Overview

The Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art can look back over more than a century long history. In 1905, the newly appointed Artistic Director of the ›Deutsches Theater‹, Max Reinhardt, founded the first ever German Acting Conservatoire. In doing so, he affiliated his theatre with a leading teaching institution for future generations of artists. This relationship continued up until 1951 when the school became an independent and autonomous college. In 1971 the teaching programme was extended to include the Faculty of Puppetry. In September 1981, three decades after its conversion from the Berlin Actor’s Conservatoire, the school was given university status and took the name of the celebrated actor Ernst Busch (1900–1980).
In 1974 the Institute for Theatre Directing was included in the college programme, followed in 1988 by a Choreography Department, which joined with Dance Performance in 2006 to become the Departement of Dance.
The Academy today is therefore made up of four departments: Acting, Directing, Puppetry and Dance as well as its own Studio Theatre.