Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf
Coordinates: 48 ° 3 ′ 42.3 " N , 9 ° 15 ′ 43.92" E
The Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf is an open-air stage in the area of the municipality of Sigmaringendorf in the upper Danube valley . The stage is mainly used for amateur theater performances, but concerts , open-air cinema performances , church services and other events are also held there. The stage is operated by the theater club of the same name, Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf e. V., there are memberships in the Association of German Amateur Theaters through the State Association of Amateur Theater Baden-Württemberg and in the Association of German Open Air Theaters . The Sigmarendorfer Waldbühne is the only open-air theater in the Sigmaringen district.
location
The open-air stage is located on the southern outskirts of Sigmaringendorf in a former gravel pit and is surrounded by forest to the south, east and north. To the west, Kreisstraße 107 leads from Sigmaringendorf to Rulfingen past the stage and at the same time forms the access road to the Waldbühne. The stage system is located above the confluence of the Lauchert into the Danube , the Danube Cycle Path leads directly past the system.
history
The history of the Sigmarendorfer Waldbühne began with the decision to build an open-air theater by the board of directors of the Sigmarendorfer Theater Association on April 29, 1928. However, the realization was preceded by a few years of planning and a long tradition of love for theater and literature among the Sigmaringorfer citizens. The stage is one of the oldest open-air theaters in Baden-Württemberg.
prehistory
On November 9, 1844, 15 residents of the Sigmaringendorf community, including the schoolmaster at the time, Plazidus Rebholz, joined forces to form the citizens' and reading association, which was officially founded on January 5, 1845 with 38 members. The founders described the purpose of the association as follows:
"To unite a number of citizens into a closed circle in which they wanted to entertain each other by exchanging ideas and reading good writings and books, clarifying and expanding their knowledge and thereby promoting culture, trade and agriculture"
The chronicle of the community of Sigmaringendorf reports from the years 1847 and 1848 of performances by a "single theater lovers 'society" which emerged from the citizens' and reading club and which, among other things, brought Schiller's Turandot to the stage. Further theatrical activities were increasingly reported from 1895, when several hall plays were performed. The theater association Sigmaringendorf, later the founding and sponsoring association of the Waldbühne, emerged from the ensemble in 1896. During the wintertime, the main pieces played were homeland and stirring pieces as well as classics. The chronicle also reports on guest performances in Sigmaringen and Meßkirch . The citizens' and reading association continued to exist in parallel, but from 1902 only as a "reading association" until the association's own library was converted into a "public library" by the National Socialist rulers in 1935 and handed over to the community. The reading club was not re-established after the war.
Creation of the Waldbühne
After visiting the Hohentwiel Festival in Singen , the director of the Sigmaringendorf theater association, Josef Wintergerst, came up with the idea of building an open-air theater in Sigmaringendorf as well. It was created in 1928 through voluntary work by the members of the association and was inaugurated in the same year with the drama Der arme Heinrich von Gerhart Hauptmann . From then on, until 1939, with the exception of 1938, the Sigmarendorfer Theaterverein performed a play every year. The chronicler of the community Sigmaringendorf describes the development:
“Members of the theater club had been working ideally for weeks, mainly in their free time, on the construction of an open-air stage in the former gravel pit at the entrance to the Steighau. The first play on this open-air stage (...) was the drama Der arme Heinrich von Gerhart Hauptmann. The number of visitors increased more and more. Both the game and the stage had received a lot of recognition from the large audience. "
The very first open-air performance
Strictly speaking, the time of the open-air performances in Sigmaringendorf did not begin in 1928 with the commissioning of the Waldbühne: the members of the theater association had already awakened the population's support and enthusiasm for the project in 1926, when on the festival meadow in Sigmaringendorf, just a few meters away later location of the Waldbühne removed, the Rütli oath from Schiller's Wilhelm Tell was performed. The performance took place as part of the 51st Gauturn Festival of the Turngau Hohenzollern and at a late hour, around 10 p.m., attracted over 1000 spectators to the venue. The success of this performance convinced the skeptics in the community, who originally wanted little understanding for the construction of an open-air stage, as the reaction of the then Mayor August Stecher to Wintergerst's suggestion shows:
"That's it, where do you waved au do there curtain na macha?"
In the first years of the Waldbühne, mainly classical theater plays were performed, the best known were Schiller's Bride von Messina , Goethe's Faust and Götz von Berlichingen . As early as 1931 the technical equipment of the stage had advanced to such an extent that night performances could take place with artificial lighting for the first time. Sappho by Franz Grillparzer was in that year on the board.
National Socialism and Wartime
In 1934 the club was by the Nazis brought into line , the proposed piece of the sunken bell (again a captain plant) was banned, decided instead the new club management, the play The White Horse Inn perform. A year later, The Sunken Bell was performed after all. The instrumentalization of the Sigmarendorfer Theaterverein by the National Socialist rulers caused violent internal quarrels. Meeting minutes from 1937 and 1938 report violent verbal battles, resignations from the association and resignations, which resulted in no performances in 1938. A year later, however, a peaceful crowd of players had come together and settled the quarrels so that the game could be resumed. The game year 1939 was the most successful year of the Sigmaringdorf Waldbühne to date with 7000 visitors. For the first and only time in the history of the stage, the crowd was so great that several hundred visitors had to be refused entry due to lack of space. In the same year, however, the first actors received the position order and were drafted into the military, so that the season could not be completed. From this time on, the Waldbühne was inactive for the entire Second World War . The Waldbühne was used for communal events during the war years, but it was also repeatedly demolished and looted , probably mainly for firewood and repairs to own houses.
New beginning
The Waldbühne presented itself looted and destroyed after the war. The club that had operated the stage until then no longer existed. Finally, it was again Josef Wintergerst who managed the re-establishment of the association and was finally able to complete it on February 19, 1949. On July 2, the French military administration approved the Sigmaringendorf theater association, just in time for the theater to be resumed in the same year. Based on the beginning of the open-air theater in Sigmaringendorf in 1926, Wilhelm Tell was performed again. In the absence of a lighting system, the performances took place in daylight, spectators and players had to cope with improvised barrack solutions, and initially there was no money for a structural restoration. As early as 1950, however, night performances could be performed again. The Waldbühne experienced a great boom in the 1950s. For the first time, massive advertising measures were carried out and in addition to the then enormous number of 1,300 posters, special trains from Hechingen and Ebingen were also used.
Expansion of use
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Waldbühne was significantly expanded structurally in order to meet the increasing demands on comfort and planning security. During this time, the auditorium was initially partially and later fully roofed, a prompter trench was built and the technical systems in the area of lighting and sound technology were expanded . Equipped in this way, the stage became more versatile and could also be used better and better for events outside the theater.
Parallel use of the stage
Since 1979 the stage is no longer used for just one play. The Sigmaringendorf theater association founded a youth group that year, which from then on performed a children's play every year, parallel to the so-called "adult play". This of course tightened the demands on the stage construction , as two pieces now had to be performed in parallel on one and the same stage. The impetus to found a group for children and young people came from the play of the previous year: in 1978 the theater association performed Zuckmayer's drama The Pied Piper . In it, the actor Gerold Rebholz pulled out of town as a pied piper with a group of children. It was essentially this group of children who, under the direction of the same Gerold Rebholz, presented the first children's play in Sigmaringendorf the following year: Erich Kästner's Emil and the detectives . Rebholz remained the director of the children's and youth group until 2007.
Church and political influence
Due to the publicity of the Waldbühne, its operating association and the actors acting there were repeatedly exposed to attempts at political or church influence. In addition to the cancellation of the play The Sunken Bell in 1934 by the National Socialists, there were also further attempts to influence the choice of the piece and the design from outside. In 1931, people loyal to the church tried to dissuade an actor from participating in Grillparzer's Sappho, as it was a lewd play in their eyes. The concerns of the church and local dignitaries were able to be dispelled at that time through a public rehearsal with the participation of the local pastor and the mayor. Two years later, the attack came from the opposite direction: On the occasion of the extraordinary Holy Year 1933 , it was decided that the play The Devotion to the Cross by Pedro Calderón de la Barca should be performed . The Communist Party , which is traditionally strong in Sigmaringendorf through the workers of the Fürstlich Hohenzollerische Hüttenwerke Laucherthal , publicly hung up a red-framed “Congratulations on the choice”, in which game director Josef Wintergerst accused “betrayal of the interests of the workers” and “friendship and patronage to the church” has been. On February 9, 1933, Wintergerst published a reply in the Hohenzollerische Volkszeitung in which he acknowledged the principles of Christian faith. The piece was performed as planned. More successful was the influence of the church in 1955, when the cancellation of the planned piece The pastor of the church field of Ludwig Anzengruber was reached, the clergy saw himself vilified in this piece. A little bit of authority concerns arose again in 1982, when the play Stokkerlok and Millipilli was performed by Rainer Hachfeld and Volker Ludwig as a children's play. Since children make fun of a uniformed man in this play (“It is forbidden to prohibit!”), Some kindergartens and schools in the district discussed whether children could actually be recommended to attend this play. But even if a comment in the local newspaper finally came to the conclusion that “there would hardly be any moral danger to children attending the theater”, this work should go down in their history as the least popular play in the history of children's theater on the Waldbühne .
Infrastructure of the stage today
The heart of the facility is the actual stage, a gravel area with three permanently installed platforms on the left, center back and right. Access to the stage is possible from the left via a staircase from the forest, a footpath behind the stage or a hidden staircase from the prompter's pit . There are also entrances to the ditch in the middle and on the right-hand side of the stage, so that every possible place of performance can be reached protected from the view of the audience. Additional stage entrances are possible to the left and right through the auditorium, or these arise due to the annually changing conditions of the stage construction.
The auditorium
Today's auditorium offers space for around 670 spectators in five blocks of 12 to 13 rows of seats each. The capacity can be expanded to around 750 seats if necessary by adding additional seating. The rows of benches are wooden benches with a backrest and each offer space for ten people. Depending on the terrain, access to the auditorium is via several stairs. For a long time, barrier-free access for the handicapped, wheelchair users or prams was only possible via the actor's entrance and the stage, until a ramp was built from the ticket office to a newly created side entrance to the auditorium in 2013. The auditorium is closed off by walls to the north and west (towards Rulfinger Strasse) in order to achieve better noise protection; to the east the room is open to the forest. The south side represents the stage. The roof of the auditorium is supported by a total of ten columns, each of which stands between the audience blocks in order to keep the view of the audience as low as possible.
Behind the scenes
The operation of the stage requires some additional structures. The already mentioned prompter pit runs under the stage, which can be entered and left in three places and thus not only serves the prompter, but also the actors, who thereby reach their performance locations unseen. Behind the stage there is a lounge, storage space for set material and props , as well as a building with a workshop, make-up room and changing rooms. The latter was widened by a good four meters in 2016 in order to create more make-up areas for increasing numbers of players.
Before the audience gets to see the stage, they pass the rehearsal building and costume store, the kiosk with attached toilets, and the ticket booth that marks the actual entrance to the Waldbühne. There are two large parking spaces above the stage, another parking lot is about 150 meters above Rulfinger Straße (Kreisstraße 107).
technology
The lighting and sound technology, which is largely installed on and on the roof of the auditorium, is controlled by a technical room with a warehouse, which is located at the rear of the auditorium next to the entrance door. The former control room on the right side of the stage has only been used as a storage facility since the new room was built.
Structural development
From a structural point of view, today's facility no longer has much in common with the original Waldbühne from 1928. Several structural changes have been made since then.
The attachment
As early as 1928, as is still the case today, wooden benches were available for the spectators, at that time still interspersed with shady trees, lined up slightly upwards and the stage offered space for over 1000 spectators. In 1931 the first prompter trench was dug, but almost all of the stage's facilities were destroyed and looted during the Second World War. In 1949 the stage and auditorium were provisionally rebuilt in the original arrangement, and in 1950 changing rooms and toilets were added. A budding plan at this time to set up a revolving stage was discarded in the early 1960s, the expected benefit was out of proportion to the effort. In 1968 the roofing of the auditorium began, which was completed in 1987. Since then, a performance has rarely had to be canceled or interrupted due to bad weather. At the beginning of the 1970s, the Waldbühne changed significantly. The expansion of the neighboring Rulfinger Straße made it necessary to relocate the stage access, the ticket booth and the kiosk, which led to the construction of a new kiosk with sanitary facilities. The barrack, which housed the make-up and changing rooms, fell victim to an arson on March 16, 1978 and was replaced by a new, massive building that also includes a workshop. In 1980 the auditorium was fitted with a soundproof wall facing Rulfinger Strasse as part of the partial expansion of the roof and the prompter pit was renewed, and an old props storage shed was renewed and enlarged in 1983 and 1984. Finally in 1987 the paths in the auditorium were paved and the roofing was completed and given the shape it still has today. Another major construction project was the construction of a rehearsal building with a costume store in 1998, which also contains the club archive. In the spring of 2013, another entrance was created on the western side wall of the auditorium and connected to the ticket office via a 36-meter-long ramp in order to create stair-free access for wheelchair users and the disabled. In the course of this construction project, the entire entrance area was redesigned.
Today's facility offers more comfort and planning security than before, even if the idyll of the first years of the Waldbühne is certainly limited, which was described by the Meßkircher newspaper in 1929:
“The place is excellently located. As soon as we step into 'God's Fichtenhain' we are already in the middle of it in front of the stage. Three gates open before our delighted gaze. (...) This natural theater could not be more naturally embedded in this beautiful and graceful corner. "
The stage construction
A second area in which major changes take place on the forest stage year after year is the construction and reconstruction of the respective scenery. Up until 1964, the sets were dismantled and stored every year in order to protect the material and to be able to recycle it in the following season. The stage construction is largely done by the drama troupe and on a voluntary basis, but occasionally with the support of the Sigmaringendorf community and professional companies.
Audience numbers and catchment area
The auditorium of the Waldbühne offers space for almost 700 people. Every year more than 15,000 visitors visit the around 25 theater performances, the number of visitors to the other events varies greatly. The Waldbühne experienced a strong increase in audience numbers in 2013 and 2014, when a new visitor record was recorded twice in a row, initially the plays The Jungle Book and Romeo and Juliet attracted 15,913 visitors in 2013 , in 2014 Ronja the robber's daughter and The Pope outbid this with 17,208 viewers Result again, whereby The Popess achieved a utilization rate of 99.4%. In 2019, a further record was achieved with a total occupancy rate of 96.4%, due to the one lower number of performances, the absolute maximum audience value with a total number of visitors of 16,809 was just missed. The visitor structures, which guests show far beyond the district of Sigmaringen, show that the Waldbühne is known beyond the borders of the region. In the 1960s and 1970s, performances on the Waldbühne were repeatedly recorded by Südwestfunk and broadcast on regional television.
Performances and events
To date (as of summer 2019) exactly 122 plays have been staged on the Sigmaringendorf Waldbühne, which means that there have already been over 1,000 theater performances, including such well-known works as " A Midsummer Night's Dream ", " Götz von Berlichingen " or " Pippi Longstocking ". In the 2020 season, the planned pieces Die kleine Hexe and Die Feuerzangenbowle had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The parish of Sigmaringendorf has been celebrating its Corpus Christi service on the Waldbühne since 1966 , from where the believers then hold a procession to the Sigmaringendorf parish church.
Works listed so far
Not every play is suitable for performance on an open-air stage. It must match the size and nature of the available space and be appropriate to the requirements it places on the setting. Since 1928, 85 of 122 pieces were performed on the Waldbühne in Sigmaringendorf for the first time, and pieces that had already been played were repeated 37 times.
Up until the 1950s, theater classics were mainly on the program, but from around 1960 onwards more and more popular plays were performed. In the recent past, comedies have mostly been alternated with more serious plays.
The names of authors most frequently mentioned in the Waldbühne's programs are Astrid Lindgren and Paul Wanner . Wanner, who was also a guest on the Waldbühne several times in the 1960s, provided the template for a Waldbühne performance eight times. However, many of his pieces are adaptations of older works. Pieces by the Swede Lindgren (or pieces based on Lindgren's novels) have already been performed ten times. In addition to these two, in particular William Shakespeare with seven, Johann Nestroy with five, and Carl Zuckmayer with four performances are frequently performed authors in Sigmaringendorf. Seven productions were also based on Grimm's fairy tales .
List of performances
Awards
In 2014, the Waldbühne theater association won the honorary prize Echt gut! awarded by the state of Baden-Württemberg. In 2016, the youth group of the Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf was awarded one of 13 nationwide volunteers from the drugstore chain dm . The award ceremony took place during the Federal President's festival at Bellevue Palace. The Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf received the Baden-Württemberg state award for amateur theater Lamathea for its winter productions Nach Schwaben, Kinder! (2017) and Anne Frank: Captured in Safety (2019) each with one nomination in the theater with children and young people category.
Remarks
- ^ The Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf on the website of the Association of German Open Air Theaters ( Memento from March 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Sigmaringendorf map
- ^ Johann Speh: 75 years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ^ Karl Voß: Freilichttheater - Open-air theater: open-air theaters and summer festivals in Germany and neighboring Europe. Dialog-Verlag, 2005, p. 17. ISBN 978-3-933144-60-7
- ↑ Karl Dehner : Chronicle of the community Sigmaringendorf, issue 3: 1815-1912. Sigmaringendorf, 1913.
- ^ A b c d e Werner Selg: 75 years Waldbühne - 155 years theater association. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ↑ Hohenzollerische Volkszeitung, 1926
- ↑ Translation into standard German: That doesn't work, where are you going to put a curtain? Quoted from: Werner Selg: 75 years Waldbühne - 155 years theater association. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ^ Edwin Ernst Weber (Ed.): Sigmaringendorf - Contributions to the history of a Hohenzollern farming and industrial town. Sigmaringendorf, 2002.
- ^ Document "Authorization définitive de l'Association théatrale de Sigmaringendorf" of the French military administration of July 2, 1949. Reprinted in: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - a commemorative publication. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ↑ a b c d Walter Kordovan: The stage is alive! Structural development of the Waldbühne. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Mielke: Children's theater. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ↑ Anton Speh: The bakery pedagogy works extremely well. In: Schwäbische Zeitung, August 1, 2007
- ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung Sigmaringen, September 18, 1982
- ↑ a b Anton Speh: Handicapped people can easily reach the auditorium. In: Schwäbische Zeitung, August 5, 2013
- ↑ a b c Homepage of the theater association Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf
- ↑ Information from the Waldbühne eV theater association in the program booklet for the 2016 season
- ↑ Chairman Johann Speh: "We will get wet, but we are waterproof!" Quoted from: Susanne Grimm: Even continuous rain could not reduce the enjoyment. In: Schwäbische Zeitung from June 23, 1997.
- ↑ Meßkircher Zeitung, July 26, 1929
- ↑ Kurt Ott: Oba druff, simple! Stage construction, or how an illusion is created with a hundred thousand nails. In: Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 Years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - A Festschrift. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ↑ Visitor numbers according to: Association of German Open Air Theaters: Freilichtbühne aktuell. Years 2000–2013, as well as information from the Waldbühne press office
- ↑ A. Speh: “Visitor numbers blow all records”. In: Schwäbische Zeitung, September 3, 2013
- ↑ Waldbühne has more than 17,000 spectators. In: Schwäbische Zeitung, September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014 .
- ↑ Michael Hescheler: "Waldbühne barely misses record number of visitors". In: Schwäbische Zeitung, September 3, 2019
- ^ A b community Sigmaringendorf: Chronicle of the community Sigmaringendorf 1249–1981. Sigmaringendorf, 1982.
- ↑ Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf cancels the 2020 season completely. Schwäbische Zeitung, March 22, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2020 .
- ^ Karl-Heinz Fahlbusch: love - lie - passion. In: Südkurier, July 7, 2004.
- ^ Theaterverein Sigmaringendorf: 75 years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf - a commemorative publication. Sigmaringendorf, 2003
- ↑ Press release from the Ministry of Social Affairs Baden-Württemberg on the honorary award Echt gut! Retrieved December 7, 2014 .
- ↑ Patrick Laabs: Waldbühne receives an award tomorrow, Friday. Schwäbische Zeitung, September 8, 2016, accessed on September 15, 2016 .
- ↑ These are the winners. State Association of Amateur Theater Baden-Württemberg, accessed on August 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Lamathea 2019 - Prize winners have been announced. Ministry of Science and Art Baden-Württemberg, accessed on July 1, 2020 .
literature
- Community Sigmaringendorf (ed.): Chronicle of the community Sigmaringendorf, 1249–1981 . Sigmaringendorf 1982
- Theater Association Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf eV: 75 years Waldbühne Sigmaringendorf. A commemorative publication . Sigmaringendorf 2003
- Anton Speh: "Mister Waldbühne always shows the right way" - a portrait . In: Schwäbische Zeitung Sigmaringen, February 26, 2007
- Edwin Ernst Weber (Ed.): Sigmaringendorf - Contributions to the history of a Hohenzollern farming and industrial place. Sigmaringendorf 2002, ISBN 3-00-010314-7
