Selen Kara, born 1985 in Velbert, studied theatre and media studies at the Ruhr University Bochum. During this time she played in various student theatre productions, which were also invited to festivals in Istanbul, Liège and Minsk. From 2012 to 2014 she was assistant director at Schauspielhaus Bochum, where she worked with Roger Vontobel, Anselm Weber, Jan Neumann, Christina Paulhofer and David Bösch, among others. Blaubart - Hoffnung der Frauen by Dea Loher was her debut as a director in Bochum. In 2017, the musical play Istanbul was created here in collaboration with Torsten Kindermann and Akın E. Şipal. Since 2014 she has worked as a freelance director at Theater Bremen, Staatstheater Nürnberg and Nationaltheater Mannheim, among others. Her production I love you, Turkey was invited to the Radikal Jung Festival 2020 at the Munich Volkstheater. In the 2020/2021 season she is developing and staging the musical evening Mit anderen Augen in collaboration with Torsten Kindermann at Schauspielhaus Bochum.

For the 2023/2024 season, she will become the artistic director of Schauspiel Essen, together with Christina Zintl.

Current roles: