Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Historical theater in Mitte, Germany

Theater am Schiffbauerdamm is a neo-baroque theater building by Heinrich Seeling on the bank of the Spree in Mitte district, Berlin. The facade shows ornamental decorations and a tall portal, behind which an auditorium with multiple tiers opens up.

The theater opened on 19 November 1892 as the Neues Theater with a performance of Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, under founding director Max Löwenfeld. Gerhart Hauptmann's Die Weber had its premiere here on 26 February 1893. From 1903 to 1906 Max Reinhardt directed the house, staging Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hofmannsthal's Elektra and Wilde's Salome.

The ensemble performs following principles Brecht developed here, and the foyer displays archive material from his working years at the house. Visitors see stage designs based on wooden boards and simple lighting, experiencing a theater style that encourages thinking during the performance.

Evening performances run regularly during the season, and tickets are available at the box office by the entrance or through the internet. Admission begins about half an hour before the start, and the cloakroom is located on the ground floor.

Bertolt Brecht had the Prussian eagle above the imperial box painted over with a red cross in 1954, the year the Berliner Ensemble moved in. The building itself dates from 1892 and was rebuilt in simplified forms in the 1950s, losing much of its ornament on the main entrance and tower.