Drama
Licentiate Degree (Diplom)
The 4-year licentiate degree in drama offers a sound technical and theoretical education to prepare students for work as actors and public speakers. The core artistic subjects of presentation, speech training and movement are supplemented with both theoretical and practical seminars and workshops.
Independent productions, a steady stream of performances, the Studium Generale and interdisciplinary formats are all contents of the programme. Due to the unique structure of Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, cooperation takes place with other departments, such as fine arts, architecture, philosophy, education and business administration.
The programme has its own venue, the Hoftheater, and cooperates with numerous theatres and other universities nationwide, allowing acquired learning to be practically applied from the very start.
Some of our students are recipients of the Deutschlandstipendium (Germany Scholarship) and grants from the German National Academic Scholarship Foundation. The extended circle of lecturers includes author of the year and Kleist Prize laureate Wolfram Lotz and TV star Max Giermann, among others.
Successful completion of the drama programme results in a licentiate degree (diplom). As with all other state drama schools, graduates are automatically admitted to ZAV International Placement Services for acting and take part in the artistic director auditions.
Curriculum
The curriculum includes the following subjects:
- Speech and Song: speaking, microphone speaking and dramatic singing in individual and group lessons
- Drama: basic instruction in theatre acting and scene studies with public performances
- Role study in private lessons and small groups
- Movement, Dance, Acrobatics, Fencing
- Dramaturgy, Theatre and Film History: work on dramaturgical theory with all forms of theatre texts and films
- Independent Productions with Public Performance: development of staged projects as solo work or in teams
- Camera Training: e.g. through camera acting seminars and the development of a short film in the core study period
- Supplementary Workshops and Lessons: Improvisation, clowning, stage design, stage construction, lighting design, sound engineering, costume design, self-marketing and economics
- Studium Generale: is an integral part of all programmes at the university. Seminars and lectures in the history of philosophy, epistemology, art and art history, education, etc.
Important Productions
- 1st Academic Year: monologues and dialogues
- 2nd Academic Year: commedia dell´arte, independent production, ballad project, movement performance, classical scenes, summer theatre
- 3rd Academic Year: scenes from world literature (monologues and dialogues), final production, short film project
- 4th Academic Year: artistic directing début, own production, microphone speaking, cooperation projects.
Unlike other drama degree courses in Germany, the programme at Alanus University offers extensive supplementary instruction in the subjects of lighting design, stage design, stage construction, sound engineering, costume design, self-marketing and economics.
The programme also has its own venue, the Hoftheater, and works closely with various regional and supraregional partners, such as Theater Bonn, Theater im Bauturm Cologne, Theater in der Brotfabrik Bonn, and many other free and city theatres in German-speaking countries.
Alanus University with its range of artistic and scientific degree programmes and the interdisciplinary Studium Generale also provides an ideal framework for cooperating with students from other departments in an interdisciplinary manner. This model is unique in Germany.
Number of Admissions
The Drama Department accepts a maximum of 12 students per year. This ensures individual training and high quality.
Deadlines, Auditions and Admission
Prospective students can apply at any time. Admission takes place in the Autumn Semester.
Application Process
The application procedure consists of three phases:
1. Written application for the entrance exam
2. Entrance exam part I (audition)
3. Entrance exam part II
Written Application
The application form is available under Downloads. Please include the following documents with your application:
- A tabular curriculum vitae with a passport photo
- Officially certified copies of school leaving certificates and degrees (officially certified and stamped German translation of foreign certificates)
- Certificate of registration from a German health insurance provider to submit to the university (a copy of the insurance card is not sufficient)
- Medical certificate of good health, also confirming general physical capacity for training as an actor
- Foreign applicants require proof of sufficient German language skills (TestDaF 4 (at least 16 points) or an equivalent certificate)
- If applicable, copies of certificates of exmatriculation from all state and state-recognised universities attended (can be submitted later)
Please send the completed application form with all supplementary documents by mail to:
Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences
Studierendenverwaltung - Bewerbung Schauspiel
Villestr. 3
53347 Alfter
As soon as the application has been received by the Student Administration Office, you will be
invited to the entrance exam. A fee of 25 euros is charged for the entrance exam. Please confirm your participation in the entrance exam and transfer the amount due.
The entrance exam is divided into two phases. Please prepare the following audition for the first phase:
- A total of three roles, at least one of which should preferably be a classic drama text
- Or two roles (one of which should preferably be a classic drama text) as well as a self-designed artistic performance of 1 to 3 minutes length
- The selection committee also likes to hear a singing performance
Guide to Potential Audition Roles
The department has compiled a guide for all those who wish to study drama. A list of potential audition roles divided into classic and modern roles for both women and men is attached. The guide is available under Downloads.
Trial Audition
Outside of the actual entrance exam, the Department of Drama is willing to view your audition and give you artistic feedback. This trial audition is conducted by a professor or another artistic employee of the department and costs 25 euros. It is possible deduct this amount from the entrance exam fee if you apply for admission.
Appointments are held regularly during the standard lecture period and the university information days and can be individually scheduled upon request.
Preparatory Course for Drama Studies
We also offer a “Preparatory Course in Drama”, which starts in October 2018. The course thoroughly prepares you for the entrance exam at an art university or academy. You gain initial insight into professional drama training, learn in small study groups and receive intensive instruction, individual support and guidance from our university lecturers who have many years of professional and educational experience.
The course, which starts in October 2018, is fully booked. The next course will run from March to June 2019.
More information is available here.
Future actors will be confronted with a new job profile that, in addition to artistic ability, demands a high degree of empathy for political and social processes. They are also expected to show personal responsibility and be willing to develop and experiment with innovative artistic concepts. The Department of Drama is committed to preparing students for these new demands.
In addition to their training as actors in the established professional fields of theatre, film and radio, the students also learn the skills and abilities required to work as drama instructors, realise free projects and perform in public space.
The Department of Drama with its licentiate degree (Diplom) programme in drama is part of a strong network with numerous cooperation projects, which offer students plenty of opportunities to gain practical professional experience and make important contacts.
- Agentur Weber Shandwick
- Akademie für Internationale Bildung (AIB)
- Barbarossa Film Köln
- Beethoven Kinder Fest
- Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste
- Freies Werkstatt Theater Köln (fwt)
- Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg
- Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (insbesondere Bühnen- und Kostümbild)
- Internationale Filmschule Köln (ifs)
- Kulturamt der Bundesstadt Bonn
- Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (khm)
- Nation Film and Television Institute Ghana
- NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste e.V.
- Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln (Mediendesign)
- SAE Institute Köln
- Theater Bautzen
- Theater Bonn
- Theater Görlitz
- Theater im Bauturm Köln
- Theater im Kulturzentrum Brotfabrik Bonn
- Theater Marabu Bonn
