DER GETÖTETE AUTOR ("The Author is Dead")

Pic (c) Dominik Perchtold (klubkunst)

Dramatic whodunnit reading including a library tour and an audience voting.
A co-production of glashaus, Bibliothek im Zentrum, and Stadt Wiener Neustadt.

Tickets 2024: https://ntry.at/taeter-unknown

Shows 2024: April 11th, April 19th, and April 23rd at Bibliothek im Zentrum (Wiener Neustadt)

Shows 2023: August 30th, August 31st, and September 1st at Bibliothek im Zentrum (Wiener Neustadt)

Framework: "Täter Unknown" ("Culprit Unknown") by glashaus

TÄTER UNKNOWN
("Culprit Unknown")

A whodunnit in an unusual format: in this dramatic reading, performed at different stations in the library, three individuals of questionable character are under suspicion of murder – and the audience renders the verdict.

Author Thomas Kodnar's play features three different endings. As a member of the audience, you stay on the characters' tracks at various stages in the library, then pick the character you deem most suspicious. The majority vote determines which character is accused of the crime and, thus, which of the three endings is performed.

Der getötete Autor
("The Author is Dead")

A famous playwright was murdered. Many would have had a motive for the crime: The Author was notorious for weaving real people into his plays, hardly disguising them, and denouncing and humiliating them on stage. Three of the Author's acquaintances – "The So-called Lover", "The Ex-Agent", and "The Wannabe-Colleague" – pin the blame on each other, declare their own innocence ... and soon come to realise what predicament they are in: not only are they suspects in the limelight, but in court, too. Their audience is their jury.

CAST

András Sosko as der Erzähler ("The Narrator")

Bettina Schwarz as Belle Schöma

Tobias Ofenbauer as Hermann Heimlich

Violetta Zupančič as Stella Will

Thomas Kodnar als der Autor ("The Author")

CREW

Production Management - Clara Scheicher (glashaus)

Project Coordination Bibliothek im Zentrum - Verena Kubicek & Robert Mech

Marketing - Thomas Kodnar & Clara Scheicher (glashaus)

Pictures - Dominik Perchtold (klubkunst)

Graphics - Stephanie Schwarz (Frau Schwarz Grafik-Design)

Video - Markus Raffeis (mrks media)

Script & creative control - Thomas Kodnar

VIDEO

video by Markus Raffeis (mrks media)

PRESS COVERAGE

This was TÄTER UNKNOWN: a dramatic whodunnit reading including a library tour and an audience voting. www.glashauskollektiv.com

Wiener Neustadt, 04.09.2023

THE AUTHOR is dead …

The glashaus collective did it again: all three shows of their new play Täter Unknown ("Culprit Unknown") were sold out. In a tour around the Bibliothek im Zentrum, members of the audience stayed on the tracks of three suspects before deciding themselves: which of the three is to be accused of having killed the dead author?

A combination of popular formats with an extra pinch of immersion and self-reference

Like the successful glashaus-format Story Unknown, Täter Unknown is a dramatic reading; this time, what the actors and actresses didn't know in advance wasn't the script in its entirety, but which character will be condemned by the audience, and which of three possible endings will be read as a result. With their fan-favourite guided city walks around Wiener Neustadt Ghost Walk and Ghost Walk 2 – Edition Noir, glashaus previously delivered theatre at multiple stages. The interactive whodunnit Täter Unknown feels like a creative combination of both of these earlier projects, yet abounds with original content and direction. More pronounced even than its relation to previous formats is Täter Unknown's reference to itself: it's a play about plays, whose author represents authors and whose narrator narrates the implications of being a narrator. More than anything else, however, Täter Unknown is this: terrific fun.

Reading as performance and audience trial

András Sosko told the story as "The Narrator" on two of the three evenings; Florian Stohr assumed the role for the third show. Violetta Zupančič as "The Ex-Agent" Stella Will was accused of the murder twice. The third time around, the audience blamed "The Wannabe-Colleague" Hermann Heimlich played by Tobias Ofenbauer. Only Bettina Schwarz as "The So-Called Lover" Belle Schöma escaped conviction. Täter Unknown-author Thomas Kodnar also took to the stage as "The Author" (or maybe that should be, THE AUTHOR).

New under the glass roof

Täter Unknown is not the only novelty to come out of the art collective this year: Clara Scheicher is glashaus's new production manager, and Täter Unknown is the first production she and Kodnar – who not only wrote the script this time, but debuted as creative and dramaturgic director – developed together from the ground up. "The two of them did great," says Elena Schwarz, the collective's artistic manager, "everything about it was wonderful!" The audience appears to agree: not only were all three evenings sold out, but requests for more shows – and a chance to see all three different endings – are also already incoming.

As for this year, fans of glashaus can look forward to another new attraction: soon the collective will stage Frankenstein as a "theatre rave" with Elena Schwarz performing in every role.

Täter Unknown was a collaboration with the Bibliothek im Zentrum and the Stadt Wiener Neustadt. glashaus want to express their thanks to both of them for the cooperation; to main sponsor Alte Kronen Apotheke as well as sponsors Wiener Neustädter Sparkasse, MeinDrucker.net, EKU das Fenster, and RE/MAX; and to Land Niederösterreich, the BMKÖS, and the Stadt Wiener Neustadt.

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