Felsenbühne Waldstein
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| Felsenbühne Waldstein e. V. | |
| Founded | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Legal form | Registered association (eingetragener Verein) |
| Member of | Verband Bayerischer Amateurtheater |
| Location | |
| Headquarters | Sparneck |
| Country | Germany |
|
| |
| Links | |
| Website | felsenbuehne-waldstein.de |
| Social media | |
The Felsenbühne Waldstein e. V. is an amateur theatre association that stages the Waldstein-Festspiele, an open-air festival of plays on local history performed on a rock stage on the Großer Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains, Upper Franconia, Germany, near Sparneck and Zell im Fichtelgebirge. The association was founded in 1995 to revive festival plays first performed there in the 1920s.[1]
History
Theatre on the Waldstein goes back to the 19th century: a hospice built on the summit in 1853 hosted small concerts and plays, and on 23 July 1854 a performance of Der Citherspieler und das Gaugericht was held in the castle courtyard for the first time. In 1923, to mark the 400th anniversary of the destruction of the Sparneck family's castles, including the castle on the Waldstein, by troops of the Swabian League on 11 July 1523, the Münchberg branch of the Fichtelgebirgsverein staged the play Ihre Burgen sind zerfallen by Christian Sümmerer, editor of the local newspaper. Its success led Sümmerer to write a festival play, Des Waldsteins Wunderblume after a local legend, first performed in 1924 on a stand with 1,500 seats built into the rocks; the ten performances drew 20,000 spectators, with similar success in 1925. After Sümmerer moved to Munich the festival lapsed; Oskar Froschauer's Des Roten Schlosses Untergang was given twice on the summit in 1929, but the dilapidated stand and lack of funds ended the festival, and a later plan to finance it through shares failed.[1]
In 1995 Dieter Sailer, director of the Heimatbühne Selb, and the Sparneck local historian Reinhardt Schmalz developed a new concept, and the association Felsenbühne Waldstein was founded to carry it out. Three years later Des Waldsteins Wunderblume was performed again on a new stage in front of the Waldsteinhaus inn; by the mid-2020s the association had staged five plays on local history.[1] The 2025 festival, from 27 July to 2 August, presented Das Geheimnis des Waldsteins by Reinhardt Schmalz and Karl Dengler, set shortly before the destruction of the castle in 1523.[2]
Awards
In 2015 the Felsenbühne Waldstein received the Kulturpreis (culture prize) of the Fichtelgebirgsverein for its work in passing on the region's culture and history to younger generations.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Die Felsenbühne, Felsenbühne Waldstein e. V., retrieved 17 October 2026. Archived on 12 June 2026.
- ↑ Informationen und Kartenbestellung, Felsenbühne Waldstein e. V., retrieved 17 October 2026. Archived on 12 June 2026.