Gerhild Steinbuch (A)
& Roger Vontobel (CH)


Gerhild Steinbuch, born in Mödling in 1983, studied stage-writing in Graz. She was a member of Jugendliteratur-werkstatt Graz from 1994 to 1998 and several times winner of the related competitions. She received the Retzhofer literature prize in 2003 and won the plays competition of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin, with “kopftot”. Productions so far: “Nach dem glücklichen Tag” (2004, Schauspielhaus Graz/steirischer herbst, director: M. Fontheim), “schlafengehn” (2006, Schauspiel Essen, director: R. Vontobel), and “kopftot” (2006, Staatstheater Mainz, director: J. Pfleiderer; 2007). Steinbuch received the literature scholarship of the city of Graz in 2004, the scholarship for newcomer authors of the Hermann Lenz Foundation in 2005, and was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Also in 2005, she was awarded the Reinhard Priessnitz Prize of the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the literature award of the city of Graz. In 2006 she received the playwright grant of the art section of the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the literature award of the “manuskripte” magazine.

Roger Vontobel, born in Zürich in 1977, grew up in Zürich and Johannesburg. Studied theatre studies and comparative literature studies in Berlin and acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and Pasadena. He worked as an actor in California, among others with the ARK Theatre Company L.A. and at the Knightsbridge Theatre Pasadena as well as in the independent films “Alone in my head“ and “Distance”. In 2001-2004/5 he finished studying theatre directing at the Institute of theatre, music theatre and film (ITMF) in Hamburg. In 2002 he was involved in founding the Theater-company TresenTM. He founded the free VONTOBELhamburg group the same year. Since the 2005/2006 season, he has been in-house director at Schauspielhaus Hamburg and permanent director at Schauspiel Essen. At the Münchner Kammerspiele Vontobel staged “Monsun” by Anja Hilling in 2005/2006 and “Die Familie Schroffenstein” by Heinrich von Kleist in the 2006/2007 season.