Theaterkreis Münchweiler

AI-generated – not yet proofread by a human editor. Information may be incomplete or inaccurate.

Theaterkreis Münchweiler, which presents itself as „Gestatten: Theaterkreis Münchweiler“, is an amateur theatre group based in Münchweiler an der Alsenz in the Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Founded in 1991, it stages one comedy each November in the village's Bürgerhaus.

History

Amateur theatre in Münchweiler had previously been part of the local Gesangverein (choral society), whose theatre performances ended in 1964 with the farce Der Meisterboxer. The Theaterkreis was founded in spring 1991 on the initiative of the then mayor of the municipality; three of its first players had already acted in the choral society's group in 1963–64. Its first production, the comedy Kurzschlüsse, premiered in mid-March 1992, and a second play followed in November of the same year; the early-November date has been kept since. The group has also given guest performances in Winnweiler and Weitersweiler.

For its tenth anniversary in 2001 the group staged Kille, Kille by Derek Benfield as a summer production in June, in the barn of the Klostermühle in Münchweiler and a week later on the open-air stage at Falkenstein Castle.

No November production took place in 2013 because of renovation work at the Bürgerhaus; the play was performed in spring 2014 instead. In 2015 the performances were cancelled after a fire in the Bürgerhaus restaurant and were made up in February 2016. The group marked its 25th anniversary in November 2016 with Pension von leichter Sitte. Because of rising demand for tickets it gave four performances of the same play for the first time in 2019. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic; the group resumed in 2022 with its 31st production, marking its 30th anniversary. In 2023 the group had about 20 amateur actors, several of whom had been involved since the first production in 1992.

Repertoire

The group plays comedies, both in Palatine dialect and in standard German; according to its own account, crime comedies became its favourite genre, among them Keine Leiche ohne Lilly. The 2017 production Alles Bio was performed in dialect. Productions were originally given on three consecutive days, Friday to Sunday; since 2019 there have been four performances on the first two weekends of November. Rehearsals start in late summer and include an intensive rehearsal weekend in a youth hostel.

Productions (incomplete)

Year	Title	Author	Notes
1992	Kurzschlüsse		First production, premiered in March 1992
2001	Kille, Kille	Derek Benfield	Tenth anniversary; summer production in the Klostermühle barn and at Falkenstein Castle
2010	Ganz in Weiß
2011	Eine Leiche auf der Flucht
2012	Willige Hausfrau hat vormittags noch Zeit		June
2012	Wann starb Johann Gottlieb Fichte?		November
2014	Der Sauna Gigolo		April; postponed from 2013
2014	Bubblegum und Brillanten		November
2016	Wie wär's denn, Frau Meier?		February; postponed from 2015
2016	Pension von leichter Sitte	Carl Slotboom	25th anniversary
2017	Alles Bio	Sigrid Ellenberger	Three sold-out performances
2018	Erpresser & Co.
2019	Neurosige Zeiten		First season with four performances
2022	Zweimal Himmel und zurück	Regina Harlander	30th anniversary
2023	Fünf Gauner und ein ungewöhnlicher Kühlschrank	Jochen Mathies	Crime comedy
2025	Miss Sophies Erben	Andreas Wening

Venue

The group performs in the Bürgerhaus of Münchweiler. Since the hall is used by other groups during the week, the theatre stage and the group's own sets can only be set up on the weekend before the performances. In 2017 the three performances each had more than 200 seats.

Organisation

According to a 2005 account, the group held annual workshops with professionals from the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern and kept up contacts with amateur theatre groups in Alsace and Lorraine.