Sebastian Hartmann

Sebastian Hartmann is a director and stage designer. Born in Leipzig in 1968, he trained as an actor at the “Hans Otto” Academy of Theatre in Leipzig and subsequently worked as an actor on stage (at venues including the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar) and in front of the camera. He began directing in the mid-1990s, usually with his own stage designs, at first in the independent sector at venues such as Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig, Theaterhaus Jena, Tacheles and Theater unterm Dach in Berlin. In 1997 he founded the theatre company wehrtheater hartmann, whose productions were invited to the Impulse Theater Festival and the festival Politik im Freien Theater. From 1999 to 2003 he was Resident Director at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, and from 2001 to 2005 Resident Director at Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg. He also directed freelance productions at the Vienna Burgtheater, Theater Basel, Schauspiel Köln, Theater Magdeburg, Schauspiel Frankfurt, NO Teater Tallinn and the National Theatre Oslo. From 2008 to 2013 Sebastian Hartmann was Artistic Director of Schauspiel Leipzig, which he renamed the Centraltheater. Since then, he has worked as a freelance director and stage designer at numerous major theatres (including Deutsches Theater Berlin, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Schauspiel Stuttgart, Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Thalia Theater Hamburg). His productions Krieg und Frieden (Centraltheater, 2013), Erniedrigte und Beleidigte (Staatsschauspiel Dresden, 2019), Der Zauberberg (Deutsches Theater Berlin, 2021), Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (Deutsches Theater Berlin, 2023) and most recently Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (Staatstheater Cottbus, 2026) and Serotonin (Hans Otto Theater Potsdam, 2026) have been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen.