Lisa Wentz (AT/GER)
Authors / Theater
is a playwright. Born in Austria, she completed her acting training in Vienna in 2017 before going on to earn a degree in Scenic Writing from the Berlin University of the Arts in 2022.
Her work has been performed at leading German-language stages, including the Volksbühne Berlin, the Burgtheater Vienna, and the Theater in der Josefstadt. Her play Aschewolken received a special prize at the German Children’s and Youth Theatre Award in 2020, and Adern won both the Retzhofer Drama Prize 2021 and the Nestroy Award for Best Play 2022, with its world premiere at the Burgtheater Vienna. In 2023, she was awarded the Contemporary Arts Alliance Award Berlin for her artistic work.
Most recently, her play Azur oder die Farbe von Wasser premiered at the Theater in der Josefstadt in January 2025, and Verräter had its world premiere at the Landestheater Linz in February 2026.
She lives and works in Vienna.
Works
AZUR OR THE COLOR OF WATER
January 2025
Premiere: Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna, AT
Hannes and Geri are young and in love – for Hannes’ mother this is a punishment from God. The fact that the boys are both taught at a Catholic boarding school and that they are victims of sexual abuse leaves deep rifts across the generations.
VERLANGEN (DESIRE), freely adapted from DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS by Eugene O'Neill, German translation by Lisa Wentz
September 2024
Premiere: Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck
Three brothers long to free themselves from their father’s tyranny. While one of them wishes to inherit the barren farm, the others are in a gold rush. The struggle for power and love begins when Agnes – the old man’s new, young bride – enters the yard.
With VERLANGEN (German for desire), Lisa Wentz tells Eugene O’Neill’s DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS from a radical, feminine perspective.
VERRÄTER (TRAITORS)
2022
Jo is a teenager, she lives with her family in a Tyrolean village and has to see the pastor regularly. He appeals to her conscience, wants to lead her back to the right path – all because Jo fell in love with a young woman last summer leaving her mother deeply worried. The whole story is a scandal, even a sin in the narrow provincial mindset. Will Jo be able to emancipate herself in her quest for freedom and happiness?
“All parents want something special for their children, but no one wants them to be different.” (from TRAITORS)