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| About the theater |
Västerås teater and Teater Västmanland
Västerås Teater is one of the most beautiful regional theatres with a big stage and audiotorium with 399 seats. The building is designed by the famous architect Erik Hahr. The first ever performance at the theatre was the play Gustav Wasa by the famous Swedish author August Strindberg. In the 1920´s the theatre became a cinema and movies became the main attraction in the house only abrupted by short visits by theatre companies and local variety shows.
In the 1950´s the cinema closed down and at the same time the plans to start a local theatre ensemble in Västerås started to grow. In 1963 the community appointed a curator to investigate the question.
The Västerås ensemble becomes Teater Västmanland
In 1967, the first permanent ensemble from the National theatre (Riksteatern), was placed outside Stockholm at Västerås teater, known as the Västerås ensemble. The construction was called “national -municipal theatre”. In cooperation with the community board of theatre the ensemble was responsible for a range of plays in the city of Västerås at the theatre, combined with guest appearances mainly from the National theatre.
The first opening night was a variety show by Hasse Alfredsson and Tage Danielsson called “Oh, what a wonderful peace”(Åh, vilken härlig fred).
Ten years later, the Västerås ensemble was replaced by a regional theatre ensemble, Västerås Länsteater (The regional theatre of Västmanland). The reason to reconstruct the organisation was a new fundamental government cultural politic, decided in 1974. Västmanlands länsteater was founded as a foundation where the community and the county council were the main owners, but also the other communities in the county, with a few exceptions, were members.
The commission was to develop the theatrical activity in the county.
In 1998, the old foundation transformed into a community union with only two members, the community of Västerås and the county council. The commission of the theatre didn’t change though.
Theatre for children
Since the late sixties, theatre for children has become a very important part of Teater Västmanlands activities. The Västerås ensemble was pioneers in developing theatre for children.
The commission to produce this kind of theatre was consolidated by the foundation of Västmanlands länsteater. In 1990 they started Sigurdteatern, a new stage for children and youth theatre that became very well respected all over the country and still continues to be an important participant in developing theatre for our young audience.
Since 2005, Teater Västmanland has started a cooperation with Uusi Teatteri, the only theatre company in Sweden that plays in finnish. Uusi teatteri has it’s new location on Sigurdscenen (The stage of Sigurd)
The number of performances at Västerås teater has increased a lot since the days of the Västerås ensemble. Back in those days the theatre performed a play maybe 10 -15 times on the stage. Nowadays Teater Västmanland performs each play at least 25 times. One of the purposes by increasing the number of shows is to reach new groups of audience.
At a small regional theatre like Teater Västmanland, the number of people visiting our plays in a year, vary a lot from one year to an other. On average we play 300 shows in a year with an audience of 35 000 people.
Furthermore, Teater Västmanland has a supporting role for theatre activities in the rest of the county. For example, the theatre employs an adviser for community theatre in specific, that is our important link to the amateur theatre companies in the county.
The numbers of actors and musicians employed by the theatre varies from year to year depending on the productions, but in 2006, the theatre had 10 actors and two musicians on permanent basis.
The manager of Teater Västmanland since January 2009 is Lars Johansson.
The Teater Västmanland turnover in 2006 was 28 million kronor.
To order tickets:
By Phone: 021-470 41 10
E-mail: biljettkassan@teatervastmanland.se
By the net: http:// www.ticnet.se
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