© Joel Heyd
Elsa-Sophie Jach, born in 1991 in Vorwerk near Bremen, studied directing at the Hamburg Theatre Academy and playwriting at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since the 2022/2023 season, she has been resident director at the Residenztheater in Munich and also works at theatres in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She regularly directs productions at venues including the Schauspiel Leipzig and the Theater Bremen. Most recently, she directed the world premiere of Rainald Goetz’s ‘Lapidarium’ and, over several seasons, developed a trilogy of plays by female authors from the early 20th century at the Marstall.
For productions such as Kleist’s *The Earthquake in Chile* and *The Future Is Not Enough for Us (Lament, Children, Lament!)*, she was named ‘Young Director of the Year’ (Theater heute) and nominated for the Nestroy Prize. With her theatre evenings “Die Unerhörten – Technoid Love Letters for Ancient Heroines”, created at the Residenztheater, she was invited to the Brandhaarden Festival at the International Theatre Amsterdam in 2023 and nominated for the shortlist of the 2023 Theatertreffen with Kleist’s “Käthchen von Heilbronn”. Her production of “Romeo and Juliet” was invited to the Hamburg Theatre Festival in 2026. With “Liberty”, Jach will stage her first opera at the Munich State Opera during the 2026/2027 season.
Elsa-Sophie Jach collaborates closely with contemporary writers such as Enis Maci, Thomas Köck and Sivan Ben Yishai, creating reinterpretations of classical texts from a feminist perspective. Her productions also frequently focus on choral explorations and experimental musical arrangements. In the 2026/2027 season, she will direct a production at the Schauspielhaus Zürich for the first time.
