School – Otto Falckenberg Schule

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Academy For Performing Arts

The Otto Falckenberg School is an academy for the performing arts which teaches acting and directing and is run by the Bavarian capital city of Munich. The school is closely linked to the Münchner Kammerspiele theatre on both artistic and administrative levels and is situated in the same building complex. The exchange between training and theatre practice is one of the school’s founding principles and offers students the optimal conditions to prepare for the demands of the profession. Students are expected to participate in Kammerspiele productions alongside developing the school’s own projects.

Sixteen full-time and additional part-time teachers train around 50 students in a four-year programme of study. After successfully completing the programme, the students receive a diploma that certifies their ability to work as an actor or director. In the subject area of acting, a degree from the Otto Falckenberg School is equivalent to a university degree.

Providing that the relevant application requirements are met, students are entitled to receive funding under the German government’s BAföG student grant scheme.

History

1946-2023

The Otto Falckenberg School has a history spanning over 75 years. In July 1946, the Munich city council decided to affiliate an acting school to its municipal theatres under the leadership of general director Erich Engel. The new institution was granted the status of a vocational school and offered a two-year training course. The school was founded with a deliberate focus on its connection to the theatre in order to guarantee practice-oriented training.

Theatre-maker and long-time director of the Münchner Kammerspiele (from 1917 to 1944) Otto Falckenberg died in December 1947. The school was named after him at a memorial service in the war-damaged school building.

When Hans-Reinhard Müller took over the management of the Otto Falckenberg School in 1969, the training period was extended to three years and the school found a new home at Hildegardstraße 3, in the immediate vicinity of the Kammerspiele. Helmuth Matiasek took over the management in 1972 and inaugurated the directing course the following year. In 1982, the city council decided to turn the school into a professional academy and the training period was extended to four years. Growing student numbers meant there was an increasing issue with the available space. A general renovation of the school in Hildegardstraße was completed in March 2006 and, in 2008, the new studio building in Stollbergstraße was put into operation.

The school’s namesake, Otto Falckenberg, was born in 1873 and started directing at the Münchner Kammerspiele in 1914. After many successful productions, he took over as the theatre’s artistic director in 1917. In addition to his work as a director, Falckenberg also made a name for himself through his careful cultivation of the ensemble and his gift for discovering and promoting talent.