The State Theater of Lower Saxony North (LBNN) is a theater founded in 1952 and located in Wilhelmshaven. Originating from the Ostfriesische Landesbühne in Leer, it is now one of two Landesbühnes in Lower Saxony (alongside the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim). One of the special features of these theaters is that they not only provide theater art for their hometown and administrative headquarters but also a large performance area in rural areas. In the case of the Landesbühne Niedersachsen Nord, which traveled as far as the Lüneburg Heath in the 1950s, the venues initially changed every year. Today, the theater presents its productions in a region inhabited by 720,000 people, ranging from Ostfriesland to Emsland and Oldenburger Münsterland.
The Landesbühne Niedersachsen Nord employs over 100 people, including 22 actors, who enable more than 500 performances to be staged throughout the region every year. The focus is on drama and children's and youth theater.
From the very beginning, the largest cultural institute in north-western Germany has been supported by the "Zweckverband der Landesbühne Niedersachsen Nord", a special-purpose association to which the districts and towns in the region belong. Together with the state of Lower Saxony, the association grants the theater annual subsidies. The theater generates almost 30 percent of its budget itself.