Theatre Director
Biography
Andreas Merz studied dramaturgy at Bavarian Theatre Academy and Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, and theatre directing at University Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria. After his graduation he worked at Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich until in 2008 he joined Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin. Since 2011 Andreas is working as a freelance director in and outside Germany and has been staging shows in more than 10 different languages.
Italy.
From 2013 until 2021 Andreas was mainly working in the Russian Federation, staging more than 40 shows. His staging of Brecht's He Who Says Yes, He Who Says No (Perm) was nominated as "Best production" for the Russian national theater award Golden Mask 2015 - as well as Andreas himself as the "Best Director". In 2016 the experts of the Golden Mask also nominated the Andreas' staging of Streetcar Named Desire (Serov) as the "Best production", and also Andreas as the "Best Director". In protest against the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and in response to ever-increasing state oppression, Andreas has decided not to continue his career in Russia.
When working on a project Andreas is particularly concerned with local cultural and social circumstances and in discovering the actual meaning a text gains in a given context. His goal is to enrich his stagings with the personal qualities of the actors, developing profound interconnections between the actors and their roles.