Theatergruppe Erbach e.V.

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Theatergruppe Erbach e.V. is an amateur theatre group based in Erbach, a village in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It stages an annual comedy in the local Volkenbachhalle and organises an open-air theatre evening with neighbouring amateur groups every two years.

History

The group goes back to 1983, when ten young people from Erbach rehearsed a play, Das Brautwerber-Trio, to liven up the village Christmas party. Encouraged by the response, they performed a play at the Christmas party in the following years as well, and after four years they began to perform publicly. As the group had no materials of its own, the players each contributed money privately to build a first stage set. With growing audiences the number of performances was raised to two in 1985, three in 1993 and four in 2004.

On 27 December 1991, 36 people founded the registered association Theatergruppe Erbach e. V.; since 1993 it has had a festival committee and a four-member reading panel that chooses the plays. In 1998, on the occasion of the district culture days (Kreiskulturtage) held in the Verbandsgemeinde Rheinböllen, the members decided to organise an open-air performance with the theatre groups of the Verbandsgemeinde for the first time; it has been held every two years since. In 2009 the group had 41 members, 22 men and 19 women. It marked its 25th anniversary in 2009 with an open-air evening on 4 July 2009, at which the Junge Bühne Ellern, Chaos – Theatergruppe Kisselbach e. V., „Mer Merschbacher“, Die Migge Liebshausen e. V., Studio 61 Rheinböllen and Theaterverein „gugge mo“ Riesweiler e. V. also performed.

Repertoire

The group performs comedies. Its main production is played each year on the two weekends before the first Sunday of Advent: in 2015 it was Im Pfarrhaus geht's rund, a comedy in three acts by Walter G. Pfaus, and in 2018 Immer diese Schwiegermütter by Beate Irmisch, performed on 17, 23 and 24 November 2018. Between the main productions, members have toured local events in the Hunsrück with short pieces: Was macht Herr Übel am Samstag Vormittag was first shown at the Erbach community day in 2013 and later at the group's open-air theatre, a choir festival in Dichtelbach and a Landfrauentag; An der Theaterkasse and its sequel Im Theater were performed among other places at the annual reception of the Verbandsgemeinde in Argenthal.

Venue

The annual productions take place in the Volkenbachhalle in Erbach. The biennial open-air performances are held on the Freilichtbühne Erbach below the village barbecue site, where the audience is invited to stay on around a campfire after the show. On 11 July 2015 the open-air evening featured, besides the group's own players, theatre groups from Riesweiler, Liebshausen, Kirchberg, Mörschbach, Rheinböllen and Kisselbach.

Organisation

Besides the productions, the group organises an annual tractor ride, regular get-togethers and a multi-day trip every two years, and its members attend performances of neighbouring amateur groups.