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Documentary
The School of Dramatic Arts “Ernst Busch” in Berlin is a state school under the authority of
and financed by the Senate Office for Education, Science, and Research of the Federal State
of Berlin. The highest academic body is the Academic Senate, of which the professors and
staff of the school are members. The University Council serves this body in an advisory role
and is made up of important public figures and representatives of the Senate administration.
The school can look back upon a 100-year-long history. Its predecessor was the drama school
founded by Max Reinhardt and associated with the Deutsches Theatre. Among its staff were
Albert Steinrück, Hermine Körner, Alexander Granach, Gerda Müller, Heinz Hilpert, and
Max Herrmann and alumni included O.E. Hasse, Werner Hinz, and Marianne Hoppe.
In 1951, the school’s affiliation with the Deutsches Theatre ended. It gained its independence
as a state school for the dramatic arts and, in 1981, was awarded the status of a college,
incorporating the Institute for Theatre Directing, headed previously by Manfred Wekwerth
and then by Dieter Hoffmeier. In 1981, it was given the name School of Dramatic Arts “Ernst
Busch”. During the GDR era, it was the most prestigious centre of training for actors and
puppeteers, not least because of instructors such as Hildegard Buchwald-Wegeleben, Rudolf
Penka, and Wolfgang Heinz. Their methodologies were learned and successfully developed
by their students and assistants and remain the most important pillar of training. In 1988, the
school’s Department of Directing began offering a course of studies in Choreography under
the direction of Prof. Dietmar Seyffert. In 2006, the Department of Dance with studies in
Choreography and Stage Dance was established. Together with the Staatliche Ballettschule
Berlin, a 3-year Bachelor Programme in Stage Dance was introduced.
From 1993 to 2005, the School of Dramatic Arts “Ernst Busch” was headed by the
dramaturge and drama expert Prof. Klaus Völker. Since October 2005, the cultural sociologist
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Engler has held the post of rector. The teaching staff at the School of
Dramatic Arts “Ernst Busch” consists of experienced lecturers, theatre educators, and
personalities from the arts. In addition, many renowned actors from Berlin’s stages as well as
guests from around the world, such as Robert Wilson, Peter Zadek, and the clown practitioner
Angela de Castro, have been guest lecturers at the school.
The school is made up of the Departments of Acting, Puppetry, Directing, and Dance. With
the exception of the Bachelor Programme in Dance, completion of studies lasts 4 years and is
organized along a 2 year progressively structured basic course of studies and 2 years of
project related main studies ending in a diploma. There is a demanding admissions procedure
for each department.
Acting is taught according to a conception based upon the best traditions of German-speaking
theatre and takes into account the most significant artistic impulses of world theatre. In
particular, teaching is founded upon the theatrical insights of Constantin Stanislavski and
Bertolt Brecht, whose sophisticated theoretical approaches to acting are applicable in diverse
areas. Acting studies and practical theatre experience within project work aims at developing
highly-skilled abilities in the craft as well as promoting powerful artistic personalities.
The art of puppetry is taught as a specialized interpretive art, which utilizes material media to
perform a communicative act.
Teaching in the Department of Directing aims to enable students to conduct independent
directorial work at a highly-skilled artistic and organisational level.
The Department of Dance is made up of the programmes Stage Dance and Choreography. The
Stage Dance programme is unique in Germany as an academic programme. The students are
simultaneously enrolled in the advanced class of the Staatliche Balletschule Berlin. Students
graduate with a leaving certificate and a Bachelor Degree. On 30 November 2006, the
governing body of Tanzplan Deutschland decided to provide further financial support to the
Co-operative Dance Education Centre, which is organizationally affiliated with the Berlin
University of the Arts (UdK). The new educational institute for contemporary dance and
choreography is a pilot project in which the School of Dramatic Arts “Ernst Busch” and the
Berlin University of the Arts closely cooperate with various members of city’s professional
dance scene under the auspices of project partner TanzRaumBerlin GmbH. In light of these
developments, the Diploma Programme in Choreography was transformed into a Master’s
Degree programme, which also has the potential of offering post-graduate studies.
The academic year begins in early October and finishes at the end of June. There are two
semesters of 15 weeks each. In the intervening semester break periods from early February to
the beginning of March and from the end of June to early October, students work on projects
and/or attend special classes. Students have 6 weeks of vacation.
For the academic year 2007/08, there are a total of 200 students studying at the school, of
which 86 are in acting, 29 in directing, 16 in choreography, 41 in puppetry, and 28 in dance.
The Department of Acting employs 15 permanent professors and 9 permanent artistic
assistants. The Department of Directing has 6 permanent professors, the Department of Dance
3 permanent professors, and the Department of Puppetry employs 4 permanent professors and
6 permanent artistic assistants. In addition, there are a number of part-time lecturers.
Unfortunately, the school has no campus, but does have its own studio theatre. Built in 1889
as a dance hall, the building then served as a cinema, and, in the 1960s, was transformed into
the Berlin Workers’ Theatre “bat.” Since 1981, it has served as the location of the Department
of Directing and as the performance space for all departments to stage diploma, studio, and
traineeship work as well as for workshop evenings. For more than a decade, the theatre’s
repertory productions have provided students with the opportunity to establish their first
experiences in front of a public. Every year, the students perform some 10 new productions
with 10 to 15 performances a month from September to July. The theatre accommodates 115
spectators.
In addition, the school cooperates with renowned Berlin theatres, such as the Deutsches
Theatre, Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berliner Ensemble, and the Schaubühne.
The school takes part in the annual meeting of German-speaking theatre schools as part of the
Ständige Konferenz Schauspielausbildung (SKS). The Department of Puppetry is regularly
represented at the international FigurenTheatreFestival and is cooperating this year with the
Salzburg Festival.