Barbara Weber

© Stefan Minder

Barbara Weber was born in 1975 and grew up in Wattwil (Canton of St. Gallen). She studied directing for the stage from 1997 to 2001 at the Institute for Theatre, Musical Theatre and Film in Hamburg.
From 2001 on, Barbara Weber made a name for herself with her 'unplugged' format, which she developed on the independent scene in coproduction with various theatres, creating series in several parts such as Hollywood Unplugged (2001/02). In 2005, she won the Berlin Performing Arts Fund Award with RAF-unplugged at the Impulse Festival.
Alongside her work on the independent scene, Barbara Weber also started directing for established Swiss companies (including luzernertheater and Stadttheater Bern) in 2002; in 2005, she made her debut at the Münchner Kammerspiele with Oxygen by Ivan Vyrypaev, which was followed by further productions for the same company (Tangiers unplugged, Kebab), in parallel to which she was working at the Schauspiel Essen and the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin.
In 2006, Barbara Weber took part in the Young Directors Project at the Salzburg Festival. The following year, she won the Merit Award of the St. Gallen Cultural Foundation, and in 2008 she presented The Lears at the Vienna Festival. Since the 2008/09 season, Barbara Weber has been one of the two artistic directors at the Theater Neumarkt in Zurich, a role she shares with Rafael Sanchez. She directs productions both at her own theatre (e.g. Biography: A Game, Anna Karenina, Baby Jane) and at German venues.