Internationaler Autor*innenwettbewerb / International Writers’ Competition

The readings will take place in Zwinger 3. They will also be available to watch via livestream and on video following the events.
After each reading, there will be a discussion with the audience.

»Marguerite: Le feu« (Marguerite: The Fire) by Émilie Monnet
We are in the year 1740 in Mooniyaang, as the Canadian city of Montréal is known in the Anishinaabemowin language. Marguerite Duplessis goes to court over her own enslavement and shipment to the plantations of Martinique. This makes her the first slave in New France (now Canada) to be heard as a legal entity by a court of law. Nevertheless, her trace disappeared on a ship bound for the volcanic island in the Caribbean. Based on intensive historical research, Monnet created a play that bridges the past and the present: three women set out in search of the truth and thus fight against the forgetting of one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.

»Clandestines« (Clandestine) by Marie-Ève Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent
In a reality where abortions are increasingly criminalised, Sylvia and Marie are fighting in the front line for female self-determination. They run a medical practice in secret and carry out abortions clandestinely at night. Vera is just as determined as they are, but she is fighting for a ban on abortion. When she comes to the medical practice one night, she loses control and everything changes. One thing leads to another unfolding a story that ties together characters with very different attitudes and in which political and private interests are mixed up. In »Clandestines« (»Clandestine«) Marie-Ève Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent present a social kaleidoscope, thus making tangible a highly topical political discourse and challenging us to take a stance.

»Prince Faggot« by Jordan Tannahill
Six performers approach a queer royal biography, projected into the near future and based on personal experiences. What if Britain's Prince George, the firstborn of William and Kate, were gay? How would his parents react to his first boyfriend, both within the family and in public appearances? What might a self-determined queer life look like for such a public figure? How would it affect queer communities worldwide? Where would there be a risk of harm, where would there be potential for utopias? Reflected on personal attitudes and experiences, the performers create scenes dealing with love, growing up, and a society in transition.

»To a Flame« by Erin Shields
Erin Shields developed this fascinating text together with people who can hear and people who cannot. The result is a dense, multilingual horror parable about the impact of patriarchy. It is based on the short story »The Fall of the House of Usher« by Edgar Allan Poe, the master of Gothic fiction. The three protagonists Madeline, Harriet, and Fanny describe their harrowing experiences in the »House of the Father«. From their female perspectives, they find a language to illustrate how society has dealt with »othernessֿ« over the centuries. The play raises questions about female solidarity and whether violence can be fought with violence.

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