About the work
“Moneyland” is a play by Alexander Kerlin, dramaturg, writer and chief dramaturg of Schauspiel Köln. Its world premiere is scheduled for 26 September 2026 in the Kleines Haus of Schauspiel Köln, directed by Kay Voges, with whom Kerlin has repeatedly developed theatre work since their time together in Dortmund. The play is one of the three world premieres with which the company opens its first season after returning to Offenbachplatz.
Plot
The documentary filmmaker Noah, known for his critical take on the present, travels into the desert to interview the tech billionaire Ava Park, who is having a luxury bunker built deep underground. Park’s company, Atlas Analytics, supplies the military and police with software meant to predict an enemy’s next moves from vast amounts of data. The shoot becomes delicate because Noah’s daughter June, a committed anti-fascist, is suspected of involvement in an attack on Park. When the bunker’s AI, Samantha, predicts that Noah himself will commit a crime against Park, reality and fiction begin to blur for him.
Cultural significance
The play deals with digital warfare and with new alliances between tech capitalism and authoritarian, right-wing politics; at its centre is the question of what becomes of guilt, power and self-defence when algorithms announce acts before they happen. Kerlin has long worked on the link between theatre and digital culture and was among the founders of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund.