{{Short description|Theatre company}} {{Infobox building | name = Theater Bonn | status = | image = frameless|upright=1.3 | image_alt = | caption = Bonn Opera House, one of several venues | location = Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | address = | coordinates = | groundbreaking_date = | construction_start_date = | opened_date = 1965 | renovation_date = | architect = | website = {{URL|http://www.theater-bonn.de}} }} '''Theater Bonn''' (also known as the '''Stadttheater Bonn''') is the municipal theatre company of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is an organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts. It operates several performance venues throughout the town: '''Oper Bonn''' for music theatre, the {{ill|Kammerspiele Bad Godesberg|de}} and {{ill|Halle Beuel|de}} for plays, and the Choreographisches Theater for ballet and dance.
== History == thumb|Kammerspiele, one of the venues for plays
The history of theatre in Bonn dates back to the time of the electors. End of the 17th century, a court theatre was established at the Electoral Palace, where French and Italian troupes played. In the 18th century, an amateur theatre was established for German plays (''Nationaltheater''), directed by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann from 1778 to 1784, who staged the premiere of Schiller's ''Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua'' on 20 July 1783.<ref name="Kanthak" /> The new French government destroyed the court theatre in 1797.<ref name="Stähle" />
In 1826, citizens built their own play house.<ref name="Beethovenfest" /> A new building was opened in 1848, marked by Beethoven's overture ''Die Weihe des Hauses'' (The Consecration of the House).<ref name="Kanthak" /> The house became the municipal theatre in 1859, with performances by the Cologne theatre. Bonn dates the history of its responsibility for the theatre back to that year.<ref name="Kanthak" /> The Bonn theatre operated with its own ensemble for plays from 1902,<ref name="Kanthak" /> for opera from 1935. The theatre was destroyed by bombing during World War II in July 1943.<ref name="Stähle" />
After World War II, temporary venues for theatre were a university hall, a gymnasium, a cinema,<ref name="Stähle" /> and the ''Prachtbau'' of the {{ill|Bonner Bürgerverein|de}}, completed in 1909.<ref name="Kanthak" /><ref name="Hosfeld" /> In 1965, a new theatre was opened on the Rhine which serves as today's opera house.<ref name="Beethovenfest" /> Intendant {{ill|Karl Pempelfort|de}} focused on works by William Shakespeare, continued by his successor {{ill|Hans-Joachim Heyse|de}} (1970–1981). Intendant Claude Riber invited international singers to perform opera, while plays focused on Austrian contemporary drama, initiated by {{ill|Peter Eschberg|de}}.<ref name="Hosfeld" /><ref name="Jacobi" />
Plays are performed in three venues: the {{ill|Kammerspiele Bad Godesberg|de}}, the {{ill|Halle Beuel|de}}, and the ''Werkstatt'' (workshop) in the opera house. Venues for experimental theatre and children's theatre are the ''Alter Malersaal'' and the Beuel area.<ref name="Beethovenfest" /> {{ill|Manfred Beilharz|de}}, Generalintendant from 1997 for eleven years,<ref name="Hosfeld" /> organized from 1992 with the dramatist Tankred Dorst a biennial festival for European contemporary theatre, ''Festival Bonner Biennale – Neue Stücke aus Europa''.<ref name="Hosfeld" /> From 2013, Bernhard Helmich has been Generalintendant. The Theater Bonn collaborates with the festival Beethovenfest.<ref name="Beethovenfest" />
== Literature == * {{ill|Manfred Brauneck|de}}, Gérard Schneilin (ed.): ''Theaterlexikon 1. Begriffe und Epochen, Bühnen und Ensembles.'' Rowohlts Enzyklopädie im Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1986, 5th edition, 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-499-55673-9}}.
== References == {{reflist|30em | refs =
<ref name="Hosfeld">{{cite book | editor-last = Hosfeld | editor-first = Rolf | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fw9EKgZ0MfYC&pg=PA11 | title = Kulturverführer Köln | publisher = Helmut Metz | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-3-937742-05-2 | language = German | page = 11 }}</ref>
<ref name="Jacobi">{{cite news | last = Jacobi | first = Johannes | url = http://www.zeit.de/1965/20/bleibt-bonns-theater-ein-stadttheater | title = Bleibt Bonns Theater ein Stadttheater? | newspaper = Die Zeit | date = 21 November 2012 | language = German | accessdate = 23 July 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="Kanthak">{{cite news | last = Kanthak | first = Dietmar | url = http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/lokales/kultur/Bonner-Stadttheater-feiert-Jubilaeum-article217484.html?&i=2 | title = Bonner Stadttheater feiert Jubiläum | newspaper = General-Anzeiger | date = 4 November 2009 | language = German | accessdate = 23 July 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="Stähle">{{cite news | last = Stähle | first = Peter | url = http://www.zeit.de/1965/18/bonns-pempel-fort/komplettansicht | title = Bonns "Pempel-Fort" / Im Provisorium am Rhein öffnet eine moderne Hofbühne ihre Pforten | newspaper = Die Zeit | date = 30 April 1965 | language = German | accessdate = 29 July 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="Beethovenfest">{{cite web | url = http://www.beethovenfest.de/theater-bonn/ | title = Theater Bonn | newspaper = Beethovenfest | year = 2017 | language = German | accessdate = 17 July 2017 }}</ref>
}}
== External links == {{commons category|Theaters in Bonn}} * {{official|http://www.theater-bonn.de}} * [http://www.bonn.de/rat_verwaltung_buergerdienste/buergerdienste_online/buergerservice_a_z/00591/index.html?lang=de Theater der Bundesstadt Bonn]
{{Theatre companies in Germany}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:German opera companies Category:Organisations based in Bonn Category:Theatres in Bonn Category:Theatre companies in Germany