Andreas Etienne was born in 1955 in Rheingau, Germany. He studied history, German and art history in Bonn. He earned his money by doing odd jobs, including at the Central Theatre. It was there that he met Bill Mockridge, who was looking for young people with an affinity for the theatre to form an improvisation theatre group. He became a founding member of the improvisation theatre group Springmaus, which premiered at Anno Tubac in 1983. The stage soon became too small. The group moved and opened the Springmaus Theatre on 1 April 1985.

Andreas Etienne had just finished his studies and was faced with the choice of becoming a trainee teacher in Düsseldorf. But he decided to take over the management of the new theatre in Bonn, where other artists performed alongside the Springmaus ensemble. Over the years, he and his colleague Michael Müller founded several in-house ensembles and collaborated writing plays. Etienne also performed several solo programmes. Together with Christoph Scheeben, they turned to classical themes such as Ludwig van Beethoven, on whom the second programme is now being released.