Unacceptable conditions at the Landestheater Eisenach

The GDBA expresses its solidarity with those affected in Eisenach and Meiningen.

OPEN LETTER from employees of the Landestheater Eisenach
Unacceptable conditions at the Landestheater Eisenach
Dear members of the owners of the Landestheater Eisenach,


Dear representatives of the press,We are employees of the Landestheater Eisenach, members of the acting ensemble, the dramaturgy, the management and the works council and have been experiencing a toxic working atmosphere at our theater for years. The artistic director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg is not fulfilling his responsibilities,
or his duty of care. Specifically, the incidents involve structural bullying in the workplace, obstruction at work, manipulative actions against employees, failure to take responsibility, abusive behavior and permanent work overload. In addition to his position in Eisenach, Mr. Neundorff von Enzberg is also primarily the director of the Meiningen State Theatre. (He usually visits Eisenach once a week.)
Violations of boundaries are the order of the day. Employees are humiliated in front of colleagues and their commitment and professionalism are called into question. They are threatened with dismissal for trivial matters. Disciplinary measures are imposed for incomprehensible reasons. Responsibility is arbitrarily assigned or withdrawn by the director. Distrust is spread among us colleagues and joint work processes are prevented.
This is exacerbated by the high production density at the theater, which does not allow us employees to do our work in the time allotted. However, Mr. Neundorff did not respond to this and other criticism, but simply denied it, ignored it or tended to become abusive or loud. In addition, the production density even increased at times.
An open letter from an employee in Meiningen (also attached) confirms our experiences and describes similar behavior in Meiningen.
For us in Eisenach, there is also a difficult communication and working method with the local administrative management. Mr. Neundorff von Enzberg grants them influence in many artistic processes that are not their responsibility. In a project sponsored by the Federal Cultural Foundation, support from the theater was regularly denied, miscalculations were assumed, acting positions were to be withdrawn, rehearsal rooms were not made available and any responsibility on the part of the theater was denied (despite the cooperation agreement). These problems also led to frequent changes in the division's staff. In the last 7 years alone, there have been 4 changes of division management.
Since the middle of last year, we have been actively trying to improve the situation at the Landestheater. For example, the works council initiated an employee survey, which primarily expressed dissatisfaction with the director. However, attempts to talk to the management about these problems were again largely dismissed, clarification was ignored for weeks, responsibility was denied or shifted to other colleagues. It was not uncommon for criticism to be followed by threats, discrediting or warnings via third parties of consequences for careers at other theaters. It is also alarming that employment contracts were concluded that did not comply with the applicable collective agreement and positions for current contracts were re-advertised. Lawyers had to be called in, resulting in considerable costs for the theater,
despite the precarious budget situation.
These toxic work structures and authoritarian management behavior, combined with the high workload, lead to resignation and high psychological stress. This has also been brought to our attention through exchanges with former employees, including at previous stations of Mr. Neundorff von Enzberg. Even long-standing partners and service providers are turning their backs on the company due to the working atmosphere and disrespectful treatment they have experienced. With the support of the GDBA stage union, as a mediating body, we also hoped to find a basis for discussion with Mr. Neundorff and the management; several
discussions have taken place. In the course of this, we have collected pages and pages of incidents that document the behavior of the artistic director and the management. No progress has been made as a result. Business as usual.
We therefore see it as irresponsible to remain silent about these conditions; to be honest, it is a cry for help! The only thing left for us to do is to consistently report the incidents to the public and the responsible bodies. These unacceptable conditions must not be allowed to continue.

We therefore call on you to play a decisive role in ending these abuses and bringing about change.
Yours sincerely,
Employees of Landestheater Eisenach


Unacceptable conditions at the Theater in Eisenach

GDBA expresses its solidarity with those affected in Eisenach and Meiningen

OPEN LETTER from employees of the Eisenach State Theatre

Dear members of the Landestheater Eisenach,

Dear representatives of the press,

We are employees of the Eisenach State Theatre, members of the acting ensemble, the dramaturgy, the management and the works council and have been experiencing a toxic working atmosphere at our theatre. The theatre director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg is not fulfilling his responsibilities, nor his duty of care. Specifically, the incidents involve structural bullying in the workplace structural bullying in the workplace, obstruction at work, manipulative behavior towards employees, lack of responsibility, abusive behavior and permanent work overload. In addition to position in Eisenach, Mr Neundorff von Enzberg is also primarily the director of the Theatre in Meinungen (He usually visits Eisenach once a week).

Crossing boundaries is the order of the day. Employees are humiliated in front of colleagues humiliated in front of colleagues and their commitment and professionalism questioned. They are threatened with dismissal. Disciplinary measures are imposed for incomprehensible reasons are issued. Responsibility is arbitrarily allocated or withdrawn by the director. Mistrust is spread among us colleagues and joint work processes are prevented. This is exacerbated by the high production density at the theatre, which does not allow us employees to do our work in the time allotted. Mr Neundorff responded to this and other criticism, Mr Neundorff did not respond to this and other criticism, but simply denied it, ignored it or tended to become abusive or loud. In addition, the production density even increased at times.

An open letter from an employee in Meiningen confirms our experiences and describes similar behavior, experiences and describes similar behavior in Meiningen. For us in Eisenach, this is compounded by difficult communication and working methods with the local administrative management. Mr. Neundorff von Enzberg grants them influence in many artistic processes that are not their responsibility. In a project funded by the project sponsored by the Federal Cultural Foundation was regularly denied support by the theatre, miscalculations were alleged, acting positions were to be withdrawn, rehearsal rooms were not made available and any responsibility on the part of the theatre was denied (despite the cooperation agreement). These problems also led to frequent changes of theater staff in the theater. In the last 7 years alone, there have been 4 changes of theater management.

Since the middle of last year, we have been actively trying to improve the situation at the regional theatre. The works council, for example, initiated an employee survey, which primarily expressed dissatisfaction with the theatre's expressed dissatisfaction with the theatre management. Attempts to talk to the theatre management about these problems were once again largely dismissed, clarification was ignored for weeks, responsibility was denied or blamed on other colleagues. Not infrequently criticism was often followed by threats, discrediting or, via third parties, warnings of consequences for their career at other theatres.

It is also alarming that employment contracts were concluded that did not comply with the applicable collective with the applicable collective labor agreement and jobs for current contracts were re-advertised. Lawyers had to be called in, resulting in considerable costs for the theater, despite the precarious budgetary situation. These toxic work structures and authoritarian management behavior, combined with the high workload, lead to resignation, high workload, lead to resignation and high psychological stress. This has also been brought to our attention through dialogue with former employees, including at previous stations of Mr. Neundorff von Enzberg. Long-standing partners and service providers are also turning the working atmosphere and disrespectful treatment they experienced.

With the support of the GDBA stage trade union, as a mediating body, we also hoped union, we hoped to find a basis for dialogue with Mr. Neundorff and the management talks have taken place. In the course of this, we have collected pages of incidents that document the behavior of the artistic director and the management. Progress could not be achieved. Business as usual.

We therefore see it as irresponsible to remain silent about these conditions; to be honest, it is a cry for help! The only step left for us to take is to consistently publicize the incidents and the responsible organizations. These unacceptable conditions must not be allowed to continue.

We therefore call on you to play a key role in putting an end to these abuses and bringing about change.

Yours sincerely,

Employees of the Landestheater Eisenach

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