Theater Osnabrück

The Theater Osnabrück (originally Stadt-Theater) is a municipal five-division theatre in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony), run by the Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück gGmbH. Alongside the divisions of music theatre, drama, dance and concert, the Städtische Bühnen offer theatre for children and young people with OSKAR – Junges Theater for the city and district of Osnabrück, supported by the association OSKARs Freunde e. V. Per season around 25 new productions, eight symphony concerts and over 700 events are offered, attended by over 190,000 visitors in total. Since 1945 the Theaterverein Osnabrück e. V. has supported the stages ideally and materially. As their aim, the founders — citizens of the city — named the preservation and promotion of the city's cultural life. Since 2013 the Theater Osnabrück and the theatre association have jointly awarded the Osnabrück Dramatists' Prize. Theatre was performed in Osnabrück as early as 1771 in the stable wing of the Osnabrück Palace. From 1780 two former noble courts in the Große Gildewart street were used as a venue. Albert Lortzing also performed here between 1827 and 1833. In 1832 the city took over the complex as its first municipal theatre. Owing to a lack of fire-protection facilities, this theatre was temporarily closed in 1881, and the desire for a new building grew.