The notion of the utopian function of the arts persists stubbornly within theater studies, typically associated with the culture-critical topos of negating any representational aesthetics. Despite extensive criticism of the avant-garde concept, both postdramatic theater and its theory are largely referenced in a linear fashion to the historical avant-garde. Miriam Drewes questions these implicit historiographical thought patterns, which are linked to the terms 'event' and 'presence' and are, from an intellectual history perspective, constructed analogously to the mystical experience of absoluteness. In contrast, she advocates for an understanding of 'aesthetic experience' that is committed to a pragmatically context-based concept of events.

Miriam Drewes (Dr. phil.) studied theater studies, modern German literature, and political science in Vienna and Munich. She works as a research associate in theater studies at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and as a film dramaturg.