellent theater teachers from all over Europe to Almaty / Kazakhstan for six months , in order to give young actors and directors from all over Central Asia an opportunity for further training and discovery of new theatricals To give horizons. The great success of this multinational project, in which the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the most important European cultural institutes are involved, will bring the “Markus Zohner Flying Theater Academy” to other countries and regions around the world.

From July 2004 to January 2005 he headed the “groundzero theater” Baden AG / Switzerland .

In 2006 he launched the "Kosovo.Blut.Theater.Projekt", an international theater project that deals with the topic of post-war Kosovo and from which several theater performances arose:

  • ACTION 1 ( Pristina , December 2006)
  • ACTION 2 (Pristina, January 2007) and finally
  • “The Last Supper”, a play with seven Kosovar Albanian actors and four Swiss theater people on stage, which has been on tour in Europe since autumn 2007.

In December 2008 Markus Zohner, supported by the association “Die Österreichische Bernsteinstrasse”, started his photographic and literary project in Venice: “The rediscovery of the Amber Road - on foot from Venice to St. Petersburg ”. Nine months later, in September 2009, he arrived in St. Petersburg after walking 4,065.5 kilometers and crossing twelve countries. This was followed by his book publication “The path is the sense - The rediscovery of the Amber Road” and various photo exhibitions.

Expression style

Zohner's productions are based on the understanding of theater as a creative act by the audience . The focus of his productions is therefore the actor in his entirety, who through his theatrical work becomes the key to the viewer's imagination .

All the means available to the player - body, voice, language - are used to create characters, scenes, moods, action , theater . The actor is not only the information carrier of a theatrical text, but also becomes the creator of theatrical space, place, action, movement and time. Every part of the theater becomes a play element and enables a multi-layered way of reading, the various levels of the play and the play become perceptible.

Markus Zohner has developed his own "technique of theatrical creation", which starts with the actor as a theater-supporting element and thus allows theater plays to be developed and staged in this focal point of theatrical creation. Stage sets, costumes and effects fade into the background and only serve as a platform for what is the essence of theater for Markus Zohner: The work, the play with the audience's imagination , open-minded through the consequent work of the actor.

He and his company bring international theater projects to life, with a main focus, in addition to worldwide theater performances, on intensive cultural exchange and the further training of young theater professionals.

Important roles in the following theater productions (selection)

Important productions

  • "Odyssey", for the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie, Lugano / Switzerland,
  • Bastien and Bastienne , opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Festival Middle Europe , Germany
  • L'Alouette ( Jeanne or The Lark ) , by Jean Anouilh , Association of Latvian Theaters, Riga , Latvia
  • "HA! HAmlet", an adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, for the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie, Lugano / Switzerland,
  • “Of Spirits and Angels”, improvised theater piece with 18 actors, Jaunais Rigas Teatris, Riga , Latvia
  • "Pasaka par Zaldatu", first performance of " Histoire du soldat " by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz and Igor Stravinsky in Latvian,
  • “ZipZapPao” - improvisational theater piece, Jaunais Rigas Teatris, Riga, Latvia
  • "Erotic and comical stories from 1001 nights", for the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie, Lugano / Switzerland,
  • The Old Lady's Visit ”, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt , first performance in Latvian, Jaunais Rigas Teatris, Riga, Latvia
  • “Hüppe tundmatusse (Leap into the Unknown)”, improvisational theater piece with the graduate students for acting and directing from Tallinn University , Tallinn , Estonia
  • White Cherry Chechov - Der Kirschgarten , by Anton Pawlowitsch Chekhov , for the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie , Lugano / Switzerland
  • " Kalevipoeg - The Cool Estonian Epic", created and staged by Markus Zohner, premiered in November 2003 for the 200th birthday of Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald at the "Tallinna Linnateater", the city theater of Tallinn, Tallinn / Estonia. The production will be included in the publication “Sajandi Sasa Sõnalavastust - 100 plays of a century”. The author of the work is Reet Neimar, one of the most important theater scholars and critics in Estonia.
  • "KOSOVO.BLOOD.THEATRE.PROJECT", for the Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie in coproduction with MultiMediaCenter Prishtina, Priština, Kosovo 2006/2007
  • The Last Supper ”, for Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie in coproduction with MultiMediaCenter Prishtina, Priština, Kosovo 2007
  • "MISANTROOP" - The misanthropist , by Molière , for VAT TEATER Tallinn, premiere on November 12, 2008 at the "Theater im KUMU", Tallinn / Estonia
  • Don Juan after Lord Byron , première on November 11, 2011, Lugano / Switzerland
  • "APOCALYPSE 2072 | end.begin ", première on November 23, 2012, Lugano / Switzerland
  • “Radio Scatenata - the unleashed radio”, 2013: Radio project with prisoners in the “La Stampa” prison , Lugano / Switzerland, first part of the “Trilogy on the fallibility of the human soul”
  • “Proust in Prison”, play, second part of the “Trilogy on the fallibility of the human soul”, première on November 8, 2013, Lugano / Switzerland
  • “La Colpa - The Guilt”, play, third part of the “Trilogy on the fallibility of the human soul”, première on December 5, 2014, Lugano / Switzerland
  • “Cappuccetto Infrarosso - Infrared Cap”, a “radiophonic music theater piece” with actors, musicians, opera singers and with the painter Nando Snozzi , world premiere March 16, 2016, Lugano / Switzerland
  • Radio Frankenstein ". Play about the Italian neurosurgeon Prof. Sergio Canavero , who is planning and preparing a head transplant for mankind. Cooperation and coproduction with the Joint Research Center of the European Commission . World premiere: September 9, 2017, Lugano / Switzerland, English premiere: October 5, 2017, Joint Research Center, Ispra / Italy. Text and direction: Markus Zohner.

Publications

"The way is the meaning - the rediscovery of the Bernsteinstrasse", ISBN 978-8-890456-09-1 . Ital. Translation: "Alla riscoperta dell'antica Via dell'Ambra", ISBN 978-8-890456-07-7 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Markus Zohner amber hike at bernsteinstrasse.net, accessed on May 22, 2018.