Sarah Calörtscher from Switzerland wins the Kleist Prize 2024
Published: Wednesday, Jan 31st 2024, 14:31
Updated At: Wednesday, Jan 31st 2024, 14:31
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Sarah Calörtscher has been awarded this year's Kleist Prize for Young Dramatists for her play "Herz aus Polyester". The play will now be premiered at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. This was announced by the organizers on Wednesday.
This is the first time since 2015 that this most important prize for young German-language playwrights has gone to Switzerland. A total of 61 German-language plays from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were submitted for this year's 29th Kleist Prize. Ten percent of the submissions came from Switzerland alone - "a good representation for this small country", said Florian Vogel, head of the jury, in an online media conference on Wednesday.
"Poetic" science fiction
Those responsible described "Heart of Polyester" as poetic science fiction theater. The story assumes that Mars is the only salvation from the lack of resources on Earth. An algorithm decides who on Earth is allowed to become part of this multi-planetary society. For three earthlings, escaping to Mars is the last hope - because humanity has long since begun to turn into plastic. But then other voices intervene: a band of microplastic particles, the Muscle of Hope, the primordial dwarf riding the fireball and the Voyage Probes I and II.
Calörtscher impressively describes the fear of stagnation, the hopes and greed of mankind for progress, the jury explained its decision. Calörtscher shows "the possibilities and means of expression that digital storytelling can offer on stage without losing sight of the human element."
Jury member Harald Wolff added that Calörtscher's "playful approach without moral judgment" to the world of artificial intelligence was linguistically beautiful and formally new, and therefore forward-looking.
Dramaturge and musician
The 2024 Kleist Prize winner was born in Graubünden in 1991. She now lives and works in Zurich. She works in the independent scene as a dramaturge, musician and author. She prefers to sit in front of keyboards, as those responsible for the Kleist Prize introduced her. She writes sound texts on synthesizers and composes word structures on the computer. She is a co-founder of the band "Strange Modes" and also composes for the theater.
Calörtscher herself said that she thinks musically when she writes. But she makes a distinction between creating music and writing, which is why she did not write the music for "Herz aus Polyester" herself. She has been happy about the award "every day" since receiving the call. The prize is a great opportunity, and: "It's incredible that my play is being premiered at the Deutsches Theater Berlin."
The premiere is scheduled for September 27. Two weeks later, on October 9, the official award ceremony will take place in Frankfurt an der Oder in eastern Germany. The award-winning play will also be performed on this evening.
Drama Processor funding program
Calörtscher wrote "Herz aus Polyester" as part of the Swiss support and training program Dramenprozessor, a program for scenic writing. Over the course of a year, four participants work on a finished theater text. They are accompanied by professional theater professionals from the fields of playwriting, directing and dramaturgy. The program was founded in 2000 at Theater Winkelwiese in Zurich. It is still based there today in the villa in Hottigen.
The program's success stories include writers such as Darja Stocker, Katja Brunner, Ariane Koch and Kim de l'Horizon (2020/21). With the world premiere in Berlin, Calörtscher is also likely to be named in this ranks in the future. Projects in Switzerland are "currently still open", she said. So far, she has already made a name for herself at Theater Neumarkt and Kellertheater Winterthur, as well as with a radio play for Swiss radio and television SRF.
The Kleist Prize has been awarded since 1996. It is aimed at playwrights who are not older than 35 years and is endowed with a world premiere of the winning play and 7500 euros. The City of Frankfurt an der Oder, the Kleist Forum and the Dramaturgische Gesellschaft are responsible for the award. The prize is named after Heinrich von Kleist, the German playwright, lyricist, storyteller and publicist, who was born in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1777.
©Keystone/SDA
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