by Kaleb Erdmann
In the farthest corner of Thuringia, at the foot of the Kyffhäuser Mountains, lies the fictional village of Debritz. Here, sugar beet farmer Peggy and her boyfriend Maik are struggling not only with three scorching summers, but also with the local brine spring that is seeping into their groundwater. For Peggy, it’s clear: the spring must be drained so that Debritz can survive—but the mayor and the former saltworks workers won’t hear of it. They’d rather continue dreaming of the salt town’s glorious past and firmly believe that Emperor Barbarossa will rise again and steer their fortunes for the better. And Simone from Böblingen also gets involved in the town’s development issues. The only one seemingly untouched by all this is the Salt Spirit, a timeless force of nature that has little regard for human resignation to fate—until Peggy hatches a radical plan.
“With his play, Kaleb Erdmann moves masterfully between worlds, genres, and realities,” the jury explained in awarding the 2026 Kleist Prize for New Drama: “Straddling folk theater, fairy tales, satire, and social drama, Debritz is above all one thing: a joyful plea for theater.”
