Touring troupes performed in the Estates Riding School and in the ballroom on the Promenade. In 1751, the Linz master builder
Johann Matthias Krinner made a proposal to the estates to erect their own theater building. The actual initiator of the theater was the provincial attorney (deputy governor)
Johann Franz Achaz von Stiebar. From 1752 to 1786, the location at Promenade 39, a converted warehouse, was only a temporary solution for the frequent times when the municipal water theater on the Donaulände in the area of today's Zollamtstraße was unusable due to flooding. The Redoutensaal was converted into a theater hall in 1788 and used for performances during the construction of the new theater. Between 1801 and 1803, the Landständisches Theater was added to the Redoutensäle at the foot of the Schlossberg and the façade of the entire building was renovated in the Empire style. Emperor
Francis II approved the plan for a new theater building, and on his name day, 4 October 1803, the newly built Landständisches Theater was opened. Initially unheated for cost reasons, the theater had to remain closed during harsh winters. The theater was run by the provincial estates until 1848. As early as 1824, however, this provincial stage was already flourishing in its heyday, although at that time every play had to be submitted to the censors for approval before being performed. Censorship was abolished with the revolution of 1848 and Emperor Ferdinand promised complete freedom from censorship. In the following years, the repertoire included not only operas and plays, but also artistic interludes, which pushed classical music into the background. In the 1920s, opera increasingly came to the fore and became more popular with audiences. A play by
Bertolt Brecht was performed here for the first time in Austria in 1923. In the 1930s and 1940s, however, a crisis broke out for the theater due to the impoverishment of the former theater audience, the middle class; younger people preferred the newly fashionable cinema. The city of Linz and the province of Upper Austria took over the sponsorship of the theater in the early 1950s. In 2016, the Schauspielhaus was renovated, in particular the auditorium and foyers. During this time, the Great Hall of the old building of the Anton Bruckner Private University was used as an alternative venue for the drama production
Franz Grillparzer's
The Golden Fleece. The reopening premiere of Shakespeare's
The Tempest took place on 1 April 2017. In the 2017/18 season, the former orchestra rehearsal hall on the Promenade was opened as a new studio stage for drama and young theater, replacing the previous venue. On April 11, 2013, the Musiktheater Linz am Volksgarten was opened in the centre of Linz. For two seasons (2014/2015 and 2015/2016), an arena stage was built over the first floor as a temporary stage for plays. The tin roof of the Kammerspiele was crumpled by a storm in March 2023 and the roof was subsequently demolished. ==World premieres ==