I have been working in theatre for several years: as an actress on stage, as a director in front of the stage, as a writer at my desk, as a theatre educator among playgoers. Unfortunately, I still perceive a difference in values to the so-called adult theatre. Even at literary institutes, the section “children’s and young people’s literature” hardly exists. Through my many years of work with young people, I know how important creative work is and have been able to experience positive developments through it. My concern is to establish equivalence between the two genres. Theatre is a place of real time, of friction, of quiet moments and loud ones, it can touch young people and older ones. I am very happy to be part of this complex process in which different arts work together in the best case.
Alexandra Koch
Alexandra Koch is an author, theatre pedagogue and director. She writes mainly plays and prose, both for adults and also for young audiences. Her texts have been performed in theatres (including Dschungel Wien/ Kleines Theater Salzburg/ Landestheater Niederösterreich ) or published in magazines (including Lichtungen/ Jenny/ Edition Goldstück). She has received several prizes and scholarships for her writing. For example the Mira-Lobe-Stipendium, the Dramatikerinnen-Stipendium, the Peter-Turrini-Stipendium or the Rauriser Förderpreis für Literatur. Alexandra has been giving theater and writing workshops for the cultural association Gutgebrüllt and in various schools in Vienna for ten years. She considers the promotion of children and young people, especially accessibility, in the areas of writing and theater performance to be incredibly important! As a certified educator, working with people is very close to her heart. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the Institute for Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Cosmo Superhero
Cosmo has to do a lot on his own. His mother works all the time at the nursing home where his grandfather is. He comes there after school and stays until evening. In his mind, Cosmo is a superhero. He turns his errands around the house into secret missions, unwanted huggers become life-threatening villains, and in general, emergencies keep coming in. And then, all of a sudden, there’s competition in the “store,” as Cosmo calls the retirement home: the new girl is named Lila, has a lock of green hair, and collects two more smiles per day from the old folks than he does. And besides, she could steal the Jell-O from Mrs. Aniza, and that’s actually impossible. What now? Cosmo has no choice but to put aside the superhero cape more and more often and face real life.
Nesting
The text deals with the topic of surrogacy from different perspectives: that of the surrogate mothers in precarious situations, the order parents, the agencies. The stories are embedded in a fairy tale world that reflects the power structures of this trade. The central theme is a pair of sisters – the older one asks the younger one to carry her child, because she cannot do it herself.
