Urania Theater
Cologne's first neighbourhood theatre, founded in 1985 in a former Ehrenfeld cinema — with a series of operators across the decades.
The Urania Theater traces its roots to Cologne's first neighbourhood theatre, established in 1985 in the premises of a former cinema in Ehrenfeld.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Theatre / neighbourhood stage
- Founded
- 1985 as Cologne's first neighbourhood theatre in Ehrenfeld
- Current location
- Spiegeltent in Cologne-Mülheim (since 2025)
- History of the building
- Cinema from 1930, latterly the Rio-Theater
- Upcoming
- Reopening as Theater&Ehrenfeld in August 2026
Katy Karrenbauer and Martin Armknecht both launched their acting careers at the Urania Theater – and celebrated Cologne actress Mariele Millowitsch also performed here, while her sister Katarina Eisenlohr-Millowitsch briefly ran the theater.
From Cinema to Stage
On the site of the former Rhenania-Saal, the „Die Lichtburg" picture house opened in 1930. After several name changes and post-war reconstruction, the building reopened in 1953 as the Rio-Theater, seating around 600 and operating until 1968. A supermarket then moved into the front section, while the rear was taken over by a day-care centre whose name still recalls the old cinema.
Cologne's First Neighbourhood Theatre
In autumn 1985, Claudia Howard and Kurt Lambrigger founded the Urania Theater in the former Rio cinema — in one of Ehrenfeld's old working-class neighbourhoods — making it the city's first neighbourhood theatre. Its production of „Sindbadland" earned the house the 1st Cologne Theatre Prize in 1990. Martin Armknecht and Katy Karrenbauer took their first steps as actors here, and Mariele Millowitsch also performed on its stage. Her sister Katarina Eisenlohr-Millowitsch ran the venue for a short period after Claudia Howard before it closed in 1993.
Changing Operators
Necati Sahin's Arkadaş-Theater moved into the Platenstraße building in 1997 and received the Cologne Children's and Youth Theatre Prize in 2003. From the 2006/07 season, the Bühne der Kulturen association continued operations as an intercultural guest-performance venue. In June 2017, the German Cultural Council placed the theatre on its Red List of Culture, flagging it as at risk of closure; on 31 July 2017, performances at the Ehrenfeld site ended.
New Beginning and Relocation
From October 2017, the Ensemble Phoenix Bühnenspielgemeinschaft took over the premises and revived the Urania-Theater name, opening with a production of „Mother Courage". In 2025 the theatre relocated to a Spiegeltent in Cologne-Mülheim, with a full reopening planned for August 2026 under the name Theater&Ehrenfeld.
Timeline
- 1930Opening of the cinema „Die Lichtburg" on the former Rhenania hall site
- 1953Reopening on 15 September as Rio-Theater (approx. 600 seats)
- 1968Closure of the Rio-Theater as a cinema
- 1985Opening of the Urania Theater as Cologne's first neighbourhood theatre (autumn)
- 19901st Cologne Theatre Prize for „Sindbadland"
- 1993Closure of the Urania Theater
- 1997Arkadaş-Theater (founded by Necati Sahin) moves in
- 2017Reopening on 7 November as Urania-Theater under Ensemble Phoenix
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-27
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