Jan-Christoph Gockel

Jan-Christoph Gockel, who was born in Gießen in 1982 and grew up near Kaiserslauten, studied theatre, film and media studies in Frankfurt/Main. During his studies, he carried out projects with and was a guest student of Christopf Nel, Burkhard C. Kosminski and Armin Petras. From 2005 to 2009, he studied theatre direction at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin.

During his theatre direction studies, he completed his first productions at the Festival de Liège in Belgium and at the Schaubühne am Lehninerplatz, Berlin. Here, he also completed his studies by directing the world premiere of “Die Wissenden” by Nina Ender. Since then he has worked as a freelance director. Besides frequently collaborating with young playwrights, Gockel’s works include strong elements of musical and documentary theatre, as well as puppet-show.

His performance “Psychiatrie!” was nominated for the Nestroy Prize in 2010 in the category of Special Award, and was invited to the Heidelberg Stückemarkt. His production “Balkanmusik” was performed in 2011 for the Autorentagen at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. In 2008 Gockel worked for the Werkstattage at the Burgtheater Wien, in 2010 at the biennal “New European Plays” in Wiesbaden, and in 2009, he was a fellow of the International Forum of the Berlin Theatertreffen.

In the 2011/2012 season, Jan-Christoph Gockel directed the world premiere of “The Talented Mr Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith at the Schaubühne and did guest performances of the same production, including at the Tempere Theatre Festival in Finland. He subsequently worked as a director at the Staatstheater Oldenburg and Staatstheater Mainz, Heidelberg Theatre and the Badische Staatstheater in Karlsruhe.

In the 2013/2014 season, he continued his collaboration with Bern and Karlsruhe theatres. He inaugurated the new Halle Beuel at the Theater Bonn with his own version of “Metropolis”. Since the 2014/2015 season, Jan Christoph Gockel has been part of the artistic direction of the Staatstheater Mainz as the resident director. He also continues to direct in Bonn and Karlsruhe. In the 2015/2016 season, Jan-Christoph Gockel is directing “Merlin oder Das Wüste Land” by Tankred Dorst at the Schauspielhaus Graz, which includes puppets by Michael Pietsch, among others.

As of November 2015