The University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch

The University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch can look back over more than a century long history. In 1905, the newly appointed Artistic Director of the ›Deutsches Theater‹, Max Reinhardt, founded the first ever German Acting Conservatoire. In doing so, he affiliated his theatre with a leading teaching institution for future generations of artists. This relationship continued up until 1951 when the school became an independent and autonomous college. In 1971 the teaching programme was extended to include the Faculty of Puppetry. In September 1981, three decades after its conversion from the Berlin Actor’s Conservatoire, the school was given university status and took the name of the celebrated actor Ernst Busch (1900–1980).

In 1974 the Institute for Theatre Directing was included in the college programme, followed in 1988 by a Choreography Department, which joined with Dance Performance in 2006 to become the Departement of Dance.

The University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch today is therefore made up of four departments: Acting, Directing, Puppetry and Dance as well as its own Studio Theatre.

The tradition of our four year Acting Programme is to divide the year into small groups which work on scene studies with as many different teachers as possible. This well tested method of ‘scene studies’, with a final performance and evaluation, derives from the Max Reinhardt period. The acting students work not only with the school’s permanent teaching staff, but also with actors, directors and dramaturges from the profession. In this way, we ensure that the students are well prepared for the contemporary theatre practice which awaits them.

The Foundation Course is characterised by continuity and systematic; the central element of the training is built around a series of projects. The teaching is based on the ideas which have established the best traditions of German Language theatre as well as the most important impulses from a wide ranging international theatre scene. Our lessons have a particular focus on the insights and conclusions of Constantine Stanislavski and Bertold Brecht, and we use their methodological approaches with subtle differentiation and diversity. Our aim is that in each lesson, the acting student learns about himself, the role and the work within an ensemble.

The scene studies, projects and studio productions which are produced during the academic year are performed on the ›Wolfgang Heinz‹ Stage in the Schnellerstrasse and the ›bat-Theatre‹ in the Belforterstrasse. Our public studio performances provide evidence both of our sound training and the creative power of ensemble-acting. Alongside this, our students work on projects at various professional theatres.

Puppetry is an ancient craft, which can only fully prosper through the influence of other art-forms. The different elements, which, in amalgamation, contribute to this art-form are: things, bare materials, puppets and visuals, language and play. By using puppets, the performer denies himself the vanity of presenting himself, steps into the background, creates himself anew, and perceives himself in a different way.

Other genres – Dance, Acting, Film, Performance and Digital Media pervade this form of making theatre in every way. The practice based course lasts 8 semesters covering a variety of artistic ways to perform on stage and in front of an audience.

The four year course in Theatre Directing encourages young directors to find their own directorial in an increasingly complex world. At the heart of the education is a theatrical understanding that the actor’s performance is at the centre of the director’s vision. The course is structured systematically. In the two year Foundation course we teach the fundaments of the craft of directing through practical exercises, scene studies and theoretical reflection. At the beginning, the directing students join the actor’s foundation course and learn about the fundaments of acting (how to action the text etc), and through their own acting work gain an insight into the creative process of the actor. In the directing courses, we teach the importance of ›situation‹, and train the students in different directorial approaches (V-effect, Scene Transformation etc) and offer workshops on Directing Methodology.

The Faculty of Dance is made up of the departments of Choreography and Professional Dance. The newly created two year MA course in Choreography, which was created in the winter term of 2008 / 2009, is a pilot course of Tanzplan Berlin HZT (Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz) – a centre connecting several colleges. This centre for contemporary dance education is a pilot project which has been agreed by the University of Art, Berlin and the Ernst Busch Academy alongside the network TanzRaumBerlin with the aim of combining education with professional practice. The project is supported by the City of Berlin and Tanzplan Germany, an initiative of the Arts Council of Germany.

The bat-studiotheatre lies at the heart of the popular area of Prenzlauer Berg, between Kollwitzplatz and Wasserturm, (between Schönhauser and Prenzlauer Allee). In 1887–89, the building was opened as a dance hall and was later converted to the courtyard cinema, Roxy. In the early 1960s, Wolf Biermann and Brigitte Soubeyran founded the Berlin Workers and Student Theatre, shortened to ›bat‹. The first productions at the new theatre enjoyed a great reception by their audience, much to the distrust of the GDR cultural bureaucracy. Shortly after its opening, the bat was forced to close. The name however survived. Right through the years up until the 1970s, there were occasional performances by the State Acting School. In 1974 the building became the home to the newly founded Directing Institute, which was integrated into the Ernst Busch in 1981. The Directing department is still based here.