Leonhard Frank Prize

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The Leonhard Frank Prize was awarded annually from 2007 to 2015 by the Mainfranken Theater (MFT) Würzburg and the Leonhard Frank Society .

Story and mode

The prize was endowed with 4,000 euros and combined with the option of a world premiere at the MFT. It should promote contemporary German-language drama and remind of the socio-political topicality of the Würzburg-born author Leonhard Frank . The Mainfranken Theater presented three final pieces to the audience in the form of staged readings during the "Long Night of Authors", subject to a tendency towards political topics. This was followed by a discussion with the nominees. After a final consultation, a jury chaired by the then artistic director Hermann Schneider chose the winning piece.

Würzburg theater scandal

In the context of the planned world premiere of Paul M. Waschkau's winning play "Naked Life ... or ... With a Living Body", the Würzburg theater scandal in 2012 .

With reference to the Homo Sacer studies by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben , the subject of the 2011 call was “Naked Life”. Bare life is life that is devoid of any legal protection. Waschkau's winning piece deals in a monodramatic way with extreme forms of human rights violations. The premiere was scheduled for June 16, 2012. Three days before the premiere , the play "for the protection of the audience" was canceled by the director.

The fact that an award-winning play should be withheld from the public in the context of a politically explosive topic was unique in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. A widespread public debate began, there was talk of censorship and paternalism. The Leonhard Frank Society, which took part in the award, protested and demanded that the premiere be rescheduled. Artistic director Hermann Schneider expressly praised the literary quality of the award-winning text and the staging work by director Dieter Nelles and the ensemble - but defended the deletion without replacement. The piece was never performed. The author then put the text online and set up a "Naked Life" material page for the case.

Award winners

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mainfranken Theater puts off premiere , Mainpost v. June 13, 2012
  2. ↑ Würzburg cultural scandal , Radio Utopie v. June 28, 2012
  3. ^ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Intendant cancels award-winning piece , BR, June 13, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.br.de
  4. ↑ Press release of the Leonhard Frank Society v. June 14, 2012 ,
  5. ↑ One less imposition - Würzburg cancels the premiere of Leonhard Frank's award-winning play Comment and Discussion on nachtkritik.de
  6. ↑ Material page "Naked Life" INVASOR.org 2012
  7. ↑ Poetischer Kapitalismus Critique for the premiere on nachtkritik.de on November 17, 2007.
  8. ↑ Caught in the silence - review of the premiere on nachtkritik.de
  9. ^ From ABC to amok shooters - review of the premiere in Nürnberger Nachrichten v. 3rd June 2016