Coesfeld open-air stage
| Coesfeld open-air stage | |
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| location | |
| Address: | Flames 22 |
| City: | Coesfeld |
| Coordinates: | 51 ° 55 '22 " N , 7 ° 8' 48" E |
| Architecture and history | |
| Opened: | 1951 |
| Spectator: | 650 seats |
| Internet presence: | |
| Website: | Coesfeld open-air stage |
The open-air stage Coesfeld is an open-air stage in the Coesfeld suburb of Flamschen. The natural stage, built in 1951, now offers space for 650 spectators and is operated by the Freilichtbühne Coesfeld eV association. There are performances of amateur theaters and musicals .
history
The history of the Coesfeld open-air theater dates back to 1946, when the Flamschen teacher Stefan Rüter founded a theater group with students from the local school, which initially rehearsed and performed in Rüter's private rooms at the school.
prehistory
Rüter wanted to educate his students with the help of singing, theater and stage appearances. They made costumes themselves and studied small skits. Around Christmas time, a small stage was built in the school on which the first performances took place. The first complete theater piece was the performance of Rosa von Tannenburg in 1947 . From then on, a large play was rehearsed with the students every year, in the first few years these were The Violinist of Our Lady , The Donareiche and The Shield Citizens . The theater group gained a certain reputation in the region, so that spectators from neighboring towns also came to the performances. It was important to Rüter to strengthen the community in the group through joint activities such as excursions. So many school leavers stayed in the group, which grew steadily and soon left the school framework. Around 1950 the first guest performances took place in Coesfeld and other neighboring towns. The Coesfeld touring theater was created .
founding
Due to the increasing lack of space - the schoolhouse and Rüter's private rooms had long since become too small for the growing numbers of players and spectators - the teacher had the idea of building an open-air stage in his orchard. Together with his players, he designed a concept and marked out the areas for the stage and audience. At that time the entire system was still flat; the stage, which is still very small at around 25 m², was only 25–30 cm higher than it is today.
The first years
When it opened in 1951, the Coesfeld open-air theater was still a very improvised facility. Seating was simple boards nailed to stakes rammed into the meadow. Building rubble was used as filling material for the slight elevation of the stage, and in the evenings and on weekends it was brought by volunteers with horse and carts from the buildings of a former fabric printing shop and a prison that had been destroyed in the war. Trees and bushes were planted as privacy screens. The stage then celebrated its premiere with the play Teufelskirche in Trier .
Development until today
In the years that followed, the facility developed more and more into a “real” stage: some of the fruit trees in the school garden, which partially blocked the view of up to 1,300 spectators per performance, had to give way. Only two trees remained as light poles, each with a lighting technician who lit up the scenery with a self-made spotlight. In the 1960s, a real roofed auditorium with around 650 seats was created and the entire operation and furnishings were designed more professionally. In the 1970s, the Coesfelders began to play theater in winter and have since regularly performed winter fairy tales on auditorium stages. A ballet school was founded in 1971, connected to the open-air theater, and the clubhouse was built in 1976. The open-air stage choir was founded five years later and in 1987 a second piece was performed on the open-air stage for the first time, parallel to the main piece: it was the fairy tale production of Hansel and Gretel .
Pieces played
The pieces most frequently played in Coesfeld (as of 2018) are West Side Story , which was performed four times (1987, 1988, 1996 and 1997), as did Im Weisse Rößl (1952, 1959, 1970, 2017), and three times each staged Line 1 (1994, 1995, 2007) and Anatevka (1977, 1984, 1993). Among the fairy tales, Cinderella , which has been performed a total of five times, is the most played piece in Coesfeld.
Audience numbers
Even in the founding years, "several thousand" viewers attended the performances every year. Today around 20,000 spectators attend the 40 or so performances of both pieces. 2008 was a particularly successful year with 27,791 spectators.
Others
The association Freilichtbühne Coesfeld eV is a member of the Association of German Open-Air Theaters .
On September 18, 2010, the Coesfeld open-air theater was awarded the German amateur theater prize "amarena" for the production of Vanity Fair by Claus Martin in the open-air theater category.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hans Benson: History of the Coesfeld open-air theater - The prehistory - accessed on October 7, 2009 ( Memento of the original of July 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hans Benson: History of the open-air theater Coesfeld - apple, pear and cherry trees - the time up to the foundation . Retrieved on October 8, 2009 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b c Hans Benson: History of the Coesfeld open-air theater - The 50s - talent for organization and improvisation . Retrieved on October 9, 2009 ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hans Benson: History of the Coesfeld open-air theater - The 70s - From Singspiel to Operetta . Retrieved on October 9, 2009 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Online archive of the Coesfeld open-air theater, accessed on October 9, 2009 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Audience statistics from the Association of German Open Air Theaters. Published in the December issue of the magazine Freilichtbühne Aktuell
