17 Jun 2026
What is today’s theater landscape like? And what does theater contribute to society? An interview to mark the 100th anniversary of theater studies at LMU.
Annika Neugart in „Wallenstein“ an the Münchner Kammerspiele | © Münchner Kammerspiele / Armin Smailovic
Researchers have been studying theater at LMU for the past 100 years. To mark the anniversary, we interview Professor Meike Wagner, Head of the Institute of Theater Studies, and Vice Dean (students) David Roesner, Professor of Theater Studies, about the role of theater today.
100 years of theater studies: What role does theater play in today’s society?
Meike Wagner: This question always carries an undertone of “Do we still need theater?” In fact, it has been asked many times before. Prior to 1800, theater served as a courtly medium of representation. Then it became a bourgeois medium. And today it functions as a public institution with political aspirations. Theater has repeatedly managed to reinvent itself.
However, the most important thing about theater was and remains: It’s a live medium. It always depends on people sitting in the audience and forming a community. It’s for precisely this reason that theater always has to adapt to the people who come to watch it or want to make it.
David Roesner: Theater is ultimately a communal experience. If you watch the video recording of a production, then you haven’t seen the production. This is a major difference: In the theater, people have a joint esthetic and cognitive experience. And therefore, the theater cannot be replaced by reading a play or watching a video.
The theater is a utopian medium, as spectators are presented with a vision of the future which they experience physically in the present. It can be very disconcerting, but also very comforting, to be thrown into a better or different world.Meike Wagner, Head of the Institute of Theater Studies
Wagner: The utopian potential of the theater is also considerable. Every society needs a future, or at least a vision of a – preferably – better future. Incidentally, this is also important for democracy, which runs the risk of destroying itself when it has no viable stories for the future.
The theater is a utopian medium, as spectators are presented with a vision of the future which they experience physically in the present. It can be very disconcerting, but also very comforting, to be thrown into a better or different world. Perhaps this experience can help make people resilient.
Professor of Theater Studies and Head of the Institute of Theater Studies | © privat
You are looking back on 100 years of theater studies. To what extent has the theater changed since 1926?
Wagner: The biggest difference between the theater of today and theater back then is the variety of formats. Theatrical institutions today are about more than just bringing performances to the stage. Theaters also see themselves as social institutions, which define the theater as a social practice.
How is this embodied on the stage?
Wagner: Through community theater, for example, where amateurs can play. Or in children’s theater – particularly for children from disadvantaged social backgrounds. Even panel discussions can become a theatrical format – as a way of dramatizing social issues, for instance.
What other new formats are there beyond the classic closet drama?
Wagner: The canon has undergone a very large expansion, although literary theater is no longer all that prominent. Examples of new forms include postdramatic theater – a form of theater that deconstructs literary texts. Or so-called devised performance, where themes are developed collaboratively in incremental stages without a pre-written script.
Vice Dean (students) and Professor of Theater Studies | © Katharina Kainz
Theater was already politically and socially engaged a hundred years ago. How are topical issues reflected on the stage today?
Roesner: Political and social topics are a major part of contemporary theater. We see this in theater schedules and in our seminar topics. Contemporary work addresses forms of apocalypse, for example – a world that has collapsed, the climate crisis, threats to democracy.
Do such themes go down well with audiences – when there are so many challenges facing our society and the news is all doom and gloom?
Wagner: Political theater today is no longer just a political or social message that is brought to the stage. Rather, it’s a conceptual question: It’s not just about staging this or that work, but about how to make theater in a political way – for example, by reflecting on one’s own working conditions.
There was a collaboration between the Residenztheater and a scientific lab at the Technical University of Munich, which involved experimenting with various materials. The project partners worked with fungi that were grown inside molds, thereby attaining a certain solidity and strength. Out of this material, they created a scenography to demonstrate that theater, which is usually an extremely consumption-driven enterprise, can also work in a sustainable, ecological fashion. Moreover, this gave rise to whole new esthetics.
And yes, the audience goes along with this. Note that it’s got significantly younger as well.
What is the profile of today’s audiences? Who goes to the theater?
Wagner: Naturally, there are moments of crisis when the core audience no longer recognizes its theater due to innovations and suddenly only about 50 percent of seats are filled. But this 50 percent is generally younger, and the audience will be replenished.
If we look at the Munich Kammerspiele, for example, it’s interesting that for the first time they have a relevant proportion of subscribers from a migrant background. This didn’t use to be the case, as subscribers still belonged to the native German middle class.
With 100 years behind you, how is the institute looking to the future? What plans do you have?
Wagner: We’ve devised a new master’s program and have had many discussions about where we need to go educationally. For example, we want to be more open to the world. Naturally, we conduct research at the international level and are very well networked. But at the level of teaching, which is primarily based on the German-language canon, this element has been lacking.
For this reason, we’ve created a sort of twin of our master’s program with an identical structure, but with seminars in German and English. Our goal is to have mixed groups. If we manage to bring German and international students together like this in a common discourse space, that’s a wonderful success! I think that creating such a discussion culture is hugely productive, especially in the humanities.
Moreover, we’ve strengthened the relationship between theory and practice, as we see strong potential in practical research.
We don’t just look at the plays or performances, but also at the processes behind the scenes – such as rehearsal and writing processes, but also technical aspects and working practices. In short, we don’t just grasp theater in relation to its end product, but also as a social and esthetic practice.David Roesner, Professor of Theater Studies and Vice Dean (students)
Roesner: he connection to practice has two sides. There is the creative side: You can try out new things in a room or on the stage – as a gateway to insights and revelations. Then there is the praxeological component, which is not as new, but can be built upon: We don’t just look at the plays or performances, but also at the processes behind the scenes – such as rehearsal and writing processes, but also technical aspects and working practices. In short, we don’t just grasp theater in relation to its end product, but also as a social and esthetic practice. Now we can embed this much more explicitly in the curriculum in our master’s program.
The photo was taken as part of the film production “The Love Life of Ants,” (Das Liebesleben der Ameisen) which explores why theater studies are indispensable. It will premiere during the anniversary week and was filmed by students. | © Armin Smailovic
Against this background, what are the job prospects for your graduates?
Roesner: Our graduates are the theater makers of tomorrow. For example, they work as directors and dramaturgs.
Wagner: We also train the people who shape the discourse around theater – in PR agencies, for instance, where our graduates market theater productions and help organize theater festivals. Or they work in the media as theater critics.
Our field of theater studies is always closely linked to the practical world of theater. Many of our teachers come from practice and switched from working in the theater to studying it.
Roesner: e have about 30 to 40 people teaching here. With their diverse specializations, they cover a wide range of expertise – because no one is an expert in all theatrical epochs and styles. It is precisely this diversity that makes the subject and Munich as a location so interesting, as students can find their own path. We give a foundation in theater theory, methodology, and history, and after that students can seek out what interests them.
Your graduates go out into a challenging job market. The production conditions in the theater are often criticized, as regards pay and employment conditions. What models could help ease the situation?
Roesner: The biggest need for change, in my view, concerns the historical hangover of artistic directors, mostly men, running theaters like their personal fiefdoms. This structure is extremely susceptible to abuse. There should be greater adoption of collaborative models, dual leadership, and leadership teams, thus preventing one individual from exercising too much power.
Another challenge is that the theater is not just a place of art and artistic freedom, but an employer. And while artistic freedom is emphasized, this can also lead to self-exploitation: “Rehearse for an hour longer? Come on, you’re artists!” Such attitudes – combined with myths like “Theater is meant to hurt” or “Nothing good comes without conflict” – fuel a dangerous dynamic.
My students often ask me what will happen to their jobs if artificial intelligence writes the scripts. I always reply that theater is a live medium with a special quality compared to digitalized content.Meike Wagner, Head of the Institute of Theater Studies
Students are rehearsing for the musical revue celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Department of Theater Studies. | © Josephine Lenz
Wagner: The problem with theaters is that we’re dealing with a wide variety of different employment relationships. Artists have different conditions to orchestra members and technical staff. It’s difficult to reconcile all of this.
Although there have been attempts here and there to standardize employment contracts, this model did not prevail. Moreover, theater is very bureaucratic. This generates costs that cannot be clearly identified in cost-cutting plans. You end up making savings on production costs and bringing one or two fewer productions to the stage.
There are other production models, such as those in the independent theater scene. The setup there is not fully commercial, but is reliant on funding pools and project grants. However, this generates a lot of pressure, as applications have to be submitted constantly.
Some countries, like Belgium, have production houses that manage the funding. Getting into one of these production houses is the trick. If you can do that, then the production house looks after the financing and you have greater certainty. This model has made Belgian theater quite avantgarde in certain areas such as dance or object and material theater.
My students often ask me what will happen to their jobs if artificial intelligence writes the scripts. I always reply that theater is a live medium with a special quality compared to digitalized content. I could even imagine it panning out that theater becomes a highly appreciated institution – as a counterbalance to what people may feel to be excessive virtuality and digitalization.
Theater studies students are using this anniversary as an opportunity to tell the story of the institute through the lens of objects that have stood the test of time—from the old Studiobühne door sign and course catalogs to Bertolt Brecht’s student ID. In the exhibition “100 Years, 100 Objects,” the artifacts tell the story of student life, the Studiobühne’s productions, and milestones in research and teaching.
© Seraphin FlassigFrom 20 to 27 June 2026, the Department of Theater Studies will celebrate its 100th anniversary at LMU.
For the programme, see: Website Theater Studies