Urania Theater Köln

The Urania Theater has been the venue of the Ensemble Phoenix in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district since October 2017.

On the site of the former Rhenania Hall 1930, the Lichtburg was opened. The cinema was renamed in 1935 in Ehrenfelder Volkskino and 1939 in Volks-Lichtspiele. Rebuilt after the Second World War, it was renamed Rio Theater on 15.09.1953. As an aftermath cinema could hold it with 600 seats in Ehrenfeld until 1968. After closing as a cinema, the front part of the house was used as a supermarket. In the back half moved into a daycare, which is still today in name of the cinema of the 50s. In autumn 1985, Claudia Howard and Kurt Lambrigger opened the first district theater in Cologne with the Urania Theater. The former Rio cinema is located in an old working-class district in Ehrenfeld. At first, this environment was rather random, but it suited the concept of the two Swiss theater makers. With their repertoire, which focused not only on premieres and premieres but also on Swiss authors, they quickly conquered the respect and respect of the press and the public. Especially with their co-productions, the one-person pieces, played by Claudia Howard and staged by Kurt Lambrigger, they gained not only nationwide, but even abroad great recognition.

For the performance of "Sindbadland" by Gerold Späth, directed by Kurt Lambrigger, the Urania Theater also received the 1st Cologne Theater Prize in 1990. Katy Karrenbauer, Martin Armknecht and Mariele Millowitsch have started their careers here.

In 1993, the Urania Theater was closed.

"Together they have dared and made the impossible to establish an independent theater with contemporary pieces in Ehrenfeld .... With the founding of Urania .... the two Swiss immis Claudia Howard and Kurt Lambrigger wrote an important piece of Cologne theater history .... .... The exhausting work takes its toll now: After 8 years, Claudia Howard retires from the management of Urania ... ... CH hands over a well-ordered house, as an actress and artistic director, she has the good reputation founded by the Urania. " Michael Meiger in the "Stadtrevue", April 1993

In 1997, the Arkadas Theater, founded by Necati Sahin, moved to the house on Platenstraße. In 2003, the Arkadaş Theater won the Cologne Children's and Youth Theater Prize. At the beginning of the 2006/2007 season, the sponsoring association "Bühne der Kulturen" took over the running of the game and programmatically developed it into a guest performance stage with an intercultural focus. In June 2017, the theater was put on the Red List by the German Cultural Council and placed in category 1 (by Closure threatened). On July 31, 2017, the game operation of the theater ended at its traditional place in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.

In October 2017, Ensemble Phoenix Bühnenspielgemeinschaft under the direction of Bettina Montazem, Richard Bargel and Frank Oppermann rented the rooms and gave the theater its old name Urania Theater again.