Only a few details remind you that the old potato warehouse was in the spotlight of the German musical world not so long ago. The red carpet at the entrance to the Werk 7 theater is now green, as is the logo and the green light, which was supposed to prevent 4,600 tons of potatoes from sprouting here. Culture of remembrance à la Pfanni. On a counter at the back of the concrete-grey foyer, a remainder of the “Fack ju Göthe – Se Mjusicäl” fan mugs, designed by Munich’s graffiti guru Loomit, are still for sale.
The Hamburg show giant Stage Entertainment wanted to establish a foothold in Munich in 2018 with the hit film that was tailored to this hall and the city. After nine months and 200 performances, he put it on hold never to be seen again. There is also an advertising sticker for “Amelie”, the number that follows, on one wall. Just as lovingly and big staged, just as little a hit with the public. So “Die Stage” stopped its second long-distance runner in October 2019 and left Munich for the time being. She left a playroom with 1,500 square meters of space and 700 seats that was converted from a granary to a tiptop theater at a cost of six million euros.
A new tenant for Plant 7 was not found. The family that runs the former Pfanni factory site got involved themselves. “We dared to do that in the middle of the pandemic,” says Caroline Eckart, still confident, “the Werksviertel will use it as a stage.” As managing director of Eventfabrik GmbH, she wants to fill the district construction site at the Ostbahnhof with “life, joy and culture”. Tonhalle, Whitebox and Technikum have long been established as rock, art and event spaces, and yes, “the state concert hall is coming!” she says. The diversity of the cultural sectors here is just as desirable as their friction. Everything on schedule. Plant 7 is now the next step, because as with the summer stage on the Knödelplatz, the Pfanni heirs are going to work here themselves as organizers.
Nellie Krautschneider came to Munich as a theater manager with “Fack ju Göthe”. Now she can determine the entire repertoire of the Werk 7 theatre.
(Photo: Ivana Bilz, Urkern/Ivana Bilz)
The theater was there, a director was still missing – and she was already there: Nellie Krautschneider had brought the stage for “Fack ju Göthe” to Munich as theater director. Quarter chief Werner Eckart wanted to keep her: “You fit in so well with us.” After some thought, she thought so too. “You chat with everyone on the site,” says Krautschneider. She has long felt at home, especially in her theater. It’s not very sociable here at the moment. Actually, the award-winning Reeperbahn piece “Jana und Janis” was supposed to start for three weeks, but it’s now canceled due to three corona cases in the team.
Krautschneider enters her room like a living room. Like the spectators on their way to the seat shells, she immediately stands on the ground-level stage. “A 180-degree stage, something very special,” she says. And she says that to everyone who wants to play here, and also that there is no superstructure and no substructure. “You can’t play everything here. The actors have to play in all directions, not just forward. The audience is very close.” The musicians cannot be hidden in an orchestra pit, they act visibly on top of the gallery and are therefore usually integrated into the events. The pieces have to adapt to the space, the space plays a major role.
When she first visited the hall, she saw nothing but nine towering pillars: “How is that supposed to work?!” She was not responsible for the construction, but for the equipment and the team. Before that, she had set up many new productions such as “Warhorse” or “Tanz der Vampire” for the musical company and also worked as an assistant director at summer festivals from Schwäbisch Hall to Bad Hersfeld. She had been trained for this straight away from the Waldorf school in the Stuttgart theater in the old town. After that, she was in charge of “Faust” again and again for ten years, which gave her her only special ability: “I know “Faust” by heart.”
The seats in Plant 7 are arranged like on a sports grandstand. On three sides, up to 700 guests are close to the action on the 180-degree stage.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
She still had to learn theater management. She got up to 53 actors and employees at once with “Amelie” under control. The backstage area is Werk 7 is upstage backstage. You can tell that she just misses the hustle and bustle when she leads through the four cloakrooms, the cramped tailoring and make-up shop and the open kitchenette, and when she stops at a section of the “Fack ju Göthe” advertising sign sprayed by Loomit. She absolutely wanted to keep that, as well as a professionally made fan banderole “We lav ju” from enthusiastic regular guests. Team-guest bonding is important to her: I write in the contracts that the actors “come down and say hello after the show”.
Now, as director of the factory theater, she can not only manage operations, but also shape the content. In her small office, the only room with a roof for confidential conversations, hangs a poster of the western parody “Long John”, one of the few plays that has been shown here. She loves this creative group of friends from Stuttgart, she always said to herself: “If I run a theater, I’ll get them. Check!” Her claim is “to support things that I’ve seen that are special!” At the moment these are small productions, “at 25 percent capacity with 21 actors, it just doesn’t pay off”. So the start was made by the two-person play “John & Jen”. The long-running comedy solo “Caveman” with her old Stuttgart friend Martin Ludewig has also been here and will be back: “In Munich he always runs with us now,” she says.
The next track will be “Bürobiester” at the end of March, an office comedy revue with songs from Lady Gaga to Marianne Rosenberg. That’s perhaps not as bad as it sounds, because Lukas Nimscheck, who with his children’s hip-hop heroes, is directing Your friends puts on great shows. He wrote to Krautschneider on Facebook: “Nellie, make friends, we’re a good match…” She instructed him to please get in touch via her work email. After that it worked fine.
This is what the shell of the former potato warehouse looked like before the musical company Stage Entertainment converted it into a theatre.
(Photo: Ivana Bilz)
Also off-space for the State Opera?
Networking is everything for Krautschneider. She is still in friendly contact with Stage Entertainment, they would be happy to play in Werk 7 again, “should we have a piece in our portfolio that corresponds to the charming spatial conditions of this house in terms of layout, theme and character”. . The Sarree Children’s Theater School, also known as “Settlers” in the Werksviertel, will soon be playing “Peter Pan” here. The Everding Academy always invites Krautschneider. And with the new Staatsoper director Serge Dorny, she brought Werk 7 into play as an off-space. It doesn’t always have to be singsong, “theater-theater”, her old passion, would be nice too, but the main thing is quality.
“I want to play four days a week,” she says, “a lot of changes” and sometimes go out and explore and introduce the neighborhood with walks in the theater. “I love that they are so willing to create culture here, that’s also a statement in the urban development process. Werner always brings his guests here on his private tours, he loves his theater.” Nellie Krautschneider is therefore not afraid that the old potato hall will have to make way for apartments or offices. “And if so, then I’ll be the first to chain myself in front of it.”