The workshop is aimed at young professional authors and students studying at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. The course. is offered at the Institute for Literary Arts (Sprachkunst) in the winter semester 2024/25 and will be lead by playwright Bernhard Studlar. The concept of the “twinning scheme” connects the group from Vienna with a group of students from the Scuola Paolo Grassi in Milan, who are also studying playwriting and are taught by Italian author Magdalena Barile. What is special about this workshop is that both tutors have worked on a joint concept in advance, which forms the basis of their work for both groups.
About the concept
Starting from the ancient myth of the Minotaur and the stories associated with it, we ask questions of reference to our present. From the very beginning, the stories of Greek mythology have inspired authors. The subjects of antiquity are universal and have been adapted, overwritten, reinterpreted and poetized. This is also the case in this workshop, which, in addition to the character of the Minotaur, is primarily dedicated to the labyrinth and its form that gives the workshop its title. The Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt once said, “He who draws the plan of a labyrinth knows everything, but he who enters it knows nothing.” Accordingly, when you are designing a play, sketching it out, everything seems clear and logical. But when you start writing, all that clarity dissolves again. Write, get lost, rewrite. – Voilà, the title of this workshop.
During the workshop, the students will do small writing exercises to work on their technique, they will read ancient myths and design their own labyrinth. Step by step, they will develop an idea for a play (exposé) for an overwriting of the Minotaur myth and subsequently create scene material.
At first both groups will get to know each other via Zoom at the end of November and then visit each other in turn to intensify their collaboration. The meeting in December in Vienna will amongst other topics also focus on the symposium “Language will set everything on fire”, whilst during the final meeting in January in Milan, both groups will discuss their texts. They will continue to work on the texts in bilingual small groups, with English as the lingua franca and the students’ texts written in German and Italian. The program of the two group mobilities will be expanded to include theater visits, exchanges with experts and various social activities.
The workshop is part of the project Fabulamundi. Playwriting Europe. New Voices.
