State Theater - Busse and Boenisch become new artistic directors in Hanover
The two director positions at the Staatstheater Hannover will be filled for the 2025/26 season: Bodo Busse (54) will take over the management of the State Opera, while Vasco Boenisch (43) will become Artistic Director of the Schauspiel. This was announced by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture on Monday. The Supervisory Board of Niedersächsische Staatstheater Hannover GmbH had previously decided to appoint Busse and Boenisch as artistic director and managing director for five years.
Busse has been General Director of the Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken since the 2017/18 season. Boenisch comes from Schauspielhaus Bochum in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he has been Artistic Director and Deputy Director since this season. This means that the top management of the Hanover State Theater will once again be male.
This June, Hanover's opera director Laura Berman (64) asked to end her contract early on July 31, 2025 because she wanted to take on new challenges. Hanover's acting director Sonja Anders (58) will take over as director of Hamburg's Thalia Theater on August 1, 2025. Anders had also terminated her contract prematurely.
The future acting director Boenisch announced a "theater of open doors": "open for different population groups and diverse biographies, for artistic impulses from all over the world, for new collaborations and, last but not least, open and transparent in collegial cooperation". Born in Berlin, he worked as a theater critic and cultural editor until 2014.
Lower Saxony's Culture Minister Falko Mohrs (SPD) emphasized that with Busse and Boenisch, a foundation will be laid for the State Opera and Schauspiel Hannover to continue to be characterized by "great charisma" in the future.
Read also:
- The departure of Laura Berman as opera director in Hanover will allow Boenisch, who is currently Artistic Director and Deputy Director at Schauspielhaus Bochum, to operate at the Hanover State Theater starting from the 2025/26 season.
- In Lower Saxony, both Men, Bodo Busse and Vasco Boenisch, have been appointed as artistic director and managing director at the State Theater Hannover for five years, replacing Laura Berman and Sonja Anders.
- Despite the male-dominated top management, Boenisch, from Bochum, has promised a "theater of open doors" at the Hanover State Theater, welcoming diverse biographies and collaborations from all over the world.
- Women, such as Sonja Anders, who is leaving the Hanover State Theater to become director of Hamburg's Thalia Theater, have also played significant roles in shaping the theater landscape in Germany.
- The Theater in Saarbrücken, located in Saarland, has seen Men like Bodo Busse as General Director since the 2017/18 season, shaping its artistic direction and gaining experience before moving to Hanover.
Source: www.stern.de
