Susanne Schmelcher

Susanne Schmelcher was born in 1984 and studied Theater Studies, German and Philosophy in Mainz and Granada/Spain. In 2008, she was hired as a permanent assistant director at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. There she also created her first productions, such as the German premiere of Barbara Herold's »Covergirl«, which was invited to the Autorenfestival Maximierung Mensch. In 2011, she moved to Theater und Orchester Heidelberg as an assistant. Since 2013, she has been directing in Germany and Austria - including at Staatstheater Mainz, Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Theater Konstanz, Theater im Bauturm in Cologne, Salzburger Landestheater and Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck. In 2015, she received the Vienna Theater Award »Nestroy« in the category Best Provincial Performance for her production of »Anna Karenina« at the Tiroler Landestheater. In 2021, her stage version and production of »Madonnas letzter Traum« at the Bauturm Theater Köln was awarded the Kurt-Hackenberg-Preis for Political Theater. Susanne Schmelcher has worked as a lecturer at the Institutes for Theater Studies in Mainz and Bochum and writes for the Cologne-based publishing house Hartmann&Stauffacher. For the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg, she directed »Amiwiesen« for »Born with the USA« and »Ella« in 2015. Her successful productions »Tschick» and »Biedermann und die Brandstifter« have been in the repertoire for several years.