The Helsinki City Theatre ( fi, Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri; sv, Helsingfors stadsteater) is a theatre located in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Owned by the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, it calls itself a "modern popular bilingual repertoire theatre." The Helsinki City Theatre is the only Finnish representative in the

European Theatre Convention The European Theatre Convention (ETC) is a European theatre association founded in 1988. The ETC is funded partly by the Creative Europe programme of its strategic partner, the European Commission. It is based in Berlin. As a "network of public ...

. In addition to drama and musicals, the theatre operates a

concert dance Concert dance (also known as performance dance or theatre dance in the United Kingdom) is dance performed for an audience. It is frequently performed in a theatre setting, though this is not a requirement, and it is usually choreographed and p ...

oriented branch, the Helsinki Dance Company. Annual figures reported by the theatre include 20 new productions, 1,100 performances, and 350,000 spectators. The theatre has 250 permanent members of staff, and operates across 6 stages.

History

The theatre has its roots in two organizations: ''Helsingin Työväenteatteri'' ("Workers' Theatre of Helsinki", established in 1902) and ''Helsingin Kansanteatteri'' (People's Theatre of Helsinki, established in 1934). These two merged in 1948 to form ''Helsingin Kansanteatteri-Työväenteatteri'' ("People's and Workers' Theatre of Helsinki"), which eventually transitioned into the Helsinki City Theatre in 1964. The rebranding was largely a result of the emergence of the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, who owns the theatre, and whose members are elected by the

City Council of Helsinki The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members a ...

. Prior to 1965, the Helsinki City Theatre operated on third-party stages, after which the organization chose to construct a theatre building of their own. They held an architectural competition for the design of the new building, which was won by Timo Penttilä. The building designed by Penttilä opened in 1967. In 1989, an annex building was constructed, which was also designed by Penttilä's architectural firm.

Stages

*Big stage ( fi, Suuri näyttämö) — 947 seats *Arena stage — 500 seats *Small stage ( fi, Pieni näyttämö)— 347 seats *Studio Pasila — 324 seats *''Lilla Teatern'' — 267 seats *Studio Elsa — 240 seats

References

External links

* {{Authority control Theatres in Helsinki Theatres completed in 1967

History

Stages

See also

References

External links