A BIT ABOUT US

Hello everyone! 

My name is Astrid Ronke, and I am the founder and artistic director of the German Theater Group San Diego. It had been an endeavor of mine for some time to bring German Cabaret and theater to the stage in Southern California, and I am very excited that we are already going into our 6th season! 

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The German Theater Group San Diego was founded in October 2016 with 13 interested people, and it has now grown to over 30 dedicated and enthusiastic actors, singers, and backstage volunteers.  Our mission is to bring quality German Theater to the Southern California region. Many of our actors have had little or no on-or-off-stage experience when they started but have grown to enjoy acting, singing, or working backstage. 

The success of our first production in 2017, “An Evening with the Comedian Loriot” at Ocean Beach Playhouse, motivated us to continue with several more cabaret productions.

In January 2018, we became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as a subgroup of the German American Societies of San Diego.

In Germany, “Kabarett” is a form of entertainment that consists of mixed elements of music, sketches, monologues, dialogues, and lyric poetry. They are humorous, satirical, poignant, erotic, and often very political. Our productions evolve from the traditional German Cabaret and draw from skits, poems and musical numbers by classic, known, as well as unknown German artists. We are not only taking a humorous and often sarcastic look at daily life but also touch on a few current political and cultural issues in Germany.

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Our sixth show, the upcoming cabaret “Lach mal wieder 2025!” (Let’s laugh again 2025!) on April 26 & 27, 2025, follows that same concept, but this time the audience will be able to play along in Act 2.

 

My first and most important “Thank You” goes out to everyone in our theater group—for their courage, patience, time, talent, and trust to follow me on this journey to bring German theater to Southern California! I couldn’t have worked with a more dedicated, smart, and funny group of amazing individuals! Everyone pitches in and puts a lot of time and effort into these productions. Thank you for all your help, dedication, friendship, and laughter!!

I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the German American Societies of San Diego and their Board for taking us under their wings and providing us with warm hospitality, valuable support, and assistance in all matters! I would like to especially thank the former president, Wendel Jenkins, the current president, Joel Contreras, the secretary and amazing sound and light tech, Laurence Parme, the membership secretary and box office manager, Monika Parme, as well as all helpers from box office, food organizers, ushers to the club crew for their exceptional leadership, reliability, and trust! A big thanks also to our band for their talent, reliability, and time!

Each of our productions wouldn’t have been possible without the generous donations of all our sponsors! Thank you so much for your support in bringing German culture, awareness, and entertainment to the San Diego community.

 

Finally, my biggest thanks go to YOU—our audience every year! Thank you for returning to see yet another German show, for laughing with us, for your praising comments, and for making our productions a success!

 

Dankeschön!