Ernest Martin (born February 23, 1932) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

theatre manager Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, who lives in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, Germany, where he wanted to develop new forms of

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. In Düsseldorf, apart from traditional theatre, he built, led and directed amateur theatre - groups, which were keen on experimenting.

Biography

When Ernest Martin finished his schooltime at the

Boys High School Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, he studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

at the state university

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

from 1950 to 1953. Then from 1954 to 1955 a study of theatre studies at the drama school of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

followed. After his study, Ernest Martin made a one-year apprenticeship at

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...

's ''East 6th Street Theater''. In this time he was inspired by the theatre group

The Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/po ...

, whose „unconventional approach to the modern theatre provoked a strong resonance at that time in America.“ Already during his study, Ernest Martin gathered first experiences as director at the

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

. In 1951 he produced the

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

''Reunion'', which was written by himself and performed at the

Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, N ...

in New York City. Afterwards he directed several theatre plays such as ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

or ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

, which were also performed at the ''City College Of New York''. After a trip to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1960, Ernest Martin decided to live in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he wanted to use his longtime experiences with improvisational theatre and creative theatre work with

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

s. So, he moved to Germany in 1961 and found the Düsseldorf theatre group ''Die Bühne'' in 1964, which was renamed in ''Die Bühne – Experimentiertheater Düsseldorf'' in 1968. Ernest Martin directed a lot of theater plays and ran the group until 1987. Especially for their self-written plays, the group gained attention. The German news magazine

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

compared their work with the Off-Off-Art of Joseph Papp's

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

and ''The Living Theatre''. (German) Ernest Martin co-founded in 1984 the theatre ''Das junge Theater in der Altstadt'' in Düsseldorf, whose theatre manager he was until 1998, and which now belongs to the

Forum Freies Theater Forum Freies Theater is a theatre in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

. Then in 1989, he co-founded the theatre ''Das Seniorentheater in der Altstadt'', also located in Düsseldorf. ''Das Seniorentheater in der Altstadt'' is an amateur theatre, which in 2014 has 33 members, who are between 60 and 88 years old. (German) Furthermore, Ernest Martin worked as actor and dancer. For example, in the eighties he appeared in the play ''Harald und die Boys'', which was performed at the

Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus The is a theatre building and company in Düsseldorf. The present building with two major auditoria was designed by the architect and built between 1965 and 1969. It opened in 1970. History The theatre dates back to 1747 when during the ...

and the

Schauspiel Köln Schauspiel Köln is a theatre and company in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It forms together with the Cologne Opera and other houses the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Stages of the city of Cologne). The listed building has 830 seats in th ...

, or in ''Mandela vor Gericht'', which was performed at the

Theater Basel Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not ha ...

. He finished his over fifty-year-old theater-career as dancer in the

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance mov ...

- dance production ''Kontakthof für Damen und Herren ab 65'', which was performed from 2004 to 2009 in Germany and some European countries, like

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Ernest Martin lives in Düsseldorf for over 50 years.''02 Inszenierungen für die »Bühne«'' - Biography of Ernest Martin on his official website
(German)

Work (selection)

Stage direction

* 1965-1987: Stage director of all plays, Die Bühne * 1998: ''Brooklyn Memoiren'' by Neil Simon, theatre ''Junges Theater in der Altstadt''

Directorship

* 1961-1967: Director of the ''Theater Studio'' at the community college

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

* 1964-1987: Director of the theatre group ''Die Bühne'' in Düsseldorf * 1984-1999: Theatre manager of the theatre ''Junges Theater in der Altstadt'' in Düsseldorf

Acting

* 1985-1986: Performer in the play ''Master Harald und die Boys'', Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus * 1987-1988: Performer in the play ''Master Harald und die Boys'', Schauspiel Köln * 1987-1988: Performer in the play ''Mandela vor Gericht'', Theater Basel

Dance

* 2004-2009: Dancer in the play ''Kontakthof für Damen und Herren ab 65'', Pina Bausch-dance production

Awards and nominations

1979: ''Förderpreis'' (advancement award) der Stadt Düsseldorf for the theater group ''Die Bühne''

References

External links

Official website of Ernest Martin
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Ernest 1932 births American theatre directors Artists from New York City Actors from Düsseldorf Living people Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni City College of New York alumni University of Washington School of Drama alumni American emigrants to Germany