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Alexander Kohlmann will be the new artistic director of the theater
Alexander Kohlmann will head the drama department at the Darmstadt State Theatre from the 2024/2025 season. The media scholar and dramaturge (born 1978), who holds a doctorate, was the artistic director of drama at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau from 2019 to 2023, which received considerable national attention during this time and was invited to the Berlin Theatre Meeting for the first time in its history in 2023.
Alexander Kohlmann succeeds Oliver Brunner, who has been the director of drama at the Darmstadt State Theatre since 2016 and will become the artistic director of the Ingolstadt City Theatre from the 2024/2025 season.
“The initial meeting with Alexander Kohlmann didn’t last the planned hour, but four. Since then, we haven’t stopped talking about the power and future of theater,” says Karsten Wiegand, Artistic Director of the Darmstadt State Theater. “From the outset, we agreed that an expanded leadership team with diverse perspectives could create exciting, broad horizons. I am very much looking forward to working with Mizgîn Bilmen, Sabine Mäder, Alexander Kohlmann, and the dramaturgy team of Deborah Raulin and Marlon Tarnow.”
For Alexander Kohlmann, successful theatre work has a lot to do with continuity:
“Theatrical legends, who are role models for many of us today, didn't begin as legends, but almost always benefited from having the opportunity to work closely together in specific constellations over many years, to develop, and to engage in intellectual debate. Conflicts can also be productive, especially when the shared exploration continues.” What he finds fascinating about the German theater scene is “that there is a real chance to think in artistic terms over the long term and to develop shared visions.” And that this work is also rewarded.
With Mizgîn Bilmen, a multi-award-winning artist (including the Götz Friedrich Prize) who has repeatedly garnered attention with unconventional productions, most recently with her version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, the new directorship will place a special emphasis on the significance of space. With Sabine Mäder as Head of Set Design, Mäder designs stage sets for drama, opera, and dance, and her collaborations with director Ulrich Rasche have earned her multiple invitations to the Berlin Theatertreffen festival. Also joining the theater is dramaturg Marlon Tarnow will form the newly established dramaturgy team together with dramaturg Deborah Raulin
A particular focus will continue to be on the work of young directing teams and performers at the Darmstadt theater, which in recent years has served as a springboard for many successful theatrical careers. For Alexander Kohlmann and the new artistic directors, it is also very important "to continually get to know new, exceptional, and even challenging artists and to give them the most important thing a theater can offer in this early phase: trust.".
Alexander Kohlmann studied German Studies, History, and Media Studies at Humboldt University of Berlin, the Free University of Berlin, and the University of Hamburg, as well as Theatre Directing at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. During his doctoral studies, he worked as a cultural journalist, including for the magazine "Theater heute" (Theatre Today). At the start of the 2017/18 season, he joined the Staatstheater Braunschweig as a dramaturge. From 2019, he continued this work as Artistic Director of Drama at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, regularly initiating productions by young playwrights and artistic collectives. Under his leadership, the Dessau theatre garnered significant national attention and, with Philipp Preuss's production of "Hamlet" in 2023, was invited to the Berlin Theatre Meeting for the first time in its history. Alexander Kohlmann regularly holds teaching positions and is the author of essays on cultural studies.
