Karin Beier

Karin Beier was born in Cologne in 1965. From 1988, she was director in residence at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. “Romeo und Julia (Romeo and Juliet”) was invited to the 1994 Theatertreffen and “Ein Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)” received the same invitation in 1995. From 1995, she staged productions in Hamburg, Munich, Hanover, Bonn, Bochum, Zurich and Cologne. She was director in residence at Vienna’s Burgtheater for five years. In 2007, she was appointed artistic director of Schauspiel Köln which was voted Theatre of the Year by the critics’ poll in the trade magazine Theater heute in 2010 and 2011. She received several awards for her productions. Furthermore, Karin Beier was distinguished with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1st Class for her outstanding achievements in theatre. 

Since the 2013/14 season, Karin Beier has been artistic director of Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg and has staged a total of 19 productions during that period: In her first season, she directed the marathon of Greek tragedies “Die Rasenden”. During the 2015/16 season, she developed “Schiff der Träume”, based on Federico Fellini; the production was invited to open the 2016 Berlin Theatertreffen. Furthermore, she directed the German-language premiere of Michel Houellebecq’s “Unterwerfung”, which gained great attention both on a domestic and an international level. She opened the 2020/21 season with the world premiere of “Reich des Todes” by Rainald Goetz. The production was invited both to the 2021 Berlin Theatertreffen and to Mülheimer Theatertage. During the same season, she staged the world premiere of Elfriede Jelinek’s “Lärm. Blindes Sehen. Blinde sehen!”, which was also invited to Mülheimer Theatertage. 

In the 2023/24 season, Karin Beier explored the myths and tragedies of Thebes in a new translation and adaptation by Roland Schimmelpfennig. Under the title of “ANTHROPOLIS. Ungeheuer. Stadt. Theben.“, she staged five world premiere instalments within only a few weeks – a novelty on the Main Stage of Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg. The second instalment – “Laios” – was invited to the 2024 Theatertreffen.