State of the playwrite 2026
The full text of the annual Staat van de Toneelschrijver (State of the Playwright) is now online. This "state of the union" of the theater writing world was delivered this year by Annet Bremen at OPEK Leuven during the Shakespeare is dead, the Dutch-Flemish contemporary playwriting festival. Next year, the festival will return to Amsterdam.
With her address, Annet Bremen joins a young but special tradition. These are the authors who have delivered the State in recent years:
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2025: Dounia Mahammed (Shakespeare is dead, Amsterdam)
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2024: Rebekka de Wit (Shakespeare is dead, Leuven)
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2022: Lot Vekemans (Shakespeare is dead, Leuven)
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2022: Anouk Friedli (Staat van de jonge toneelschrijver / State of the Young Playwright - Shakespeare is dead, Leuven)
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2018: Stijn Devillé (The very first Flemish State - Het TheaterFestival)
About Annet Bremen
Annet Bremen (Heerlen, 1986) initially studied Dutch, but ultimately found the language too beautiful to merely observe from the sidelines. That is why, after obtaining her Bachelor's degree in 2007 (Leiden University), she chose the writing program (Writing for Performance) at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, graduating in 2011. She has written for organizations including Het Laagland, AVROTROS, and Het Nationale Theater.
Her work has been selected for Interplay Europe and nominated for the Dioraphte Incentive Prize, Verse Tekst, the Poetry Prize of the City of Ostend, the Prix Europa, and the Toneelschrijfprijs (Playwriting Prize). She won the Gouden Lijst (Golden Frame) and the Dutch-German youth theater writing prize Kaas&Kappes. She was selected for Shakespeare is dead with her play FCK LOLITA* (based on an idea by Silke van Kamp, commissioned by Het Zuidelijk Toneel).
Shakespeare is dead is an initiative of Het nieuwstedelijk in co-production with fABULEUS, WiSPER, Het Kwartier, OPENDOEK & Creatief Schrijven, cie Tartaren, LUCA Drama, and De Leesclub, in collaboration with Theater Bellevue, De Brakke Grond, Rhizom-art, and OPEK, and with the support of the City of Leuven, Flanders Literature, Sabam, deAuteurs, deBuren, Kunstenpunt, and SACD.
