Tankred Dorst (1925-2017) was a German playwright who began with marionette theater and established himself as a leading figure of contemporary German drama with Toller (1966). In collaboration with his wife Ursula Ehler, he wrote over thirty plays. His monumental work Merlin oder das wuste Land (1981), an eight-hour reimagining of Arthurian legend compared to Goethe's Faust, stands as a landmark of German theater. For his lifelong contribution spanning historical drama, myth, and realism, he received the Georg Buchner Prize in 1990.

"People matter more than mechanisms" -- the core of Dorst's dramatic philosophy