Free time activities - Outdoor theater features genres such as fairy tales, musicals, and westerns.
The Saxon Theater has geared up for the summer season and is getting ready to perform on open-air stages once again. "Pippi and the Seven Seas" kicked off the open-air season at Chemnitz over the weekend. The Felsenbühne in Rathen has been in operation since May, and the theater troupe will return to the Greifensteine in the Ore Mountains on June 22nd. At the Greifensteine, Jasmin Sarah Zamani's staging of "Krabat" will open the season. The summer shows usually attract a lot of interest, as Theresa Schultz, spokesperson for the Chemnitz Theater explains, "We offer family-friendly plays, romantic theater, and opera repertoire under the open sky, which seems to be really popular, as evidenced by the bookings."
Chemnitz Theater is also commemorating its tenth anniversary on the Küchwaldbühne during the summer season. The theater company's Felsenbühne Rathen in Saxon Switzerland started the festival season with a new work on Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in May. In addition to "Shatterhand," there are six other productions and a total of 89 performances for visitors to enjoy until September 8th. This includes two romantic operas—Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischütz" and Richard Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer."
The family-oriented pieces are the focus of the Rathener Freilichtbühne, which is operated by the Landesbühnen. Last year, "Peter Pan" by Manuel Schöbel was the most successful show with over 17,000 visitors. This season, the Landesbühnen will present other family classics like "The Cold Heart" and "Pettersson and Findus." 73,000 people visited the Felsenbühne in the previous year.
The Theater Plauen-Zwickau will be welcoming visitors with a grand summer production. Spokesperson Carolin Eschenbrenner was excited, trumpeting, "We're bringing a large cast, and the staging and costumes will be opulent." A family musical premiere, "Snow White and Me," a modern take on the Snow White fairy tale, will precede the summer holidays in Zwickau's Park Theater. In Zwickau's Theaterhof Plauen, a comedy, "The Servant of Two Masters," will be on offer as well.
The Theater Plauen-Zwickau will be starting its summer season early with a musical and proceeding with family-friendly open-air plays. "We cater to families who bring their children with them," explains Eschenbrenner. Some of the performances will start at 4 p.m. to meet the desires of the audience. The Plauen Park Theater has spacious grounds for visitors, and fairy tale plays for kids are also being prepared. In addition, the comedy, "The Servant of Two Masters," can be watched at the Theaterhof Plauen and the Burg Schönfels in the Zwickau district.
The Greifenstein-Festspiele will run for ten weeks in the natural setting of the Erzgebirge, starting on June 22nd. "Krabat," a Sorbian legend about a poor miller's son who frees himself from his demonic master, will be the initial offering. "Keine Angst vor Hotzenplotz" and the operetta "Herz über Bord" will also be part of their program. The Erzgebirgische Theater- und Orchester GmbH has planned two premieres for this season: the musical "Monty Python’s Spamalot" and the family theater "Drachen haben nichts zu lachen."
The Schauspiel Leipzig will be setting up shop in the courtyard of the Grassimuseum this summer. "The atmosphere with the cemetery and the columns of the museum building suits our annual vampire story well," says spokeswoman Sarah Schramm, who is playing the lead role "Nosferatu." The premiere of the show is scheduled for August 15th. Performances will continue in the museum courtyard until September, where 200 spectators can find space.
In the Naturtheater Bad Elster, the summer season will include 27 different events. Stephan Seitz from the Chursächsische Veranstaltungs GmbH explains, "We're celebrating the 700th anniversary of the town, and we're offering operas, musicals, fairy tale classics, and comedy." This year, they have collaborations lined up with the Landesbühnen Sachsen, the Semperoper Dresden, the Nordböhmische Theater from the Czech Ústí nad Labem, and the Karlsbader Sinfonieorchester in store.
The Naturtheater was established in 1911 in the forest above the spa town. Over the years, it experienced decay but was later revitalized, with a retractable roof to accommodate 1500 audience members. Seitz remarks, "The blend of culture and nature is exceptional. It almost seems as though the birds in the forest are harmonizing with the performances."
Theater Chemnitz, Landesbühnen Sachsen/ Felsenbühne Rathen, Theater Plauen-Zwickau, Greifenstein-Festspiele, Schauspiel Leipzig, Chursachsen, Bad Elster.
