Max Reinhardt was on the cover, Erpenbeck's lead article was entitled "Zeittheater oder Theater der Zeit?"
To start with, Theater der Zeit provided information about theatre in the fledgling German Democratic Republic (GDR, AKA East Germany) and abroad.
[2] From the early 1950s, however, the magazine increasingly came under the ideological influence of the State Commission for Affairs of the Arts, the precursor of the GDR Ministry for Culture.
Although this ultimately increased political pressure on the magazine, editors were able to strengthen their networks within the theatre scene by attending colloquia and festivals and by travelling abroad.
Practical relevance continued to be the main aim of the magazine, with Theater der Zeit slowly opening itself up to the theatre scene in the old states of the former West Germany.
Even a reduction in personnel, an increase in the cover price, and a new layout could not offset the subsidies that had once been paid by the GDR Ministry for Culture.
Members of the magazine's advisory board include artists and researchers such as Friedrick Dieckmann,[5] Erika Fischer-Lichte,[6] and Heiner Goebbels.