Thomas Krupa

Director, Scenographer, Writer, VR-Film | Collective Archives/Theatre Essen | Germany

Thomas Krupa lives in Berlin and is a German director, scenographer and author with a focus on immersive formats. He studied literature and philosophy in Cologne and Rome. From 1996 to 2001, Krupa worked as an in-house director and member of the drama department at the “Staatstheater Darmstadt”, and from 2002 to 2006 as head of drama at the “Theater Freiburg”. Since then he has worked as a freelance director and scenographer for drama and opera in Essen, Berlin, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and New York, among other places. In 2019 he founded the production platform “Collective Archives”. Its focus is on VR-storytelling, spatial sound mapping and the exploration of digital production formats (XR, AR, VR, 360°-film) in the context of analog drama and music theater. In 2021 he developed “Der Reichsbürger (360°)” in Essen, the first feature-length virtual reality production, and the 360° video installation “Sheep” in Brussels. This was followed in 2022 by “Die Wand (360°)” in Essen and “Posthuman Journey” in Giessen. He lectured at universities in Frankfurt, Munich, Zürich and Stuttgart. He has been a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts since 2011.