Gottschef, Dimiter

(1943- )

   Director. Gottschef began working in East Berlin in 1968, attracting little attention until his support for singer/songwriter Wolf Biermann caused his forced repatriation to his native Bulgaria. In 1985 he returned to Germany at the invitation of the Cologne theaters to stage Heiner Müller's Quartett, and thereafter he reestablished his directorial credentials in the unified Germany during the 1990s. In 1991 he was named "director of the year" by Theater Heute magazine, and in 1992 his Cologne production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie in Cologne was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. From 1993 to 1996 Gottschef was house director at the Düsseldorf Theater, and from 1996 to 2000 he worked under Leander Haussmann in Bochum. Thereafter he worked in Vienna, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, and Berlin. His 2004 Berlin Volksbühne production of Black Battles with Dogs by Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989) garnered a Theatertreffen invitation.