About the work
"Die letzte Geschichte der Menschheit" ("The Last Story of Mankind") is a solo piece by Sören Hornung, created in 2022 as part of "Künstlerische Intelligenz", a project he founded together with Hannes Hartmann and Janek Liebetruth. It premiered the same year at Konzerthaus Wernigerode, directed by Janek Liebetruth; on 20 December 2022 it was followed by Leon Bornemann's production with Tanja Merlin Graf at the Box stage of Schauspiel Frankfurt.
Plot
The artificial intelligence KARL returns from the year 5144 to the present after its mission to save humanity has failed and the species has gone extinct. Out of boredom and longing for humans it never got to meet, KARL uses a self-built time machine to convince present-day people to secure humanity's survival — promising to make saving the world as efficient and entertaining as possible.
Cultural significance
The Frankfurt production was nominated in 2023 for the Nachspielpreis of the Heidelberg Stückemarkt, which honours outstanding play texts of the previous season. With repeated awards such as the Chemnitz Theatre Prize for young drama (2018, 2020), Hornung ranks among the established younger playwrights in German-language theatre.