Michael Braun

Michael Braun is a Researcher and Co-Director of the Centre of Competence for Theatre at Leipzig University's Institute of Theatre Studies within the Faculty of History, Arts and Regional Studies. Since May 2020, he has served as Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer for the faculty, and since January 2020, he has been Vice President of the International Brecht Society.

Braun earned his doctorate in 2011 from Leipzig University with research on Peter Greenaway's narrative practices, following his master's degree in theater and political science completed in 2004. His academic career at Leipzig University spans nearly two decades, beginning in 2005 as a research assistant and progressing through various roles including lecturer and scientific manager.

His research examines practices of repetition, memory, and narration in performing arts with particular emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe. Braun investigates theatrical representations of knowledge since the 17th century, media of historical appropriation, and the relationship between artistic and historiographical practices. His work frequently analyzes how theater functions as cultural and social practice for crisis management and historical processing.

Braun has received academic recognition including a postdoctoral research scholarship from Deutsches Polen Institut Darmstadt (2014) and a PhD scholarship from the DFG Graduate School 'Fracture Zones of Globalization' (2006). He serves on the editorial board of the Brecht Yearbook and maintains active international collaborations through multiple academic organizations.

With over twenty years of teaching experience, Braun's courses span historical and methodological perspectives on theater, performative aspects in film and visual arts, memory practices, and utopian potentials of neo-avant-gardes in Central and Eastern Europe. His educational philosophy emphasizes transdisciplinary and cooperative approaches that develop both core theater studies competencies and interdisciplinary connections to other arts and disciplines.