In protest against expiring contracts, director Enrico Lübbe imposed house bans on two actresses. The in-house director then resigned and lawyers got involved.
A black line runs across the faces in the stairwell of the Leipzig Playhouse. The photos show the artistic ensemble and are intended to symbolize unity in the house. Two portraits appear to have been crossed out with additional crosses. They belong to the actresses Julia Preuss and Katharina Schmidt. They were recently banned from the house and were no longer allowed to enter the stage. An escalation at a theater. Whoever crossed out the series of portraits left a signal: the house blessing is crooked. That’s what some say. But the director of the house, Enrico Lübbe – who was acting director in Chemnitz from 2008 to 2013 – and the Leipzig mayor of culture Skadi Jennicke contradict. The house bans have now been lifted, but the conflict continues to smolder.
“Mobilization of the workforce”
The reason for the scandal, which the city magazine “Kreuzer” first reported on, is so-called non-extensions. Theater contracts are limited to one year. They are automatically extended by one year until a contracting party issues a justified non-renewal. Julia Preuss and Katharina Schmidt, both at the house since 2015, found out about their contract in October. Because they cannot understand the reasoning, they appealed. After both wrote to the staff demanding an open meeting “without pressure, without direction”, the theater management banned both of them from the house in mid-November. Reasons: mobilization of the workforce and disturbance of peace in the company.
“Please understand that we do not comment on questions of personnel law,” explains director Enrico Lübbe when asked. “Non-renewals are never easy for those affected.” He denies the general “dissatisfaction of the workforce” that Preuss and Schmidt wrote about. A few years ago, Lübbe raved about Preuss on MDR: “It’s a great gift to work with her!”
Cultural Mayor Skadi Jennicke also does not want to comment on personnel decisions. Non-extensions are normal in the artistic field, but “always a personal turning point for those affected”. She sees no reason to intervene. “It is Enrico Lübbe’s original responsibility to decide on engagements in the artistic field.”
Solidarity with actresses
The stage association declared that it would support Preuss and Schmidt. And out of solidarity with the actresses, in-house director Claudia Bauer has terminated her engagement at Schauspiel Leipzig. She told the MDR: “Theater has to be lively, and theater has to endure criticism, even behind the scenes.” The ensemble also called for the withdrawal of the house ban and non-extension in a statement “in a very large majority”: “In our opinion, the working atmosphere was severely damaged by the releases and the house bans imposed.”
In the city magazine “Kreuzer”, several former employees reported on a climate of intimidation and a lack of trust at the Leipzig Theatre. Among them is Daniele Keckeis, who already played in Chemnitz under Enrico Lübbe. She says: “We had a very good and fulfilling cooperation for a long time. But even after many years, a relationship of trust has not emerged. The thought that it could be over if things don’t go the way he imagines , was always present.”
Two days before Christmas, the theater management lifted the house bans. Preuss and Schmidt should be allowed to fill their roles until the end of the summer season. In a message published afterwards, both actresses are happy about this decision. The letter allows speculation about the change of heart in the house: your lawyers would have filed an urgent procedure against the house bans, the summons to court had been sent to the theater management immediately beforehand. As a result, she anticipated the legal decision by lifting the house bans. The non-renewal of the contracts will obviously be disputed in court. So the drama goes on, open ended. All ensemble portraits in the stairwell have been taken down.