Just after graduating high school, Maria-Cristina Hallwachs accidently jumped head first into the shallow end of a swimming pool. She has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since. In this piece by the prize-winning Berlin documentary theatre label Rimini Protokoll, Hallwachs explains very matter-of-factly and with great humour the entire “apparatus” that she now relies on – both off as well as on stage. Her reflections extend far beyond her own individual fate: where does disability begin? And who decides whether a life is worth living? Her answer is clear: Only she herself can and may do so. “I’m 40 years old now and I am prone. Prone to death. Prone to life.”

With Maria-Cristina Hallwachs, Timea Mihályi * Written and directed by Helgard Haug and Daniel Wetzel * Stage, Lighting, Videomapping: Marc Jungreithmeier * Stage: Marco Canevacci (Plastique Fantastique) * Video / Video mapping: Grit Schuster * Music: Barbara Morgenstern * Dramaturgy / Research: Sebastian Brünger * Production Management: Heidrun Schlegel * Directors Assistance and research: Markus Klemenz * Stage Assistance: Ewa Sobczak * Production management Assistance: Caroline Lippert * Stage manager: Hans Beck, Thomas Hoffmann * Directors trainee: Birte Niederhaus * Dramaturgy trainee: Lena Fritschle * A co-production between Rimini Apparat and Schauspiel Stuttgart. Funded by the Department of the Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs * Supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ (NPN) International Guest Performance Fund for Theatre, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag.