Berlin's Autor:innenTheaterTage festival (a showcase of new German-language drama held annually at the Deutsches Theater) opened on 6 June, bringing together eleven productions that wrestle with a shared anxiety: whether art retains any power to illuminate or resist in an era of political dysfunction. Works range from a satirical reimagining of Karl May's Wild West characters confronting Trumpism and colonialism, to a journalistic stage essay on Putin's rise co-written with the investigative outlet Correctiv, to a piece composed entirely of potential titles for artworks that do not yet exist. What unites them, reviewers note, is a mood of urgent, sometimes desperate self-questioning — theatre straining to justify its own existence at a moment when the future offers few positive models.