Roland Schimmelpfennig (born 19 September 1967) is a German theatre director and playwright. His plays are performed in more than 40 countries.

Biography

Schimmelpfennig was born in Gottingen. He began his career as a journalist in Istanbul, but starting in 1990 he studied at the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts to be a theatre director. He is one of Germany's most prolific playwrights, widely praised in Europe but relatively obscure in the United States. His work is said to vary from "kaleidoscopic" and dreamlike to naturalistic. He lives in the Eastern part of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

with his wife. Two of his plays, translated as Push Up and The Woman Before, have been performed at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

in London. His play ''Ant Street'' was staged as part of Volta International Festival at the Arcola Theatre in 2015. He wrote the libretto for the opera ''

Der goldene Drache ''Der goldene Drache'' (''The Golden Dragon'') is an opera by Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös to a libretto by Roland Schimmelpfennig, based on his play of the same name. It premiered on 29 June 2014 at the Bockenheimer Depot in Frankfurt, cond ...

'' by Péter Eötvös, composed and premiered in 2014, based on his 2010 play. Schimmelpfennig's debut novel, ''An einem klaren eiskalten Januarmorgen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts'' was translated into English by

Jamie Bulloch Jamie Bulloch (born 6 September 1969) is a British historian and translator of German literature. Life and work Jamie was born at East Dulwich Hospital in 1969. He grew up in Tooting, south-west London, attending first Rosemead School, then Wh ...

and published by

MacLehose Press Quercus is a formerly independent publishing house, based in London, that was acquired by Hodder & Stoughton in 2014. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Smith and Wayne Davies. Quercus is known for its lists in crime (publishing such authors as El ...

in 2018 as ''One Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century''.

Awards

*2010 Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis *2010 Else Lasker-Schüler Dramatist Prize *2009 and 2002 Nestroy Theatre Prize

References

German theatre directors German musical theatre librettists German radio writers Writers from Göttingen 1967 births Living people German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 21st-century German dramatists and playwrights {{germany-playwright-stub