Puppet theater

Council minutes from 1561 indicate that puppet shows were already being performed in Zwickau by the mid-15th century. In 1717, the first known marionette puppeteer performed at the Zwickau Gewandhaus. By the early 19th century, performances were already taking place at various venues in and around Zwickau.
 
In the mid-19th century, set designer Heinz Holzapfel and his wife ran a custom-built chamber theater in their apartment. What began with small, hand-carved wooden figures with angular faces evolved over the years into increasingly larger puppets with distinct personalities, colorful costumes, and elaborately staged backdrops. These gained fame as far as Schwarzenberg, where the “Schwarzenberg Miniature Puppet Plays” were performed starting in 1948. Their good reputation spread as far as Zwickau, leading to the establishment in 1951 of Zwickau’s first municipal puppet theater in the city library on Dr.-Friedrichs-Ring—“Das Theater der Jugend.” The stage, still privately owned by the Holzapfel family, served as the initial equipment for today’s Zwickau Puppet Theater and was used until 1966.
 
In 1951, the Municipal Museum in Zwickau hosted the first exhibition on the theme “New and Historical Puppetry Around the World.”  The official opening of the Zwickau Puppet Theater took place on September 1, 1952, with the production of the play “Die Regentrude.” This was followed by other plays, such as “The Brave Little Tailor,” “The Snow Queen,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Wurzelpeter.” On August 1, 1955, the Puppet Theater was affiliated with the theater and thus took the name “Bühnen der Stadt.” Over the years, new productions were added, which also saw rising attendance figures. In 1966, Hans Dieter Stäcker took over as director of the Puppet Theater, making it increasingly well-known both domestically and abroad. In addition to productions for children, a repertoire for adults followed, which enjoyed great popularity. In 1991, Heinrich Schulze became director of the puppet theater; he is still known today as “Puppen-Schulze.” In 1993, a limited liability company (GmbH) was founded, which merged with the Plauen Theater in 1999 to form the Plauen-Zwickau Theater.
 
With the 2016/2017 season, the Puppet Theater became a subsidiary of Kultour Z. GmbH.