The director Wolfgang Engel, one of the most important theater makers of the GDR, is dead. He died on Friday at the age of 81. This was announced by a spokeswoman for Theater Leipzig, citing family information. He was artistic director there from 1995 to 2008. The death had previously been reported by several media outlets.
The Schwerin native's career began in his hometown: Engel trained as an actor at the Mecklenburg State Theater immediately after graduating from high school. He worked there as a stagehand, actor, assistant director and finally director until 1974.
He then moved to Saxony - first to the Landesbühnen in Radebeul, then to the Staatsschauspiel in Dresden in 1980. There, Engel joined the front row of GDR directors with updated versions of classics and Heiner Müller works.
Engel kept his distance from the SED state, refusing the GDR National Prize in 1989. In 2011, he was awarded the German Theater Prize "Der Faust" for his life's work.
Copyright 2025, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
