WIENER WORTSTAETTEN Drama Lab 2023
Since the beginning, the creation of new texts for the stage has been central to the work of the WIENER WORTSTAETTEN, as well as the artistic examination of socially relevant topics and networking between authors.
Out of more than 100 applications for our Drama Lab, we were able to decide, after intensive discussion in the jury, on four play drafts that are exciting in terms of style and content, which were developed into complete plays by the plawrights over the course of the year. Thanks to the dramaturge Britta Kampert and the two directors of the Theater Kosmos in Bregenz, Hubert Dragaschnig and Augustin Jagg and their excellent jury work, we chose the four promising plays by Natalie Baudy, Arad Dabiri, Rhea Krčmářová and Dietrich Machmer, which were presented in stage readings at the Wortstattnächten 2023 in November at Theater am Werk.
Natalie Baudy studied theatre and musicology in Mainz, Paris and Berlin, as well as dramaturgy at the August Everding Theatre Academy in Munich. She lives in Berlin as a freelance dramaturge and author.
She has worked closely with the Berlin performance group MS Schrittmacher since 2015, most recently writing the text for their audio walk “LET’S WALK ALONE”. With her piece “Rauschen. Or: If you don’t exist, please get out of my light. Danke.” she won the 2019 Chemnitz Theatre Prize for Young Drama. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Hans Gratzer Scholarship at the Schauspielhaus Wien.
As a dramaturge, she has worked on performances and play developments at Kampnagel Hamburg, Staatstheater Cottbus and Stadttheater Ingolstadt, among others. Since 2021, she has been writing and developing plays and projects with director David Moser.
Arad Dabiri was born in Vienna in 1997 and will not move from there. Academic compulsion drives him to study (comparative) literature at the University of Vienna. Texts and play excerpts ended up in various theatre and literary magazines as well as anthologies. In spring 2023, his debut novel, “DRAMA”, will be published by Septime Verlag.
Rhea Krčmářová (Krtsch-mar-scho-wa) is an author and transmedia text artist. She is a graduate of the Institute of Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts. Numerous prizes and scholarships, among others: Wartholz Literature Prize (province of Lower Austria), BKA Literature Project Scholarship, City of Vienna Working Scholarship, Literarmechana Anniversary Scholarship. Book award of the City of Vienna for the short story collection “Bohemia is the Ocean”. Scholarship holder of the wiener wortstaetten and the Theaterbiennale Wiesbaden.
She writes novels, stories, theatre texts, libretti, essays and poetry (among others on instagram.com/rhea_krcmarova) and experiments with transmedial art – video, embroidery, performance (among others with the visual arts duo 4youreye) – and book art.
Dietrich Machmer, poet, born 1966 in Worms/Rhine (Germany). Grew up in North Holland and South Bavaria. Graduated from high school in Munich in 1984. Studied art history, philosophy and economics in Munich, Frankfurt/Main and Hamburg.
After various professional activities, including bookseller, translator, stage worker, environmental consultant, today author and art historian in Hamburg.
Poetry publications in anthologies and journals, most recently in: zeitschrift der schule für dichtung wien #4: sfd & tiere, Vienna 2022. Machmer, Dietrich: Ende der Kampfhandlung, Horlemann Verlag, Angermünde 2016.
Literature Promotion Prize of the City of Hamburg 2000 and 2011. Martha Saalfeld Literature Promotion Prize of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate 2017.
The collaboration with the 4 authors included a contract for work amounting to € 3,000 as well as dramaturgical support for the period of one year. Furthermore, regular work meetings of all selected authors as well as individual and group editing.
Theater KOSMOS Bregenz accompanied the project as „Patentheater“ the development of the texts and showed the world premiere of Natalie Baudy’s play “fairycoin” in April 2024.
Arad Dabiri wins the writers competiton with his play “DRUCK!” at the Heidelberger Stückemarkt 2024.
His play will premiere at Nationaltheater Mannheim on January 23, 2025.
All texts were presented at the Worstattnächte in autumn 2023 at Werk X am Standort Petersplatz in stage readings.
Fotos: Anna Zehetgruber
Video: Kurt van der Vloedt/artvan
All plays were published and are available in our Edition Goldstück:
Edition Goldstück N°11:Rhea Krčmářová: In Trance(Danubien)
Edition Goldstück N°10: Natalie Baudy: fairycoin
Edition Goldstück N°9: Dietrich Machmer: Discordia
