Beate Baron has been Professor of Music Theater at the HfM Saar since 2021. She taught at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin, the MH Lübeck and the HMT Rostock. Beate Baron studied directing with Götz Friedrich Hfmt Hamburg and directing and interdisciplinary composition at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and works as a director for music theater and opera, as well as a curator. Her artistic works arise in the field of tension between music theater, installations, opera and video. She has developed award-winning productions for a wide variety of venues and festivals, including the Ruhrtriennale, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Radial System, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Freiburg, and many others. A long and intensive artistic collaboration connected her with Götz Friedrich, Hans Neuenfels and Jürgen Flimm.

Janis El-Bira, born in Braunschweig in 1986, studied philosophy and history in Berlin and has since worked as a journalist and presenter with a focus on theater. He is an editor for the theater portal nachtkritik.de and a presenter and editor for the program "Rang 1 - Das Theatermagazin" on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In addition, texts and contributions for various newspapers and radio stations. From 2016 to 2021 he headed the journalistic project for young talent "Theatertreffen-Blog" at the Berliner Festspiele. Jury activities include the Mülheim Drama Prize 2021, the Fast Forward 2021 festival in Dresden, and the Politik im Freien Theater 2022 festival in Frankfurt am Main.

Alexander Kerlin worked as a dramaturge in the independent theater scene in North Rhine-Westphalia, at Schauspiel Dortmund, at the Burgtheater, and as head dramaturge at the Volkstheater Wien. He has been invited to the Theatertreffen several times, both in his role as dramaturge and as author. Reconciling the post-dramatic with drama—that is also the challenge for him when writing. Most recently, his play “Bullet Time – Die Geburt des Kinos aus dem Geiste eines Mörders” (Bullet Time – The Birth of Cinema from the Mind of a Murderer) premiered at the Volkstheater Wien, directed by Kay Voges. Starting in the 25/26 season, Alexander Kerlin will be chief dramaturge at Schauspiel Köln.

Matthias Pees, born in Georgsmarienhütte in 1970, has worked as artistic director and managing director of the international production company Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main (2013-2022), chief dramaturge of the Vienna Festival (2010-2013), founder and co-managing director of the international production office prod.art. br in São Paulo (2004-2010), program dramaturg at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (2003-2004), theater dramaturg at schauspielhannover (2000-2003) and at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (1995-2000), and previously as a cultural journalist and theater critic, gaining experience in various areas and on several sides of the performing arts. A change of perspective, cooperative work, and “transformative practices” were the declared focus of his interest; topics such as global solidarity and postcolonialism, the connection and future of internationality and diversity shaped his programs and projects.

Esther Slevogt is an author, critic and editor-in-chief of the theater portal nachtkritik.de, which she co-founded. She writes about theater-historical topics in the context of politics and aesthetics in the 20th century. Most recently, her book about the Deutsches Theater Berlin “Auf den Brettern der Welt” was published by Ch.-Links-Verlag in 2023. She also contributed to the volume edited by Matthias Naumann in 2024 entitled “Judenhass im Kunstbetrieb. Reactions after October 7, 2023”. In 2024 she was awarded the Willms Neuhaus Prize.

Lily Sykes studied German language and literature and philosophy at Oxford and attended Philippe Gaulier's clown school in Paris from 2006 to 2008. From 2009 to 2012, she was an assistant director at Schauspiel Frankfurt, where she regularly staged her own productions. For her Frankfurt production of “Die Bürgschaft” (The Guarantee), a co-production with the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, she was nominated as Young Director of the Year in the 2011 critics' poll by Theater heute. Since 2012, she has been working as a freelance director at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Schauspielhaus Graz, Berliner Ensemble, Schauspiel Köln, and Burgtheater Wien, among others. In 2021, her production of Isobel McArthur's “Pride and Prejudice *oder so” won the STELLA Prize for “Outstanding Production.” Since 2018, Lily Sykes has been a guest lecturer at the HKB Bern. Since the 2022/23 season, she has been resident director at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden.

Anna Wagner has been the artistic director and managing director of Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt together with Marcus Droß since September 2022. After studying theater, she worked as assistant dance curator at Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin and directed the dance department at Theater Freiburg, which she transformed from an ensemble company into a production platform for independent choreographers and dancers. In 2014, she moved to Frankfurt's Mousonturm as dramaturg. There she established ongoing working relationships with dance, theater and performance creators from the national and international independent scene such as Paula Rosolen, Eisa Jocson, Helgard Haug/ Rimini Protokoll, Jetse Batelaan and Eisa Jocson among others. She is also co-founder of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main and developed numerous special projects and festivals such as "Indonesia LAB" (2015) "Oper Offenbach" (2018) and "This is Not Lebanon" (2021).