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What visitors can expect at the Saxon Theatertreffen

What visitors can expect at the Saxon Theatertreffen
The Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater is hosting this year's festival at both of its locations. (Archive photo) / Photo: Paul Glaser/dpa
From: DieSachsen News
Classics of world literature, contemporary drama, experimental formats: A wide-ranging program has been prepared for Saxony's Theatertreffen. It also looks across the border.

21 productions on 6 stages: The 13th Saxon Theatre Meeting in Görlitz and Zittau offers a dense program of drama, dance and musicals from 21 to 26 April. In addition to eleven municipal, state and regional theaters from Saxony, ensembles from Poland and the Czech Republic will also be presenting current productions. The Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater is hosting this year's festival at both of its locations and wants to present the international perspective of its own work in the border triangle. "We are deliberately broadening our view across borders to Eastern Europe and the world," says artistic director Daniel Morgenroth.

The program of the Theatertreffen includes two performances of the new dance piece "Romeo/Juliet Paradise". The Görlitz co-production with artists from Rwanda premiered on April 10. Another festival contribution from the hosts is the play "Von dem Glück, Hrdlak gekannt zu haben". The play is based on the novel of the same name by Janosch and was created in close collaboration with the Lubuski Teatr in Zielona Gora (Grünberg). The production features three members of the Zittau ensemble who speak Polish as well as German.

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According to Morgenroth, the international focus is a special feature of this year's Theatertreffen. The trinational festival J-O-S, which has been promoting cross-border cultural exchange in the border triangle for 15 years, will be fully integrated into the program. Partner institutions from Jelenia Gora (Hirschberg) and Liberec (Reichenberg) will complement the contributions of the Saxon theaters. The productions from the neighboring countries will be performed in the local language with German surtitles. A play by the animation theater from Jelenia Gora can be experienced without any language barrier.

The Theatertreffen is a good opportunity for audiences to "see a concentration of plays from different theaters without having to travel far," said Morgenroth. Theater Plauen-Zwickau, for example, is coming to Görlitz with Shakespeare's "Richard III". The Landesbühnen Sachsen will be performing "Maria Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller in the city on the Neisse. There are still enough tickets available for both performances, as well as for the guest performances from Poland and the Czech Republic and for the international dance production. Artists from the independent scene will perform free of charge for visitors at the Theatertreffen: on April 23 in Görlitz and one day later in Zittau.

Talk with Kretschmer

According to the organizers, "Der Girschkarten" by Lukas Rietzschel has long been fully booked. The commissioned work for Schauspiel Leipzig had its world premiere in November 2025 and can now be seen twice in Zittau. "If it were possible in terms of time, we would have liked to show even more performances," Morgenroth admits. The author from Görlitz is a "driving force" in the region - with his own talk show at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater. "Rietzschel's Utopias" has been playing to sold-out audiences since the beginning of the season.

The financially strained situation of the theaters will be discussed on April 25, when the Görlitz artistic director meets Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) in a public discussion. Under the title "More than money", the discussion will focus on the question of how much culture the Free State can afford in the future, Morgenroth announced.

The Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater in Görlitz and Zittau already hosted the Saxon Theatertreffen in 2012. The artistic showcase is held every two years at different locations.

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