New co-director takes over the Zurich Schauspielhaus
Published: Wednesday, Dec 6th 2023, 18:30
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The Zurich Schauspielhaus will be managed by a new artistic director from the 2025/26 season: Pinar Karabulut and Rafael Sanchez will take over the management together. Their productions will once again appeal to a wider audience.
With this election, a new generation of theater makers will take over the management of the Schauspielhaus, the Board of Directors announced on Wednesday evening.
Karabulut and Sanchez had impressed with their well-founded artistic works that would appeal to a wide audience, the Board of Directors explained its choice. Their plays have already won several awards.
Founder of the festival Britney X
Karabulut and Sanchez's contract is valid for five years. Karabulut comes from Germany, where she founded the queer-feminist festival Britney X. Most recently, she was part of the artistic management team at the Münchner Kammerspiele. She is also an opera director.
Sanchez was born in Basel and is the former co-director of Theater Neumarkt in Zurich. He is currently interim director at Schauspiel Köln, where he worked as in-house director for ten years.
As the theater in Cologne is currently being renovated, Sanchez already has experience in "performing temporary productions", as the press release states. In view of the planned Pfauen renovation in Zurich, this is of course a great advantage.
Previous course met with criticism
The previous co-directors Nicolas Stemann and Benjamin von Blomberg will leave the theater in summer 2024. Their contracts were not renewed after five years. Numerous cultural professionals had campaigned for the two of them.
However, the directors' duo's course had also been criticized for placing too much emphasis on diversity and identity politics. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the Schauspielhaus has been struggling with poor attendance figures. The average occupancy rate last season was just 50%. Ulrich Khuon will take over as artistic director for the 2024/25 season.
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