Our festivals
Most people probably know protagon through our festivals, which are certainly the association's largest projects. In addition to the Sommerwerft, a well-known event throughout the city and region, which takes place annually on the banks of the Main River, we also host other regular and one-off events – each with its own focus and charm.
In Frankfurt
July/August
It was 2002 when our largest project began as a small, manageable festival. Today, over two decades later, the Sommerwerft has become a fixture in the independent theater scene and is receiving international attention. In 2019, more than 110,000 visitors attended. Around 200 artists and groups contribute music, dance, theater, poetry, and performance to one of Germany's largest festivals for theater in public space.
Thanks to the free access and the central location at the Wesel shipyard as well as the special, open atmosphere, our offer is more accessible than almost any other.
For 17 days, the Sommerwerft offers a high-quality theater, performance, and music program that invites you to participate.
Anyone who visits the Sommerwerft will experience a major cultural event, largely run by a volunteer organizing team and volunteers. Around 300 people – 200 of them from Frankfurt and 100 more from around the world – are involved and help shape the Sommerwerft.
Frankfurt, Wesel Shipyard
September
Cultural area protagon
The International Women*Theatre Festival (IFTF) has a feminist-intersectional approach and is organized by women* and supporters of protagon eV as well as friends of the festival.
The festival itself develops along the way and is simultaneously the result of this process. The goal is to bring artistic works by women* to the stage in a solidarity-based setting, thereby increasing their visibility in the performing arts.
The project has been taking place since 2017 within the framework of collective structures and collective responsibility, thus making a lasting commitment to an artistic change in the dynamics of power relations.
The International Women*Theatre Festival is part of the Magdalena Project , a dynamic, intercultural network for women interested in theatre.
January/February
Since 2017, the Winterwerft has been the festival for wild, organic theater. For theater at the end of the world as we know it. For theater that dares to look fearlessly, curiously, and questioningly into the abysses of this time. Even before the search for concrete answers, the Winterwerft is a place where a change of perspective is dared to arise through critical, creative questioning. Here, there is space for all approaches from theater, dance, music, poetry, painting, sculpture, and eyewash that change gears, venture into the undergrowth, and embark on a visionary quest.
What can theater do in times of change? Climate change, the energy transition, mass migration—these are waves of change that have long since gripped us. How can theater accompany and manage the social discourse surrounding them? Where can theater provide creative inspiration? The focus is on socio-ecological engagement with reality.
With the Winterwerft, we're implementing "Culture for All" in winter, too. On the cultural grounds of our association for international performing arts, we're organizing a special festival format: For 18 days, we're inviting artists and groups to live, rehearse, train, and research together here at protagon, our performance and production space. Every weekend, as part of the festival program, we'll be presenting the results of this theater laboratory and would like to engage in dialogue with you. We've also invited other regional and international artists to present their work.
Cultural area protagon
We have always realized projects not only in Frankfurt, but also in the Rhine-Main region and beyond. Since 2024, we have been leveraging our many years of experience with events of all sizes and have developed a new format: In cooperation with local partners from the communities, we are organizing a pop-up festival.
Protagon brings organizational experience, equipment, and structure; and its partners provide the local network and know-how. This creates vibrant events lasting one to three days, offering a platform for local artists as well as bringing international acts to the stage.
For example, the "besser zusammen" (Better Together) festival in Eltville am Rhein and "In.Szene" (In.Szene) in Seligenstadt have been created so far. More events are in the planning stages! Would you like to see an event like this in your city? Feel free to contact us.
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May 2025
09-11 May Mühlheim am Main
13-14 May Offenthal/Dreieich
16-18 May Seligenstadt
In cooperation with the Frankfurt-based cultural association protagon and local partners, the unterwegs theater festival is taking place for the first time this year: open air and free admission! It creates a completely new space for large and small theater and music formats, for pieces that can be experienced with all the senses and for which a conventional stage is too small and too rectangular.
In times when hatred and aggression are becoming socially acceptable again, we want to come together and encourage an artistic exploration of the forest as a place of cooperation between different living beings. In an open cultural space, we will work with you to create a place for theater culture, social interaction, and dialogue.
Look forward to:
Theatre & Dance,
Live music,
Walk-acts,
Workshops,
Children's program,
Culinary delicacies
To get the festival off the ground, we need a lot of helping hands: Would you like to bring culture to your region with a diverse, volunteer team? Get in touch with: unterwegs@protagon.net
The mobile theatre festival is supported by the Kulturfond Frankfurt RheinMain, the Frankfurt/Main Airport Foundation and the European Union as part of the Creative Europe project TREES.
Seligenstadt 2024
inSzene - under this title we create with you in
Seligenstadt on the banks of the Main an open cultural space,
a place for theatre culture, for social interaction and
intercultural dialogue: Three days full of theatre, dance,
Music, workshops, children's program and everything related to
a great festival.
In times of increasing isolation and polarization
we need places of happiness and joy of life, for
Sense of community in the context of learning and creativity
as well as for the appreciation of individual
differences. With inSzene we want to come together and
Bringing diversity and solidarity to life. And how
It is easier to get to know each other than by
men Experience and celebrate?
Past
Eltville 2024
“better together” - under this title we created
with you in Eltville on the banks of the Rhine an open cultural
space, a place for theatre culture, for social interaction
and intercultural dialogue: Two days full of theatre,
Dance, music, workshops, children's program, and everything
is part of a great festival.
“Human difference and diversity are self-evident
understandable and yet it causes discomfort when people
feel alien and excluded. Strangers
remain foreign only as long as you don’t know them.”
And what better way to get to know it than by
shared experiences and celebrations? In times of increasing
We want to come together to combat isolation and polarization.
men and bring diversity and solidarity to life.
