Drei Masken Verlag GmbH

What Drei Masken Verlag GmbH does

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH is a privately held German theater play publisher (Theaterstückverlag) headquartered in Munich, specializing in dramatic texts for children's, youth, and adult theater. The company curates and publishes a catalog of 120+ contemporary plays by German-language playwrights (Christina Kettering, Marisa Wendt, Carsten Brandau, Knut Winkmann) alongside translations of international repertoire including Federico García Lorca, Natalka Vorozhbyt, and works from Canadian, Cuban, Indian, and Norwegian authors. It operates an annual Förderpreis (emerging playwright prize) and runs manuscript evaluation and author development programs, maintaining active presence at theater festivals including Heidelberger Stückemarkt, Mülheimer Theatertage, and WELT/BÜHNE-Festival at Residenztheater München.

The company monetizes through two primary streams: one-time licensing of play scripts sold directly to theaters, drama groups, and educational institutions via dreimaskenverlag.de, and recurring foreign rights licensing royalties for international productions. Performance fees vary by venue size, number of performances, and amateur vs. professional status, with no public pricing disclosed. The publisher is managed by Dr. Dirk Olaf Hanke (Geschäftsführer und Verlagsleiter) and operates under a small-team private GmbH structure with no disclosed headcount, no external funding, and no institutional investment. Related entities Theaterstückverlag and Drei Masken Agentur operate under the same umbrella, forming a publishing group that spans play publishing and theatrical rights representation. Partnerships with Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzentrum, Deutscher Literaturfonds, and Kulturstiftung des Bundes-funded programs (e.g., 'Nah dran!', '100 neue Stücke') provide co-development capital and pipeline for new works. Geographic reach spans the DACH region plus select international productions in the UK, Canada, Switzerland, and Austria. The technology stack is a standard content publishing and e-commerce platform with no proprietary AI, ML, or data capabilities beyond basic manuscript management.

Name

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH

Legal name

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH

Website

https://dreimaskenverlag.de

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH is a privately held Munich-based German theater play publisher that curates and licenses a catalog of 120+ contemporary plays for children's, youth, and adult theater, sold directly to theaters and educational institutions domestically and via foreign rights licensing internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Play Script Sales: Sale of theatrical play scripts to theaters, drama groups, and educational institutions. Scripts are sold directly through the publishing house's website with various performance conditions.
2. Foreign Rights Licensing: International licensing of play rights to theaters and producers outside Germany. The company maintains a dedicated foreign rights department for translations and international performance rights.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH is a Munich-based German theater play publishing house that publishes and distributes dramatic works (Theaterstücke) for children, youth, and adult audiences. The catalog includes original German-language plays and translations of international authors, sold directly to theaters, drama groups, and educational institutions with attached performance rights. The publisher also operates a foreign rights licensing department for international productions and supports authors through manuscript evaluation, an annual advancement prize (Förderpreis), and festival participation.

Product overview

Drei Masken Verlag GmbH is a German theater play publishing house (Theaterstückverlag) based in Munich that publishes dramatic works for children, youth, and adult theater. The company's core product is its catalog of theater plays, which includes works by various international and German-language authors. The catalog features titles organized by author (A-Z) and subject, covering diverse themes including family drama, social issues, classics, and contemporary works. The company also offers a newsletter service for new releases, manuscript submission capabilities for authors, and foreign rights licensing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Theaterstückverlag: Related theater play publishing platform operated by the same company group
• Drei Masken Agentur

Products and services

• Theater Play Publishing Catalog A comprehensive catalog of 120+ published theater plays (Theaterstücke) for children, youth, and adult audiences, including original German-language works and translations of international authors. Sold directly to professional theaters, drama groups, and educational institutions with attached performance rights and licensing conditions.
• Foreign Rights Licensing International licensing of play rights for translations and performances outside Germany, managed through a dedicated foreign rights department. Covers productions in the UK, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, and other countries.
• Neue Stücke Newsletter Email newsletter subscription service delivering seasonal new release announcements, thematic collections, and theater news to subscribers interested in contemporary German-language drama.
• Förderpreis (Advancement Prize) Annual advancement prize awarded by the publisher to support emerging playwrights, serving as an author development program that nurtures new dramatic talent for the catalog.
• Manuscript Submission and Evaluation Service enabling aspiring playwrights to submit manuscripts for evaluation and potential inclusion in the publisher's catalog, supporting the publisher's content acquisition pipeline.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple award recognitions including Mülheimer KinderStückePreis, Retzhofer Dramapreis, KAAS & KAPPES prize, Science & Theatre award

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TheaterstückverlagcoreOthersAssociated publishing house under the same corporate umbrella, sharing marketing and distribution synergies. Both publishers operate from the same Munich location and website ecosystem.
• Drei Masken AgenturminorOthersAssociated talent agency under the same brand, likely handling theatrical rights representation and author management.
• Theater Kiel / Christian-Albrechts-Universität KielminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with Taller de Traducción Literaria at Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel for literary translation work, particularly for Spanish dramatic texts.
• Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzentrum in der Bundesrepublik DeutschlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperation partner for 'Nah dran! Neue Stücke für das Kindertheater' program, funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Multiple plays developed through this program including works by Christina Kettering and Coco Plümer.
• Deutscher Literaturfonds e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding partner for 'Neustart Kultur' and '100 neue Stücke für ein großes Publikum' programs supporting contemporary play development.
• Théâtre à l'eau froide, MontréalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorInternational theater presenting German-language play Schwarze Schwäne in translation for Canadian audience.
• foreign affairs, LondonminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK-based theater presenting German-language play Schwarze Schwäne in translation for British audiences.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Suhrkamp Verlag: Major German trade publisher with a significant theater division (Suhrkamp Theater Verlag) that publishes Brecht and other canonical playwrights. Larger, broader portfolio, but overlapping theater publishing and rights licensing business.
• S. Fischer Verlag: One of Germany's largest literary publishers with a theater division publishing dramatic works. Broader fiction and trade publishing portfolio but overlapping theater rights licensing business with comparable German-language theater customers.
• Concord Theatricals: Largest global theatrical rights and play licensing company (formed by merger of Samuel French and other theatrical publishers). Comparable core business of licensing dramatic performance rights, but at vastly greater scale and English-language focus.

Direct peers

• Henschel Verlag: Berlin-based theater play publisher with a dedicated focus on dramatic works for the German-speaking stage. Directly comparable as a specialist German theater publisher with overlapping author development and rights licensing activities.
• Felix Bloch Erben: One of Germany's oldest theatrical rights agencies, based in Berlin, representing both classical and contemporary playwrights with a large performance rights catalog. Directly comparable as a German theater rights publisher serving the same professional theater customer base.
• Verlag der Autoren: Frankfurt-based German theater play publisher with a long-established catalog of contemporary dramatic works for German-language stages. Directly comparable to Drei Masken Verlag in product category, customer base (professional theaters), and rights-licensing business model.
• Rowohlt Theater Verlag: Theater imprint of Rowohlt Verlag, publishing contemporary German-language plays and performance rights. Direct peer in the same product category and customer base of professional theaters.
• Dramatists Play Service: US-based play publisher and licensing agency serving professional and educational theater. Directly comparable business model of play script publishing plus performance rights licensing, but serving primarily English-language markets.
• Hartmann & Stauffacher: German theatrical rights agency publishing contemporary dramatic works and managing performance rights for German-language stages. Directly comparable as a specialist German theater publisher and rights licensor.

Regional players

• Josef Weinberger Plays: UK-based theatrical rights and play licensing agency with a substantial catalog. Comparable rights-licensing business model serving professional theaters, but primarily focused on UK/international English-language markets rather than German-language theater.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/drei-masken-verlag-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Drei Masken Verlag GmbH