Cloister games Feuchtwangen
The cloister plays are theater festivals that have been held every summer since 1949 in the monastery garden in front of the arcades of the Romanesque cloister of the former Benedictine monastery in the town of Feuchtwangen . It is an open-air festival theater, which is sponsored by the city of Feuchtwangen and which is carried out in the summer months with a dedicated ensemble. The stage is in the northern part of the cloister with its Romanesque arcades and the gnarled, ancient Cornelian cherries in the middle . The special feature of this open-air theater is its chamber-like character. The theater space is located within a closed area formed by the former cloister and the imposing front of the former collegiate church .
The director and actor Otto Kindler laid the foundation stone for the Festival on the Romantic Road in the first year of play in 1948 with 16 performances of the "Gretchen Tragödie" . Since the mid-1950s, two theater and musical productions have regularly been on the festival program. A large children's theater production has also been shown in the cloister since 1975.
Since the 2009 season, games have also been played in the idyllic Nixel Garden by the city wall. The garden is part of a former agricultural property and can accommodate 100 visitors. When it rains, they play in the old barn. The focus of the program design is on children's and youth theater.
In 2003 over 50,000 visitors visited the Feuchtwang Festival for the first time. More than 150 performances are now on the program every summer.
With the 2010 season, the festival got a new grandstand with 511 upholstered seats, which offers a view of the cloister all around. The entrance area of the theater - one of the oldest buildings in the city, which served as a refectory for the monastery founded in the 9th century - has been converted into a modern theater foyer and ticket service area in accordance with the historic monuments.
Feuchtwangen is one of the traditional festival locations in German-speaking countries and is a founding member of the “ Ten German Festival Locations ” working group , which aims to offer sophisticated productions in which the ambience of the location - castle ruins, monastery, church, cave - is itself a part the staging will.