View source for Florian-Geyer-Festspielgem.

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The '''Festspielgemeinschaft Florian Geyer e. V.''' is an amateur theatre association in [[wikipedia:Giebelstadt|Giebelstadt]] in the [[wikipedia:Würzburg (district)|district of Würzburg]], [[wikipedia:Lower Franconia|Lower Franconia]], Germany. Founded in 1979, it stages the annual ''Florian-Geyer-Festspiele'', an open-air play about the knight and peasant leader [[wikipedia:Florian Geyer|Florian Geyer]] performed in front of the ruins of the Geyer family's castle in Giebelstadt.<ref name="schloss" />

== History ==
The Geyerschloss was a Franconian moated castle that was destroyed by [[wikipedia:Rothenburg ob der Tauber|Rothenburg]] in 1441, spared in the [[wikipedia:German Peasants' War|Peasants' War]], and decayed into a ruin in the 19th century; the municipality bought the ruin in 1920 and made it safe. Around 1920 the Franconian dialect poet Nikolaus Fey wrote the play ''Florian Geyer'' for the 400th anniversary of the Peasants' War. As [[wikipedia:Würzburg|Würzburg]] declined to stage it, Giebelstadt offered itself as the venue, and the play premiered within the ruin's outer walls in 1925. After 1933 the Geyer plays were used for National Socialist propaganda; the last pre-war performance took place in 1938, and the ruin was badly damaged by a bomb during the Second World War.<ref name="schloss" />

In spring 1978 the idea arose of reviving Fey's play, which was performed again in August 1978, after 40 years, in the Saalbau Lutz. In January 1979 the ''Festspielgemeinschaft Florian Geyer e. V.'' was founded with the aim of playing at the ruin again; members rebuilt the stage and restored the walls, and the first performance in front of the ruin took place on 27 July 1980. Since then the festival has been held every year, and since 1999 there have also been children's festival performances.<ref name="schloss" />

== Productions ==
For summer 2027 the association announced ''Florian Geyer – Zwischen Kreuz und Schwert'', a new version written for the festival by Sabine Schnurrer and directed by Ralph Wege, which tells the Peasants' War from unfamiliar perspectives and also features the Eibelstadt peasant leader Jakob Köhl; about 50 performers and ten horses take part. Performances are preceded by a backstage tour, for which the youth group ''Geyer's Küken'' writes and performs a short play including stage combat and pyrotechnics.<ref name="home" /><ref name="jugend" />

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="schloss">[https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/das-geyerschloss/ Vom Geyerschloss zur Festspielruine], Festspielgemeinschaft Florian Geyer e. V. (excerpts from the 2020 municipal chronicle by Friederike Langeworth), retrieved 17 October 2026. [https://web.archive.org/web/20260711055345/https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/das-geyerschloss/ Archived] on 11 July 2026.</ref>
<ref name="home">[https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/ Florian Geyer Festspiele Giebelstadt], Festspielgemeinschaft Florian Geyer e. V., retrieved 17 October 2026. [https://web.archive.org/web/20260711050826/https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/ Archived] on 11 July 2026.</ref>
<ref name="jugend">[https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/der-verein/jugenarbeit-geyer-s-kuken/ Jugendarbeit – Geyer's Küken], Festspielgemeinschaft Florian Geyer e. V., retrieved 17 October 2026. [https://web.archive.org/web/20260711053722/https://www.florian-geyer-spiele.de/der-verein/jugenarbeit-geyer-s-kuken/ Archived] on 11 July 2026.</ref>
</references>