Born on January 9, 1929, in Eppendorf, Saxony — which today is in the southernmost part of the German Democratic Republic —Heiner Müller grew to become a critic, poet, playwright and, eventually, a stage director whose impact on the German theatre has become as strong as it is controversial. In the last decade Müller has been honored with the most prestigious literary prizes in the two states that emerged from the ruins of the German Reich after World War II.  He is nearly unanimously acknowledged as the inheritor of Brecht’s mantle, a writer who started in the old master’s footsteps but became one of his outspoken critics.  Refuting most of Brecht’s models, he proceeded to create his own paradigm of theatre, and is considered one of the greatest writers of the post-modern European theatre.  His legacy is a body of work whose range and influence will be felt for decades to come.