Lotte Vrancken

Lotte Vrancken (they/them, she/her) is artistic coordinator at detheatermaker, a development and production platform for emerging creators. Lotte also works as a dramaturge, and is a member of One Field Fallow, a workshop for collective (artistic) research in an old night store in Brussels.

I’m on the jury because….

watching a lot of theater is an essential part of my role as a facilitator for emerging creators: it keeps my perspective fresh and I remain curious. I think it’s important to know what imaginations, necessities and references are in the field. Besides, I also really enjoy it: discussing performances is one of my favorite parts of a long evening at the bar. I am very much looking forward to the exchange with the other members of the jury and think I am going to be able to learn a lot from their perspectives. I hope that together we will arrive at a challenging, fresh selection.

A compelling performance to me is …

a performance that carries a proposition within it that I feel the creators stand behind. I prefer that that proposition challenges the viewer: substantively, formally or both, and relates to the world outside. A performance that dares to look the audience straight in the eye and say this is my proposition, you didn’t expect that did you?

Liv Laveyne

Liv Laveyne was active as a performing arts reviewer for De Morgen and other media from 2000 to 2015. From 2011 to 2016, she programmed Jong Theater at TAZ (Theater aan Zee). She co-founded De Grote Post in Ostend in 2012 where she still coordinates the artistic operation and is responsible for the stage programming. She is also part of the editorial staff of Circusmagazine and is circus programmer at TAZ.

I’m on the jury because….

there is no arguing about taste and color, and yet there is nothing more fascinating. Every point of view is different, shaped by culture, time, upbringing, beliefs and experiences. Such a point of view is not a fixed idea but rather your binoculars and magnifying glass on your life and, by extension, the world. And sometimes it is the others who make you discover the details or show you how hold something in a different light. The fact that my passion for circus allows me to sit on the jury, is a fine honor for an art form where the development is in full swing and where, contrary to what should be, all freedom is used.

A compelling performance to me is …

What is impressive performing art, what does it do to my gut, my head, my heart? What makes me think differently, what makes me feel more deeply, what touches me unexpectedly and makes me happily defiant?

Dahlia Pessemiers-Benamar

Dahlia Pessemiers Benamar (°1975) attended cabaret school at the Studio Herman Teirlinck where she graduated in 1998. Since then, Dahlia has appeared as a freelance actress in various theater companies and worked in productions by Arne Sierens, Jellie Schippers, Mannah De Pauw, Luk Perceval and others.

In recent years, she was mainly seen as an actress in Action Zoo Humain productions De Waarheidscommissie (2016-17-18) Amnes(t)ie (2017-18) and Dihya (2019-20) and in the NTGent trilogy The sorrows of Belgium (2022) (Luk Perceval).

In addition to the stage, Dahlia performs both at home and abroad in TV series and films. She can be seen in Zéro Default, Je suis mort mais j’ai des amis, Deadline 14-10, Braided Love, Bullets, De Ridder, De twaalf and others.

As a creator, she is developing a very personal trajectory within musical theater. Dahlia founded Dunia asbl where she developed her first creations, always with a mixed cast and in which she fused different languages and musical genres. Together with several creators, she rewrote Dunia into the new company Silence Radio, working together on inclusive productions with deaf and hearing actors and writers.

I’m on the jury because….

the strength, the playfulness, and the exceptional quality of the Belgian theater landscape never ceases to amaze me. It feels like a necessity to continue to follow this extraordinary cultural field, to co-promote it, and to also expose diverse audiences to work that is often underplayed.

A compelling performance to me is …

an endearingly layered wordless performance for all ages that takes young and old into a world that is brimming with rebellious and authentic theatrical imagery.

Floris Baeke

Floris Baeke studies philosophy. He writes for De Standaard on performing arts and co-coordinates the magazine Etcetera during the 24-25 season. 

I’m on the jury because….

A festival that works with a selection is unique in the Flemish performing arts landscape. I find it important that hTF puts together a line-up based on open discussion and dialogue with a diverse group of experts, free from commercial, market-driven, pragmatic or other interests, as is sometimes the case with other festivals. I see being on the jury as a responsibility to look very broadly and give each performance the attention and reflection it deserves.

A compelling performance to me is …

a performance that you want others to see and feel too. Something important forces itself on you, it excites you both physically and intellectually; you feel it sizzle all over because what is being shown is important, challenging, beautiful, funny or powerful.

I have a fondness for performances that stir a certain restlessness by making contradictory or complex things palpable, show how something could be different, or simply play with the audience. Interesting are also performances that induce a certain ecstasy, that take you outside of yourself by extremely zooming out on the world you live in or zooming in on the person you are, thus changing your outlook. Ultimately, a work of interest should create an opening to think differently about yourself or the world as you think about the artwork.

Rojda Gülüzar Karakuş

Rojda Gülüzar Karakuş is a freelance dramatist who began her career in Turkey. She came to Belgium in 2019, where she completed her bachelor’s and then master’s degree in theater studies. She currently works as a WijkBuddy in het TheaterFestival’s WijkJury project. She is also involved in Jong Panel of Viernulvier and, together with other ten members, provides a critical, artistic and organizational perspective within the organization.

I’m on the jury because….

my background as a spectator and as a dramatist is a mix of two cultures: Belgium and Turkey. This dual cultural lens can bring a different perspective to het TheaterFestival, I believe. In addition, my current work with the WijkJury project has further deepened this perspective. Working with the jurors, who themselves come from diverse backgrounds, has taught me to look at theater from different perspectives.

A compelling performance to me is …

one that has been thoroughly studied dramaturgically and is accessible to everyone. Such a performance takes the audience to other worlds and immerses them in new experiences. It is like a journey that takes the audience from one place to another, and this journey should be accessible to everyone.

Emilie Hulsmans

Emilie Hulsmans has been a theater, circus, comedy and school performance programmer at cultuurcentrum Hasselt since 2020 and artistic associate of the Krokusfestival, the international arts festival for young audiences that continues annually during the crocus vacation.

I’m on the jury because….

I think it is important that youth theater has a prominent place at the Theatre Festival. I hope to add value here from my background at the Krokusfestival and from my passion for youth theater. We can be incredibly proud of the productions for young audiences in Flanders. I would like to spread that message within the jury and beyond. From my position as a programmer, I see being on the jury as a good exercise to engage in conversation or debate and thus learn to clearly articulate why certain performances have a place in my program.

A compelling performance to me is …

a performance that can surprise me, that lingers and makes me question things. I love it when the audience is challenged. And that can start from an early age as far as I’m concerned.

Filip Tielens

Filip Tielens works as head of culture and media for De Standaard, where he coordinated coverage of the performing arts in recent years. He is founder of the multimedia production house De Zendelingen and closely follows (youth) theater, dance and circus.

I’m on the jury because….

because I follow the performing arts very closely and would like – out of an irrepressible missionary urge – to attract as many audiences as possible to the performances that are dear to me or that I consider important for the development of the theater. And also because I would like to make the jury selection even broader, younger and more diverse.

A compelling performance to me is …

for me is a performance where I leave the theater differently than I entered it. Because the performance made me think, because it made me feel something, or because it allowed stories or worldviews that at first glance may be far away from me to communicate with my own little life. But just as much because an artist is trying something new, because form and content are connected in an inseparable way, or because an artist can make the here and now of being together in the theater rhyme with the world outside and the time we share together. Or all at the same time.