Schauspielschule Bochum is the informal name of a drama school in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany, which is now part of the

Folkwang University of the Arts The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in ...

. It has a long tradition, being founded in 1939 as Westfälische Schauspielschule Bochum.

History

The drama school was founded in 1939 as the Westfälische Schauspielschule Bochum by Saladin Schmitt, then

intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

of the

Schauspielhaus Bochum The Schauspielhaus Bochum is one of the notable drama theatres in Germany. It is located on Königsallee in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, ...

. It was originally a municipal school. Up to the 1970s, the intendant was also the artistic director of the drama school. In 2000, it became a state school of North Rhine-Westphalia and a Bochum location of the Folkwang-Hochschule. In 2014, the main location of the drama school changed to the new Folkwang-Theaterzentrum (Folkwang theatre centre) in Wiemelhausen, close to the centre of Bochum. It has two stages, the Großer Saal and the Black Box (in the former Thürmer-Saal), as well as classrooms and rehearsal and meeting rooms. Now part of the

, the drama school is a member of the Ständige Konferenz Schauspielausbildung.

Studies

The curriculum is planned for eight semesters, four of them for fundamental training of voice, speech, and body movement. Students take part in a production of Schauspielhaus Bochum during their third year in order to achieve insight into theatre practise. During the last semester, students are offered practical work at various German-speaking theatres. They also receive courses in acting in front of a camera, in collaboration with the broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln. The second-year students give a performance in the summer at Haus Weitmar. Traditionally, a play or scenes by Shakespeare are presented.

Alumni

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Michael Kessler Michael Kessler (born 24 June 1967) is a German actor, comedian and author. Career Theater Kessler had his acting training at the Westfälische Schauspielschule Bochum from 1988 to 1992. Afterwards he began acting roles at Schauspielhaus ...

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Krystian Martinek Krystian Martinek (born 5 April 1948) is a German actor, writer and director. Martinek completed successfully his education as an actor at the Schauspielschule Bochum. After that he played various stage plays in Bochum, Salzburg and Hamburg. He i ...

Tessa Mittelstaedt Tessa Mittelstaedt (born 1 April 1974 in Ulm) is a German actress. She is best known for playing the role of Franziska Lüttgenjohann in the Westdeutscher Rundfunk iteration of ''Tatort'', alongside Klaus J. Behrendt and Dietmar Bär Dietma ...

Richy Müller Richy Müller (born Hans-Jürgen Müller; 26 September 1955) is a German television and movie actor. He is particularly known as a crime scene investigator in the German television series Tatort. Filmography * ' (1979, TV miniseries) * ''Jetzt u ...

Uwe Ochsenknecht Uwe Adam Ochsenknecht (; born 7 January 1956) is a German actor and singer. Career Films Ochsenknecht has starred in include ''Das Boot'' (1981), '' Schtonk!'' (1992), and the TV miniseries ''Frank Herbert's Dune'' (2000). In the early 1990s ...

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* Christian Quadflieg *

Roland Reber Roland Reber (11 August 1954 – 11 September 2022) was a German director, author and producer. Biography After finishing his studies at the Schauspielschule Bochum, Germany, in the 1970s, Reber worked as actor, writer and director at many ...

* Christian Redl * Walter Renneisen * Ralf Richter * Esther Schweins *

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* Manfred Zapatka * Daniela Ziegler

References

External links

*
Aktuell Bochum
location of Folkwang University {{authority control Bochum, Schauspielschule 1939 establishments in Germany