Richard Foreman

Richard Foreman (born 1937) has written, designed and directed more than fifty performances in New York and internationally. His productions are characterized by a complex interchange between language, visual tableaux and a constant involvement of the audience. Foreman describes his work as ‘total theatre’. In 1968 he founded the Ontological–Hysteric Theatre. 

Website:

Stef Lernous

 Stef Lernous studied fine arts at the Hogeschool Sint-Lukas in Brussels. He directed for the De Maan figure theatre. Since 1999 Stef Lernous has been one of the driving forces behind the Abattoir Fermé theatre company in Mechelen. The company's work is often based on outsiders, dissidents, science-fiction writers and voices from the counterculture. Stef Lernous adapts, samples and contextualises stimuli from cinema, documentaries, journalism, psychiatry, art brut, comic books a.o.

Website:

Soheil Parsa

Soheil Parsa (born 1954) was born in Iran and studied acting and theatre at the University of Tehran. After coming to Canada in 1984, he completed a second Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at York University and established Modern Times Stage Company, an experimenting, culturally diverse and award-winning theatre company. 

Website:

Annabel Arden

Annabel Arden (born 1959) is a director, actress and co-founder of the company Complicite in 1983. Her career as an independent director encompasses theatre, opera and broadcasting as well as devising new work. She has directed for Opera North, The English National Opera, The Royal National Theatre, Almeida Theatre and BBC. 

Jerome Bel

Jérôme Bel (born 1964) started choreographing in 1994 and has become one of the leading figures in the movement of non-dance. He provokes and entertains audiences with concepts that challenge the conventions of performance. Bel’s performances have toured all over the world. 

Website:

Laurent Chétouane

Living in Germany, the French director Laurent Chétouane (b. 1973) is a representative of puristic works of theatre with a strong focus on language. One of the most important young directors in Germany, he stages both new and classical drama. In 2010 he directed Ibsen's "A Doll's House" at the Norwegian National Theatre in Oslo.

Website:

Monster Truck

Monster Truck is a young performance company who works with their own radical way of conquering the stage. Their works are apocalyptic theatrical experiences where elements of show, slapstick, stunts and visual art are combined into a whole. Monster Truck is a collective; everybody participates in the development of concepts, staging and performing.

Website:

Staffan Valdemar Holm

Staffan Valdemar Holm (born 1958) was trained as a director at Statens Teaterskole in Danmark 1988. His raw and physical performances has provoked audiences and his work in general is characterised by being sharp and unsentimental. From 2002-08 Staffan Holm was director of the Swedish National Theatre Dramaten, and from 2011 he is director of Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. In 2010 he was awarded the Danish theatre award Reumert for performance of the year, for Richard III at the Royal Danish Theatre.

La Fabrique Imaginaire

Eve Bonfanti and Yves Hunstad are co-founders of the theatre company La Fabrique Imaginaire, sharing the roles of playwrights, actors, directors and stage designers. Their first play, La Tragédie Comique from 1988, was created during 5 years of intensive rehearsal work and has played more than 500 performances around the world, translated into ten different languages.

Website:

Heiner Goebbels

Heiner Goebbels (born 1952) is a composer and director. His work has toured extensively and has given a new dimension to the concept Gesamtkunstwerk. He presents a number of ingredients and it is up to the spectator to sort them. Heiner Goebbels is professor at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen and president of the Theatre Academy Hessen. 

Website: