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Brian Michaels
Brian Michaels, born in London, is an outstanding Jewish director with roots in philosophy. With a broad repertoire of over 40 staged operas and the founding of the first immigrant theater in West Germany, he shaped the theater landscape. Working as a freelance artist since 2013, Michaels develops groundbreaking projects that move beyond traditional genre boundaries.
About Brian Michaels
Brian Michaels grew up in Kingsbury, London. He studied philosophy at the University of Sussex. He has been living and working in Germany since 1973.
Artistic Background
In Germany his theatre career began in 1978 with the creation of "Il Teatro Siciliano" in Frankfurt – the first immigrant theatre in Germany. His work with the group "I MACAP", which he co-founded in 1981, was based on a re- invigoration of the traditions of the Commedia dell’arte. In 1984, the State Theatre in Stuttgart invited him to prepare his own version of Homer’s "Odyssey" with young immigrants from the city.
Opera
The success of this production lead to a number of opera productions for the Staatsoper Stuttgart – including Puccini’s "Madama Butterfly" and Kagel’s "Trahison Oral". In 1987, he directed Verdi’s "Ernani" for the Bregenz Festival. Up until today, Brian Michaels has directed more than 40 operas nationally and internationally for both festivals and opera houses – amongst others in Basle, Nuremberg (with Christian Thielemann), , Amsterdam, Los Angeles,Vienna.
Theatre
Brian Michaels has directed performances for the theatre in Essen, Basle, Munich, Hamburg (with Giora Feidman), Wuppertal, Dusseldorf, Halle, Kiel, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Timișoara (Romania), New York and Los Angeles. He directed Hanoch Levin’s "Murder" in Los Angeles in October/November 2001, immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. His work has been shown regularly at both national and international festivals, including the Ruhrfestival Recklinghausen, Il Cantiere di Montepulciano (Italy), Steirischer Herbst Festival Graz (Austria).
One of his more recent works is the production of Aristophanes’ "Lysistrata" for the programme of the European Cultural Capital Paphos . The performance was staged in a unique location, amidst the ruins of the Ancient City of Paphos. He has directed more than 70 plays and performances.
Shakespeare
The plays of William Shakespeare have been the focal point of Brian Michaels’ artistic work for almost two decades. The first of his 25 productions began with "Macbeth" at the Cantiere di Montepulciano in 1989, and continues with productions in Germany, Austria, Romania and Poland up until today.
Devised Pieces
Among the devised theatre and performance pieces that Brian Michaels has created, "Osiris – Talking to the Dead" is of particular interest. The Ancient Egyptian texts are 3,500 years old. The project was the result of a close cooperation with the internationally renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann, who translated the texts (Insel, 2008). The piece ,a unique form of music theatre ,was shown at the Munich Biennale (2008), and in its final form in the Essen Zollverein (2009).
In the play "Mixed Feelings" (2015), the focus is a fictional dialogue between a Palestinian actor, Nisreen Faour, and a European Jewish director. Michaels, both devised and acted in the piece, which has been shown in a number of German cities . In 2019 in the Zentrum Dialogu in Lodz Poland, he presented his piece “Searching the Silence” about the loss of the Jewish world in Poland after WWll.
In May 2021 he co-wrote and directed the performance MENSCH based on the biographies of Salman Schocken and Joseph Mengele. This was a production of the renowned Polish theatre Walbrzych in Lower Silesia. In October 2022, he wrote and directed his own installation performance “Walking with Avraham”-presented in 7 different spaces in Cologne.
In September 2023 he devised and created “The Mythological Garden of Elevsis “ in Elefsina for the Cultural Capital of Europe.
Teaching
Brian Michaels was Professor for Acting and Directing at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen from 1994 until 2013. He is now Acting Professor for Performance at the Akademie Musyczna in Katowice Poland.