ABOUT

Amy Stebbins is a director and dramatist, living between Chicago and the German Ruhr Area. Her work lies at the intersection of contemporary opera, new media and research. Upcoming productions at the Oper Frankfurt, the Neuköllner Oper, and the Theater für Niedersachsen. Previous commissions from theaters including the Bavarian State Opera, the State Theater Augsburg, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Main collaborators include: Hauke Berheide, Oksana Lyniv, Belén Montoliú, Sir Henry, and Richard Whaling. She received her training at the Berlin Volksbühne where she interned/assisted for René Pollesch, Sebastian Baumgarten, and Chris Kondek. Residencies and fellowships include: the Academy for Theater and Digitality, the  German Chancellor Fellowship, the Akademie Musiktheater heute, and the Fulbright Association. She currently serves on the selection committee of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, and as a member of the board of directors for the Carl Orff Foundation.

Stebbins is a champion of institutional reform in new work development. From 2015-2017, she convened Transatlantic exchanges for artists and arts administrators between Chicago and Munich on the topic of new work. Together with composer Hauke Berheide she is the co-founder of New Opera Dialogues, an artist-led platform to promote international dialogue about aesthetics and best institutional practices for contemporary opera. 

In addition to her artistic work, Stebbins is also the author of several journal articles, book chapters, and op/eds addressing topics in contemporary opera, theater studies, as well as race and performance. She served as co-editor of Music-Theater Now's triannual publication in 2016 and 2019. Stebbins has also taught seminars on opera and theater at the Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and the University of Chicago.

Stebbins holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Chicago with a dissertation on acting practices in the theater of Frank Castorf. She also holds a B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University.