LUANDA CASELLA is a writer, performing artist, theatre director, house artist at NTGent and artist in residence at deSingel International Arts Centre. Above all, she is an ingenious storyteller who knows exactly how to make the point she is trying to make. Focusing on the uses of 'manipulative discourse' in communication processes and 'unreliable narrators' in classic and contemporary works of fiction, her work has been referred to as ‘awfully intelligent’, ‘surprisingly light-footed’ and ‘horrifically funny’.

Casella has created four performances in recent years: Short of Lying  (2018), Killjoy Quiz  (2020), Ferox Tempus  (2022) and Elektra Unbound  (2024), all of which are touring internationally. Casella's work has been shown at Theater Spektakel (Zurich), Edinburgh Theatre Festival, HAU, (Berlin), Kaserne (Basel), FARaway Festival (Reims), Spielart Festival (Munich), Frascati (Amsterdam), Dublin Theatre Festival, a.o.

In 2018, Casella won the Sabam Theaterschrijf prize at TAZ with Short of Lying. Killjoy Quiz  was selected for the Belgian Theatre Festival in 2022 as one of the best performances of the season. Ferox Tempus  was nominated for the Patronage Prize at Zücher Theater Spektakel. Elektra Unbound  has been selected for the Venice Biennale and once again for Het Theaterfestival as one of the best performances of the year.

Alongside her performances, Casella has a career in education and academia. She is currently a teacher at the drama department at the KASK Conservatory, Ghent, where she guides master students in their final projects and gives a masterclass on her research on ‘unreliable narrators’. She has also been a guest lecturer at DAS Graduate School (Amsterdam), KABK (The Hague), P.A.R.T.S, School for Contemporary Dance (Brussels), Toneelacademie Maastricht Institute of Performative Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Cité Universitaire de Paris, a.o.

-- last update June 2024