ABOUT

Amy Stebbins is a writer-director who lives in Germany and the USA. Her theater lies at the intersection of contemporary opera, new media and academic research. Past world premieres include: Mauerschau (Bavarian State Opera), Einar hat'n Vogel (State Theater Augsburg), and Musical Land (Deutsche Oper Berlin, co-written with director Felix Seiler). Her collaborators include: Hauke Berheide, Michael Einziger, 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 (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), the Akademie Musiktheater heute, and the Fulbright Association. She also serves on the selection committee of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, and as a member of the board of the Carl Orff Foundation.

In addition to her artistic work, Stebbins is also the author of several publications addressing topics in contemporary opera, theater studies, as well as race and performance. Her peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Seminar, Critical Social Policy, The Arts in Psychotherapy, and she has chapter on contemporary opera dramaturgy in the anthology Theatre and Internationalization (Routledge, 2020). She has also written on the intersection of US-American new plays, identity politics and the culture industry for Zeit-Online, and has 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 is a champion of institutional reform in new work development. From 2015-2017, she convened Transatlantic exchanges for artists and arts administrators from Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman Theatre, and the Bavarian State Theater 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. 

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

NEWS

February 2021

• "ISO-680" premiere postponed due to COVID-19

December 2020

• "Dramaturgical Oper(a n)ations: de-internationalization in contemporary opera libretti" released in Theatre and Internationalization (Routledge)

November 2020

• Mauerschau-360° virtual reality opera demo complete
  

October 2020

• Pre-production begins for "ISO-680" a mixed-reality chamber music concert commissioned by the Duisburg Philharmonic (premiere May 2021)
  

September 2020

• "Schöner Wohnen: ein Abstellkammerspiel" (Neuköllner Oper) postponed due to COVID-19