Thuringia’s Minister of Culture Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (left) can basically imagine a revival of the acting section at the Erfurt Theater. For Hoff, the re-establishment of a drama or spoken theater section at the state capital’s theater is “in the realm of the imaginable,” said a spokeswoman for the minister on request. However, the decision to do so lies with the city, since the decision to close was also a local political one at the time. In Erfurt, the reconstruction of the acting department at the theater, which was closed around 20 years ago, has been discussed for some time.
The city council recently commissioned Mayor Andreas Bausewein (SPD) to include the topic in the ongoing negotiations with the state for theater financing – with the aim of re-establishing the division in Erfurt by the 2027/28 season at the latest. On Wednesday evening there will be a panel discussion with representatives of state and local politics. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) is also expected.
According to the State Chancellery, the city has already raised the issue in the financing negotiations, and more details are to be specified in the next round of negotiations starting in autumn. The acting department was closed with the opening of the new theater building in Erfurt in 2003. This was preceded by a debate about theater reform in Thuringia, which was particularly heated between the neighboring cities of Erfurt and Weimar.
“It was about a sustainable model for the specialization of theaters,” says Wolfgang Beese, SPD city councilor and President of the Society of Theater and Music Friends in Erfurt. “Erfurt should concentrate on musical theater and Weimar on spoken theatre.” He himself believed this to be correct at the time and “represented it with conviction”. However, the model “never really worked,” regrets Beese. There was only a “rudimentary” exchange of productions. Ultimately, to this day, theatergoers still prefer the stage in their city. For Beese, the re-establishment of an acting division in Erfurt would be the correction of a “cultural-political error”.
Society of Theater and Music Friends Erfurt
