Fabian Müller, theater group Ingoldingen

Fabian Müller has been acting since 1998. After a year in another club, he joined the Ingoldingen theater group in 1999 and stayed. Whether as a Spanish waiter or hand­cuffed to a table dance pole, in High German or Swabian, the applause at the end is the reward for months of work.  

Preparing for a new role is not just about learning the text To play the Spanish waiter as real as possible, he even went to the solarium for 3 months! He grew a mous­tache for the role of Freddy Stecher. You also have to be able to endure pain when you are slapped on stage by your acting colleague. Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt, assures Fabian, but the audi­ence is still star­tled by the sound, it’s all real.   

The Ingoldingen theater group has been in exis­tence for over 40 years and currently consists of 30 people with different tasks, actors, stage construction/props, direc­tion, tech­nology. Not forget­ting the prompter, the most impor­tant person according to Fabian – some­times one look from her is enough to remember the right text. That’s what you call a well-coor­di­nated team! Unadul­ter­ated, means without micro­phones, the team thrills around 170 spec­ta­tors each year in 9 perfor­mances in the musi­cians’ home, always sold out to the last seat. At the dernière, the actors like to play tricks on each other, e.g. there is salt instead of sugar in the coffee or water suddenly comes out of the shower head….

Ruth Schef­fold – “Curtain lifters” Baustetten

For Ruth Schef­fold, the appeal of acting lies in slip­ping into a completely different person and living out their facets. She enjoys losing herself in a role and filling it with life. However, it also requires a certain amount of caution to ensure that this char­acter does not uncon­sciously become part of everyday life.

Over the past 30 years, she has played many a role at the Vorhanglupfern. A decade ago, she was drawn to the festival in Burgrieden for a season, where she appeared on stage as an extra. That year, she was on stage in both Burgrieden and Baustetten. Almost every year, the curtain raisers put on four perfor­mances in the gymna­sium and festival hall in Baustetten, tradi­tion­ally in October for Thanks­giving, with around 300 spec­ta­tors per perfor­mance. The time commit­ment for the actors is consid­er­able, as rehearsals begin three months in advance, initially on a weekly basis – the work­load is grad­u­ally increased. There is always a lot of tension just before the perfor­mances. The support of family members is also needed, be it for setting up the stage or for orga­ni­za­tional tasks. The asso­ci­a­tion takes care of every­thing itself.

Ruth doesn’t have a favorite role, because each one has its own charm. With her voice and appear­ance, she slips into every char­acter and makes it her own. She has already appeared in a variety of roles, including hotel recep­tionist, public pros­e­cutor, fitness trainer, celebrity, monk, diet club member, village gossip and tramp. For the latter, her costume was spon­ta­neously dragged through the dirt shortly before the perfor­mance to make the look more authentic.

Memo­rizing is one of those things. The more assign­ments you have, the more time you have to invest. Only when you have the text down pat is it possible to play the role authen­ti­cally and immerse your­self in it more quickly.

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Fabian Wahlen­mayer – Amateur stage Laupheim

“The Bremen town musi­cians“, who does not know them? This was last year’s play by the “Amateur­bühne Laupheim e. V.” – a touring theater company that performs children’s theater, mostly fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. The approx­i­mately 30 actors, including chil­dren from the age of 6 and other helpers (make-up, prompter, etc.) have 7 perfor­mances a year, and a lot of sets and costumes are stored in the club­house. In keeping with the fairy tale theme, chil­dren under the age of 6 also have small roles and run across the stage as mice, for example.

Fabian was born into the club and has done every­thing – on and off stage. He has been the board member for 12 years and is actively supported by his parents, wife and two daugh­ters.

The stage moves to the canteen of the Uhlmann School, to the Kulturhaus Laupheim, to Dietenheim/Regglisweiler, Oberdischingen, Ehingen, Schmiechen or Munderkingen for the after­noon perfor­mances – everyone has to get stuck in – load the vans, unload, set up – then dismantle, load, unload again…. For this reason, the back­drops – modular in design and all of them home-made – have to be corre­spond­ingly light but stable. They consist of panels painted on both sides that can be rotated 180° – and you have a different stage set, inge­nious! The spec­ta­tors, between 240 and 600 per perfor­mance, want to be catered for and in some cases the amateur stage also sells drinks outside the venue. 

Kurt Kloos – Theater Eber­hardzell 

You’re a spec­tator at a play, then a friend encour­ages you to take part and you’re already on stage as an actor! This is how Kurt Kloos came to the Theater Eber­hardzell in 1998. Since then, he has had many different roles, including policeman, inspector, morti­cian, drunken wedding guest and blind piano tuner. But there were also years when he wasn’t on stage and worked in the tech­nical depart­ment, and once he was even a prompter!  

The asso­ci­a­tion with its 40 members cele­brated its 50th anniver­sary last year. Some say it is the best theater in the area. It seems to be true: The 15-18 perfor­mances a year in the parish hall in Eber­hardzell, each with around 200 spec­ta­tors, are always sold out – with a waiting list!

Rehearsals for the three-act plays start at the begin­ning of October, the texts are learned act by act, the text has to be right at the first rehearsal, the director is strict. The premiere tradi­tion­ally takes place on “St. Stephen’s Day”, which is Boxing Day. In Eber­hardzell, too, the stage is built by the members of the asso­ci­a­tion, who are talented craftsmen, e.g. painters, and costumes are bought in or borrowed.

It’s not just the applause that rewards Kurt and his club colleagues, there’s also always a trip lasting several days, they’ve already been to Seville or they simply go out for a fancy meal in between.