Theater im OP
The image shows the ThOP's audience entrance. It is a tall cuboid containing a staircase. Behind that, a flat cuboid with a regular European rooftop, houses the actual theater.
audience entrance May 3, 2008
Address3 Käte-Hamburger-Weg
Göttingen, LS 37073
Germany
Coordinates51°32′30″N 9°56′24″E / 51.5418°N 9.94°E / 51.5418; 9.94
Public transitBus interchange Campus
OwnerGeorg-August-Universität
Typetheater
Seating typewooden benches[1]
Capacity120[2]
Field size5 m × 9 m (16 ft × 30 ft)
Field shaperectangular
Opened1984 (1984)
Website
www.theater-im-op.de

The Theater im OP, abbreviated ThOP (/tɔp/), is a community theater on the former premises of the Georg-August-Universität medical center.[3][4] The stage is situated in the former anatomical theater.[3][4][1][5] The theater's name refers to this, OP standing for German: Operationssaal, lit.'operating hall' (operating room, OR).

History

The theater was founded by the drama section of the German Department in 1984.[3][6] Its primary mission is to give opportunities to students for training and hands-on experience in a theater.[7]

The theater evolved to the largest student theater in Germany.[2] It has become one of the largest of its kind across Europe.[8]

Venue

see adjacent text
stage and terraces as seen from the gallery

The former operating room has two opposing straight elongated stands, east and west. The rows of benches rise very steeply, allowing an unobstructed view. The northern face of the building has a large window, that is usually covered with a black sheet of molton. The southern gallery may be used for additional seats. This arrangement then virtually creates a thrust stage.

There is no glass dome separating observers from the scene. Unlike during an operation focused on one spot in the middle of the hall, actors can – and do – use the whole width and length of the stage. This, combined with the bench structure, tend to give the theater an intimate atmosphere.[4]

A separate staircase for the audience has been attached to the building's southwest. While the stage level can be reached via an elevator, the gallery can not. Nonetheless, the crew is determined to find means allowing everyone to attend shows.[9]

A dressing room, a make-up room and a workshop, beside other facilities, are located laterally to the stage, underneath the stands and gallery. Below the main stage, the former ER's operating room serves the ThOP as a rehearsal stage.[7] Some productions used it as a stage for public audience, too.[7][4][10] However, the former barrel vault-like operating room is limited to 30 persons.[4] Yet it is accessible by wheelchair via ramps, as it is slightly below street level.

Properties and costumes are stored in the attic of an adjacent building, if they are not in use in current or upcoming productions.

From October 2014 till March 2016 a damage of the roof forced the ThOP to use other irregular venues.[11] Unfortunately this coincided with the 30-year anniversary of the theater.[12][11] Alternative venues were for example a (secondary) stage at the city theater Deutsches Theater, as well as the stage of the Junges Theater, but also non-theater surroundings such as the assembly hall at the former grounds of the local private university, now also property of the Georg-August-university, and the ThOP's own rehearsal stage the former ER's OR.[7][10]

In the course of building repairs a ventilation system has been built in into the ThOP's own attic. It helps managing excess heat emitted by a full house and lighting.

Operations

Productions are shown en suite. One ensemble "moves in" into the ThOP, sets up the stage setting and performs final rehearsals, and then has public performances usually over the course of two weeks, until they "move out" again yielding the stage to the next ensemble. This cycle allows up to 12 productions to premiere per year,[5] totaling about 130 shows.[13]

Casts and crews are predominantly students, but a sizable number of the participants are university staff and towns-people as well.[3] Enrolled university students can obtain credits in some courses of studies.[3]

Directors have to go through a vetting process, by being an Assistant Director for one production at the ThOP first. The remaining tasks have more or less formal requirements, but there is a culture of passing forward skills and knowledge: Senior ThOP affiliates instruct novices, who themselves may eventually become senior ThOP members too.

There is only one position funded by the department, accompanied by some (student) assistants.[3][2] All participants are otherwise volunteers.[3][2] The admission pricing policy is non-profit, nonetheless subsidies and sponsoring[14] support the budget.[4][1] Enrolled students of the Georg-August-Universität can attend shows for a compulsory flatrate.[9][15][1] A bar serving bottled drinks belongs to the theater's services.

Most plays are in German. The "English drama workshop" stages a play in English once per year.[16] There have been productions incorporating German sign language, too.

There is no limit to the range of genres. Classical plays as well as contemporary dramas are shown.[2] Since 2004 the theater also hosts a budding dramatists competition.[17][18] The eventually winning play is guaranteed to have its world premiere in the ThOP.[19][18]

stagings (excerpt)
titlepremierenotes
AndorraSeptember 13, 2019
AntigoneMay 15, 2007
Age of CannibalsDecember 4, 2015
Arsenic and Old LaceApril 2012in English
August: Osage CountyJune 26, 2019
BaalJuly 10, 2008
Beautiful ThingJuly 12, 2017
BentOctober 6, 2017
Boeing-BoeingSeptember 2016
The Brothers LionheartJanuary 16, 2016
A Clockwork OrangeSeptember 2009
CloserSeptember 16, 2015
The Comedy of ErrorsJanuary 11, 2008
The Country WifeMay 2014in English
Death and the MaidenMarch 6, 2015
Dream StoryJanuary 17, 2020
Educating RitaAugust 18, 2007
8 WomenNovember 2013
The Fire RaisersOctober 2011
Four RoomsJune 10, 2011in English
Frau Müller muss weg!October 28, 2017
GhostsJuly 16, 2014
Heart of StoneNovember 28, 2012
Hedda GablerNovember 3, 2007
Herr LehmannMay 6, 2016
An Ideal HusbandAugust 2010
The Imaginary InvalidJanuary 2010
An Inspector CallsMarch 12, 2014
Jake's WomenJuly 5, 2016
Killer JoeSeptember 8, 2017
KrabatDecember 4, 2008
Ladies NightJanuary 11, 2014
Les Liaisons DangereusesApril 29, 2010
LysistrataJune 9, 2017musical adaptation
The MaidsDecember 4, 2007
A Midsummer Night's DreamJune 2013in English
A Midsummer Night's Sex ComedyFebruary 14, 2009
Mr. MarmaladeSeptember 5, 2014
A Murder Is AnnouncedMarch 1, 2007
1984May 2, 2008in English
Pictures at an ExhibitionJuly 2009
The PillowmanMay 31, 2019
Possible WorldsFebruary 7, 2015
PygmalionApril 21, 2007in English
A Report to an AcademyApril 15, 2016
Romeo and JulietMay 12, 2017modern adaptation
Ronia, the Robber's DaughterDecember 3, 2010
The SeagullJanuary 2012
ShoppenNovember 4, 2016
SurvivorJanuary 17, 2013own dramatization
The Sound of MusicJune 8, 2016in English
The Taming of the ShrewMay 20, 2009in English
TangoApril 18, 2009
TartuffeJanuary 2011
The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South SeasDecember 6, 2019
Vernon God LittleFebruary 16, 2013
We're No AngelsDecember 2009
What the Butler SawApril 5, 2017in English
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?February 2010

Due to the coronavirus pandemic the theater temporarily shut down its operations mid March 2020, like virtually all theaters in Germany. All productions were put on hold and will be shown as soon as rehearsals become possible again. Nonetheless, ThOP-related classes were still held, although predominately via distance teaching.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Das ThOP: Theater spielen, wo mal operiert wurde" [The ThOR: Acting where once [people underwent] surgery]. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (in German). November 28, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Eilts, Hilke; Schuette, Susann (May 4, 2011). "Hinter den Kulissen des ThOP" [behind the scenes of the ThOP]. Litlog (in German). Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Das ThOP - unsere FAQ" [The ThOP – our FAQ]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schäfer, Günter (September 17, 2019). "Theater im OP" [theater in the OR]. goettinger stadtinfo (in German). Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "ThOP Theater im OP" [ThOP theater in the OR]. Wiki-Göttingen (in German). October 26, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  6. "Theaterspielen im Schau-Operationssaal der Chirurgen" [Playing theater in the surgeons' operating theater]. Göttinger Tageblatt (in German). July 11, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Anders, René (April 13, 2016). "Ende einer dramatischen Reise" [End of an odyssey]. Litlog (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  8. Krutzinna, Leonie (March 27, 2013). "Aktenzeichen EHP 054 ungelöst" [Case number EHP 054 … unsolved]. nacht kritik (in German). Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "karten" [tickets]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Fundus" [prop room]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Theater im OP verlagert Spielbetrieb wegen sanierungsbedürftigen Dachs" [Theater in the OR moves productions due to roof in need of repair]. Göttinger Tageblatt (in German). October 3, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  12. "thop-less" [(life) without ThOP]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  13. Lendt, Gundula (March 31, 2017). "Göttingen - Was mich bewegt, erschüttert, nervt ..." [Göttingen – What strikes, shocks, annoys me, …]. Göttingen (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  14. "Partner/Förderer" [partners/sponsors]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  15. "Kultur-Semesterticket" [culture semester ticket]. Allgemeiner Studentenausschuß (in German). Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  16. "Arts and Entertainment in Göttingen". Max Planck Institute. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  17. "dramatiker*innenwettbewerb" [dramatists-star-female competition]. Theater im OP (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  18. 1 2 "Theater im OP (ThOP)" [theater in the OR (ThOR)]. Autorenwelt (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  19. Hausmann, Lisa (April 11, 2019). "Theaterstücke über die Vor- und Nachteile der Digitalisierung" [plays about advantages and disadvantages of the digital revolution]. Göttinger Tageblatt (in German). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
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