Theaterhochschule Leipzig

German theatre school

The Theaterhochschule Leipzig was a theatre school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, which existed from 1953 to 1992. The official name was Theaterhochschule "Hans Otto" Leipzig.

History

The Theaterhochschule Leipzig was founded on 1 November 1953 as a merger of two institutions, the Deutsches Theater-Institut [de] in Weimar and the Theaterschule Leipzig. From the late 1960s, Bertolt Brecht was a teacher. In 1967 it was named after the actor Hans Otto whom the Nazis had murdered in 1933. The Hochschule was located at the Villa Sieskind in the Musikviertel [de] and buildings in the neighbourhood.

The institution was dissolved per the Sächsisches Hochschulstrukturgesetz on 10 April 1992. The acting department became a faculty of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy", while theatre studies formed a new institute of the Leipzig University.

Alumni

Eberhard Esche (1933–2006), actor
Jürgen Holtz (1932–2020), actor on stage and in film, artist and author
Julia Jäger (born 1970), actress
Sonja Kehler (1933–2016), actress and chanson singer
Volkmar Kleinert (born 1938), actor, recitator
Harry Kupfer (1935–2019), opera director, recipient of the National Prize of the GDR
Ute Lubosch (born 1953), actress, stage director
Hans-Peter Minetti (1926–2006), actor
Ulrich Mühe (1953–2007), actor in film and theatre, Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Günther Rücker (1924–2008), writer, playwright, film director, recipient of the National Prize of the GDR
Jörg Schüttauf (born 1961), actor, recipient of the Grimme-Preis
Peter Sodann (born 1936), actor, stage director, intendant
Carina Wiese (born 1968), actress
Monika Woytowicz (born 1944), actress

Literature

Gerhard Neubauer (ed.): „… dann gehst du aber auf 'ne richtige Schule!“ Fünfzig Jahre Schauspieler-Ausbildung in Leipzig 1953–2003. Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“, Leipzig 2003.