At Theater Erfurt, the change at the top has been settled unusually far ahead of the actual handover – but is not yet final. On 28 October, the theatre announced that the main committee had approved the appointment of Rebekah Rota as artistic director and head of artistic operations. The city council is due to decide on 9 December. Rota is expected to take up the post on 1 August 2028, initially overseeing five seasons.
Until then, the transition is more than simply a waiting period. Christian Illgen has been leading the theatre as artistic director since August 2026, covering the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons. At the same time, a new managing director is being appointed: Ulrich Jagels is expected to take on this role on 1 December 2026. Preparations for a future artistic vision thus intersect with ongoing decisions about staffing, budgets and operations.
A change on two timelines
The announcement about Rota marks an important step, not the conclusion of the process. The main committee’s approval must be distinguished from the city council’s decision, which is still pending. Nor does the announcement that Rota is expected to take up the post make her artistic director yet: Illgen remains responsible until the planned handover.
For a municipal theatre, this timeline is more than a formality. Programmes are drawn up long before opening night; contracts, casting and production schedules often extend beyond individual seasons. The announcement does not specify which decisions Rota will help shape before 2028. The theatre says only that Illgen will prepare the transition together with her. This suggests scope for her to shape developments, but does not establish an already defined remit.
Illgen thus faces a dual task: running the theatre over the next two seasons while creating the necessary conditions without pre-empting his successor’s scope to shape its future. This is a balancing act, not simply the handover of a completed programme. Where continuity is needed, planning is essential; where future priorities are to remain open, preparation must not become a decision made in advance.
Shared responsibility, a new structure
The change on the management side also begins before Rota takes up her post. Jagels’ appointment is intended to fill a position previously held on an interim basis. The theatre cites his experience at cultural institutions such as the Bayreuth Festival, Oper Leipzig and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival as part of his professional profile. How his collaboration with Rota will work in detail remains open. The announced separation of roles does, however, make one thing clear: artistic and financial responsibility will not simply rest with one person.
This is consistent with a structural reorganisation that Erfurt has already approved. The city council extended the search process for the head of artistic operations until the start of the appointment in 2028 and installed interim leadership for the intervening period. The dual leadership is therefore not just a change of personnel, but part of a longer-term reorganisation of the theatre. For its artistic work, this means that programming and financial viability must be considered together – without treating them as the same thing.
The work begins before the handover
For Rota, the gap between selection and taking up the post is both an opportunity and a constraint. She can get to know the theatre and help with preparations; for now, however, operational responsibility remains with Illgen, and financial responsibility with Jagels. Who signs off on which decisions, and how far the future artistic director will be involved before 2028, remains a central question of the transition.
The theatre says it intends to leave room for Rota’s ideas. What matters will be how this ambition translates into practice: through coordinated planning, transparent responsibilities and a handover that does not leave the ensemble and staff caught between two leadership teams. The transition is therefore indeed part of the programme – not as an additional production, but as work on the conditions in which the next productions will be created.
Original reviewed by the editors · 28 October 2026
