Alexandra Althoff

Head of the Institute and Director of Studies of the Max Reinhardt Seminar

Alexandra Althoff studied Applied Theatre Studies at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Dramaturgy for Media and Theatre at the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, and Film Studies at the Graduate School for Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. She has held permanent dramaturgy positions at Schauspiel Köln, Schauspielhaus Bochum, and Schauspiel Frankfurt, and has worked as a guest artist at the Salzburg Festival, the Residenztheater Munich, and the Berliner Ensemble, among others. In 2009, she founded the collective RAUM+ZEIT with Bernhard Mikeska and Lothar Kittstein. Since the VR production „ANTIGONE :: COMEBACK“ at Theater Chur (invited to the 2019 Swiss Theatre Encounters), the artists have been exploring the performance spaces of the new digital medium within the performing arts. These hybrid theatre designs combine virtual reality and live performance. RAUM+ZEIT uses VR headsets and 360-degree film to purposefully blur boundaries – between virtual and analogue reality, and between the self and the other. The collective was awarded the 2022 Friedrich Luft Prize for „BERLAU :: KÖNIGREICH DER GEISTER“ at the Berliner Ensemble. From 2019 to 2022, she was Deputy Artistic Director at the Burgtheater.

Alexandra Althoff was a jury member for, among other things, the Retzhofer Drama Prize in 2021 and 2025; since the 2022/23 season, she has been chair of the jury for the NESTROY Prize. As a lecturer, she has worked at the Thomas Bernhard Institute of the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, among others. In 2023, Alexandra Althoff was appointed Senior Artist at the Max Reinhardt Seminar.