Nicolas STEMANN
Born in 1968, Nicolas STEMANN briefly studied philosophy and literature before getting involved in theatre. He studied theatre directing at the Max Reinhardt seminar in Vienna and at the Institute for filmed theatre and film in Hamburg.

Tackling both traditional repertoire and contemporary writing, with a predilection for that of Elfriede JELINEK, Nicolas STEMANN broaches dramatic texts with a passion that is continually renewed. Any new project provides him with the chance to call theatrical form into question, with the aim of finding the best means of deploying the inherent energy of each work. Originally a pianist, working both for theatre and opera, Nicolas STEMANN built up his directorial language with all the rigour and exibility of a musician. He creates his shows as the conductor of a loyal band of associates.

From 2002 onwards, he distinguished himself with a particularly liberated staging of “Hamlet” in Hanover. Later, with Schiller’s “The Bandits” (2008), he started to put in place a very musical application of theatre texts, treating it above all as a score and in this way liberating himself from the constraint of characters. Each of his productions provides the occasion to invent a new and iconoclastic way for the actors to appropriate the text and present it to the audience. The French-speaking public in particular has been able to discover his work at the Avignon Festival with Les Contrats du Commerçant, an economic comedy, and the complete “Faust, I + II”. He was present at the Vidy Theatre in 2015 with “Werther!” a creation in French based on Goethe’s text. From the 2015-16 season onwards, Nicolas STEMANN became a permanent director at the Münchner Kammerspiele (directed by Matthias LILIENTHAL). In April 2016, he has staged “Wut (= Rage)”, a text written by Elfriede JELINEK following the attacks in Paris in January 2015. In September 2016 in Vidy Theatre, he has created “Nathan!?”, after “Nathan the Wise” by G. E. LESSING and “Crassier / Bataclan” by Elfriede JELINEK.

Philipp HOCHMAIR
Born 1973 in Vienna. Studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, among others, taught by Klaus Maria BRANDAUER, and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris. Engagements at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Hannover, Volksbühne Berlin and Zurich Schauspielhaus. 2003 – 2009 company member of the Vienna Burgtheater (admitted in the Gallery of Honor). Since 2009 member of the ensemble of the Thalia Theater in Hamburg.
Starring in numerous movies and television films, including Heinrich BRELOER “Die Manns – ein Jahrhundertroman, Winterreise” (director Hans STEINBICHLER), “Day and Night” (Sabine DERFLINGER), “The Fatherless” (Marie KREUTZER) and “The Shine of the Day” (Tizza COVI and Rainer FRIMMEL), “Die Auslöschung” (Nicholas LEYTNER) and “Männertreu” (Hermine HUNTGEBURTH).
HOCHMAIR regularly tours with his solo projects “Goethe’s Werther!”, Jedermann Performance (together with his band Elektrohand Gottes), as well as “ The Trial” and “The Man Who Disappeared” by Franz KAFKA.