Theater in the operating room

Performance room of the ThOP 2020

The Theater im OP (ThOP) is the university theater of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen . With year-round en-suite theater and around 12 premieres a year, it is the largest student theater in Germany and one of the largest student theaters in Europe.

The ThOP was founded in 1984 by the dramaturgical department of the Department of German Philology. Its main task is to impart practical theater skills and experience. The ThOP uses a former show operating room of the old surgical clinic of the Göttingen University as a stage, from which the name is derived. A special feature of this venue is its arena stage . In contrast to the usual peep-box stages, the spectators sit on three sides on grandstands and the spectacle takes place in the middle of the hall.

In addition to theater-interested German studies students, the ThOP is also open to students from all other disciplines and to all interested people in the region in order to gain practical theater experience. In addition to acting , the ThOP also offers space and a field of activity for budding or trying out make- up artists , stage builders , lighting technicians and directors .

In addition to classics and contemporary drama, the repertoire also includes world premieres of the in-house dramatists' competition. In 2004, the ThOP announced its playwright competition for the first time. First place went to Thor Truppel with "0438 & 0439 or And then came the tide". The piece premiered in 2005. In 2006 Hans Jürgen Kugler won with “Aus dem Staub”, which was performed in October 2006 and at the 24th North German Theatertreffen in 2007. In 2007 Dieter Baldo won with "Jenny Blum", which premiered in April 2008. Dramatists' competitions were also held in 2009 and 2011 on the topics of "Theater from the Yucca Palm - Morbid, comical and banal urban myths" and "... and what do you dream of at night?" The 2014 competition was titled “After the Fall”. The winning pieces premiered in April 2014. In 2018, the winning piece "Yellow Desert / Pink Room" on the topic of "Borders - Crossing borders - Crossing borders" was shown.