Theatergruppe Prisma
AI-generated – not yet proofread by a human editor. Information may be incomplete or inaccurate.
The Prisma Theatergruppe e.V. (also Theatergruppe Prisma) is an amateur theatre group based in Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.[1] Founded in 1968, it has staged one or occasionally two productions of mainly modern and classic drama almost every year since, and plays in Speyer's Alter Stadtsaal.[2][3]
| Founded | 1968 |
|---|---|
| Legal form | Registered association (eingetragener Verein) |
| Member of | Landesverband Amateurtheater Rheinland-Pfalz |
| Location | |
| Headquarters | Q6829 |
| Country | Germany |
|
| |
| Links | |
| Website | prisma-theater.de |
| Social media | Instagram · YouTube |
History
The group grew out of play-reading evenings that three women in Speyer, with backgrounds in speech training, fine art and fashion design, held for their own pleasure. The idea of staging a play themselves led to a production of Oscar Wilde's comedy Bunbury (The Importance of Being Earnest), chosen as a demanding play with roles of roughly equal weight. Because no suitable hall was available in the city at the time, the premiere on 16 May 1968 took place in the auditorium of the Nikolaus-von-Weis-Gymnasium; a second performance followed.[4]
Two or three years after the first production, the loose group, which had called itself Freunde des Theaters ("Friends of the Theatre"), adopted the name Prisma. A new play followed each year; over time the performances moved from spring to autumn and their number grew. In 1977 the group gave a guest performance of Bleiwe losse in the prison in Mannheim. One of the founders directed until 1989, after which a new generation of members took over the stage work.[4]
In 2020 there was no production because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] In September of that year the group presented scenes from its pandemic piece at the reopening weekend of the renovated Alter Stadtsaal.[5] In November 2026 it staged the self-devised piece Ein Stück Leben.[6]
Repertoire
The repertoire centres on 20th- and 21st-century drama by authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch and Ödön von Horváth, alongside classics by Shakespeare, Molière and Goldoni, and, since 2021, pieces developed by the group itself.[2]
| Year | Title | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Bunbury | Oscar Wilde | First production, premiered 16 May 1968[4] |
| 1969 | Vier Einakter | Jean Tardieu and Samuel Beckett | Four one-act plays |
| 1970 | Liebe um Liebe (Love for Love) | William Congreve | |
| 1971 | Die schönen Ferienzeit | Carlo Goldoni | Trilogy |
| 1972 | Tingeltangel | Karl Valentin | |
| 1972 | Die Kleinbürgerhochzeit | Bertolt Brecht | |
| 1973 | Ein besserer Herr | Walter Hasenclever | |
| 1974 | Bleiwe losse | Wolfgang Deichsel | Guest performance in Mannheim prison 1977[4] |
| 1974 | Impromptus | René de Obaldia | Three one-act plays |
| 1975 | Die gelehrten Frauen (Les Femmes savantes) | Molière | |
| 1976 | Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen (Arsenic and Old Lace) | Joseph Kesselring | |
| 1977 | A emol debei soi | after Karl Valentin | |
| 1978 | Komödie der Eitelkeit | Elias Canetti | |
| 1979 | Blut und Liebe | Martin Luserke | |
| 1980 | Ein Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night's Dream) | William Shakespeare | |
| 1981 | Tucholsky-Abend | Kurt Tucholsky | Tucholsky evening |
| 1983 | Fuente Ovejuna oder Das lodernde Dorf (Fuenteovejuna) | Lope de Vega | |
| 1985 | Pfälzers Himmel- und Höllenfahrt | Paul Münch | |
| 1985 | Scherz/Satire | ||
| 1986 | 2 Einakter | Anton Chekhov | Two one-act plays |
| 1986 | Der Diener zweier Herren (The Servant of Two Masters) | Carlo Goldoni | |
| 1987 | Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar (Señora Carrar's Rifles) | Bertolt Brecht | |
| 1989 | Was ihr wollt (Twelfth Night) | William Shakespeare | |
| 1990 | Ein Totentanz | Hugo Distler | With the Motettenchor Speyer |
| 1990 | Sechs Personen suchen einen Autor (Six Characters in Search of an Author) | Luigi Pirandello | |
| 1991 | Romulus der Große (Romulus the Great) | Friedrich Dürrenmatt | |
| 1993 | Ich will Mjussow sehen | Valentin Kataev | |
| 1994 | Drei Schwestern (Three Sisters) | Anton Chekhov | |
| 1995 | Alles im Garten | Edward Albee | |
| 1996 | Kasimir und Karoline | Ödön von Horváth | |
| 1997 | Die Kurve | Tankred Dorst | |
| 1997 | Unter dem Milchwald (Under Milk Wood) | Dylan Thomas | |
| 1998 | Die Falle des Qualle (Le Piège de Méduse) | Erik Satie | |
| 1998 | Tartuffe (Tartuffe) | Molière | |
| 1999 | Caligula (Caligula) | after Albert Camus | |
| 2000 | Träume | Günter Eich | |
| 2001 | Don Gil von den grünen Hosen | Tirso de Molina | |
| 2002 | Stunden der Liebe | Jean Tardieu, Ödön von Horváth, Kurt Schwitters | Three one-act plays |
| 2003 | Die See | Edward Bond | |
| 2004 | Der Aufzug | Harold Pinter | |
| 2004 | Hotel zu den zwei Welten | Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt | |
| 2005 | Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald (Tales from the Vienna Woods) | Ödön von Horváth | |
| 2006 | Faust (Doctor Faustus) | Christopher Marlowe | |
| 2007 | Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats (Marat/Sade) | Peter Weiss | |
| 2008 | Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie | Max Frisch | |
| 2009 | Hase Hase | Coline Serreau | |
| 2010 | Top Dogs | Urs Widmer | |
| 2011 | Ssälawih | Kurt Tucholsky | |
| 2011 | Der Besucher | Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt | |
| 2012 | Der nackte Wahnsinn (Noises Off) | Michael Frayn | |
| 2013 | Der Vorname | Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte | |
| 2014 | Die zwölf Geschworenen (Twelve Angry Men) | Reginald Rose | |
| 2015 | Wandernutten | Theresia Walser | |
| 2016 | Ein bisschen Ruhe vor dem Sturm | Theresia Walser | |
| 2016 | Eine Familie (August: Osage County) | Tracy Letts | |
| 2017 | Homo Empathicus | Rebekka Kricheldorf | |
| 2018 | Hangmen (Hangmen) | Martin McDonagh | |
| 2019 | Der eingebildete Kranke (The Imaginary Invalid) | Molière | |
| 2021 | Warten auf Covidot | Developed within the group; scenes shown in September 2020[5] | |
| 2022 | Biedermann und die Brandstifter (The Fire Raisers) | Max Frisch | |
| 2023 | Gretchen 89 ff. | Lutz Hübner | |
| 2024 | Eine Odyssee | Ad de Bont | |
| 2025 | Romulus der Große | Friedrich Dürrenmatt | Also staged in 1991 |
| 2026 | Ein Stück Leben | Devised by the group[6] |
Venue
The group's performances take place in the Alter Stadtsaal, the old municipal hall in the courtyard of Speyer's town hall.[3][5] When the group began in 1968, the hall was used as a table-tennis room for city employees, and the first production was played in a school auditorium instead.[4] The Alter Stadtsaal reopened after renovation in September 2020, when the group was one of the local ensembles that presented themselves at the reopening weekend.[5]
References
- ↑ Impressum, Prisma Theatergruppe e.V., retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Aufführungs-Chronik, Prisma Theatergruppe e.V., retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Anfahrt, Prisma Theatergruppe e.V., retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Unsere Geschichte, Prisma Theatergruppe e.V. (based on an interview with the founders, January 2002), retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Wiedereröffnung Alter Stadtsaal, 25.–27.9.2020 (flyer), Kulturbüro der Stadt Speyer, September 2020, retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Prisma Theatergruppe e.V. – Theater aus Speyer, Prisma Theatergruppe e.V., retrieved 26 October 2026. Archived on 27 October 2026.