About Greta Amend
Greta entered the entertainment industry early as a professional actress for theatre and film, and has always been driven by a strong interest in the art of acting, teaching and directing. She studied drama at the Hannover College for Music and Theatre from 1983 to 1987, graduating by playing in "Toda esta larga noche" (This is the long night) by Jorge Díaz and writing&directing her first medium-long film "Full House - House of Fools" (33 min.), which premièred at the Media Art Festival in Osnabrück 1987.
Between 1990 and 1992 she continued her studies with Anatolij Vasil`jev at the Theatre "School of Dramatic Arts" in Moscow. With the International Theatre Centre Akt-Zent and the GITIS Academy Moscow she studied from 1996 to 1998 in the Masterclass "Acting and Directing", including most acting techniques based on the Russian school. Amongst her teachers were Prof. Vassili Skorik, Prof. Jurij Alschitz and Prof. Sergej Issayev.
Gretas substancial education as artist is enriched by her participation in the international theatre and film directing workshops of Künstlerhaus Bethanien which enjoyed cult status in the Berlin of the early 90´s. Greta studied with directors Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrej Wajda, Peter Palitzsch, Thomas Schulte-Michels, Ruth Zapora, Sergej Ashkenasy, Yoshi Oida and Wojiech Marczewski. Additional private lessons involved comprehensive Michael Chechov scene work with Israel Olshan, and extensive repertoire work with actors from Peter Stein´s former ensemble of Schaubühne Berlin. Amongst her film training teachers were danish director Henning Carlsen and Rae Allen.
Greta has been pursuing her acting career by working extensively in theatre productions with numerous foreign and local companies in Europe. Her role portfolio spans from clasical parts like Maria Timofeevna Lebyadkina in "Demons", Titania in "A midsummer nights dream", Nastassja Fillipowna in "Idiot", Polina in "Gambler", Masha in "Three sisters", Eboli in "Don Carlos", or Diotima in "Symposion" to contemporary lead roles like The Woman in "Laughing wild" or Mensch in "Act without words I and II" by Samuel Beckett.
Gretas stage credits include: Sophiensäle Berlin, MInd the Gap Dance Theatre, Wuppertal, Theater zum westlichen Stadthirschen Berlin, The Theatre of Dramatic Art Moscow, Theatre Mali Warsaw, Academy of the Arts Berlin, Gasteig Black Box Munich, Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, GITIS Akademie Moscow, Theater Zerbrochene Fenster Berlin or Theater am Halleschen Ufer.
Greta worked as actress for production companies like Teamworx, Grundy UFA, Studio Hamburg, Nova Film, Journal Film, Televersal, Zentaur Film, and different film schools as the German Film Academy dffb and KHM Film School Cologne.
In 2002 Greta launched a new career as Casting Director for Grundy Ufa TV Production in Potsdam Babelsberg, being responsible for the serial casting of Europe’s most popular daily soap opera "Gute Zeiten/Schlechte Zeiten”. Since 2005 she has been an independent casting director for cinema productions, amongst them the biggest russian-european screen epic in history yet: "Dau" by Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Ukraine | Russia | Netherlands | Germany | Sweden, current status: in Post-Production, Teaser: ) or "Stadt, Land, Fluss" by Benjamin Cantu, which won the Teddy Award at Berlinale 2011. A score of several independent features followed. Greta specialized in finding the right actors ensemble for short film productions, and has been casting more than 40 productions of the German Film Academy Berlin dffb and independent productions until today.
In 2008 Greta launched her project "First public Audition for actors in Germany", in which she explored the borders and possibilities between the casting process und exchange of performance in front and behind the camera. 200 actors from all over Europe participated in a 16 hour marathon casting including scene work. 50 of them were later acting part in the Performance "Misconception in the city" during the Long Night of Museums in the Museum für Kommunikation Berlin, based on Christopher Durang´s "Laughing Wild" .
In 2011 Greta founded the "Actors Roundtable", a philosophical and professional Symposion on the profession of today´s acting.
In 2012 she adapted and directed the play "White nights" by russian author Fjodor Dostojevsky at the Theater an der Glocksee, Hannover.
For several years now she´s been participating in the "International Directors´ and trainers´ Colloqiums" of the European Association for Theatre Culture, the International Theatre Institute ITI, and Akt-Zent International Theatre Centre Berlin, focusing on new training methods and theatre ethics. She has been practising with masters like Peter Oskarson, Jurij Alschitz, Masaki Iwana, Oleg Liptsin and Alejandro González Puche.
Greta has been teaching her workshop “Energizing The Actor” since 2006 in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland, and has been a guest lecturer in her masterclasses for directors and actors at the post-graduate department of the National Danish Film School (Filmskolens Efteruddannelse), the Danish National School of Performing Arts (Den Danske Scenekunstskole), the Norwegian Actors´Center (in cooperation with the Norwegian Film Institute), the German Film- and Television Academy, Berlin, the XXL EU Experts Workshop, Vienna, and in her masterclasses at the Medienakademie Hamburg. Her workshop concepts, like "Respect for Actors" cover the fields of directing, casting, and acting.
Currently Greta is also forwarding her broad knowledge in private sessions, as a personal mentor for european directors and actors for TV, theatre and film.
Certifications
- XXV INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORS´ AND TRAINERS´ COLLOQUIUM - THE NEW ROLE OF THE ROLE
- World Theatre Training Institute and European Association For Theatre Culture - Reseach Center of ITI 2018
- VIII METHODIKA RESONANCE WITH THE SCHOOL OF JURIJ ALSCHITZ
- World Theatre Training Institute and European Association For Theatre Culture - Reseach Center of ITI 2018
- XXIV INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORS´ AND TRAINERS´ COLLOQUIUM - A NEW DIMENSION OG THEATRE TRAINING
- World Theatre Training Institute and European Association For Theatre Culture - Reseach Center of ITI 2017
- TRAINING AS A METHOD - INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORS´ AND TRAINERS´ COLLOQUIUM
- European Association for Theatre Culture 2014
- INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORS´ AND TRAINERS´ COLLOQUIUM - THEATRE ETHICS FROM STANISLAVSKY TILL NOWADAYS - ARTISTIC MEETING
- European Association for Theatre Culture - Dr. Jurij Alschitz 2013
- GRUNDTVIG AWARD/SCHOLARSHIP HOLDER
- Erasmus+ 2012
- VI METHODIKA CHRONOTOPOS TIME & SPACE IN THEATRE - CYPRUS
- European Association for Theatre Culture + Rectus Centrum - International Research Center for Theatrical Art & Science 2012
- Diplom-Schauspielerin - DIPLOMA ACTING
- Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover 1987
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