Theater productions with and by performers with cognitive disabilities are often characterized by the tension between the performers’ substantial share of authorship and their lack of artistic responsibility. Whereas performers with different abilities contribute their individual stories or corporealities to an artwork, they are usually staged by a non-disabled artistic director. Thus, the performances always stage the relationship between the director and the performers with disabilities. The article discusses how Disabled Theater and – two years later – the current “long term performance project” Freie Republik Hora may be considered as models to question these hierarchies and power relations inside the creative processes. Crucially, Disabled Theater has ignited a debate on these issues, by raising the question, who is speaking on stage. In Freie Republik Hora, – as a response to Disabled Theater – the ensemble members are supposed to obtain creative responsibility. At the same time, this experimental set-up even more reveals the issue of autonomy, which is subject to any form of theater work with and by cognitively disabled performers.