About Davy

Davy Pieters creates performances with a strong visual, physical and cinematic style about humans in a rapidly changing world. Her work is known for its powerful visual language in which performance, scenography and soundscape continuously reinforce each other. In her work, Pieters searches for human hope and resilience. How can we be more connected to the people around us and the world we live in?

Davy graduated in 2011 from the directing program at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. Upon graduation, she received the Henriette Hustinx Prize: “She develops her projects at the intersection of theater and performance, with the courage to experiment,” said the jury.
From 2013 to 2016, she created several productions at production house Frascati. Her first work was the darkly humorous fairytale An Elephant. She then presented the acclaimed monologue The Truth About Kate (2014), which was selected for the Dutch Theater Festival and the Flemish Circuit X and earned her a nomination for the BNG New Theatre Makers Prize. This was followed by How Did I Die (2014) and Made in Here (2016). In the fall of 2016, How Did I Die won the audience award at the Fast Forward Festival for Young Directors in Braunschweig, Germany.

In the summer of 2016, Davy created the site-specific performance Re-enactment of the Now for Oerol and Spring Festival with Theater Utrecht. In 2017, she developed The Unpleasant Surprise at Theater Rotterdam.
That same year, she was selected to present How Did I Die and The Unpleasant Surprise at the Venice Biennale.
In fall 2018, she collaborated with Theater Rotterdam on How to Build a Universe and in spring 2019 with Theater Utrecht on What We Leave Behind. How to Build a Universe won the 2019 VSCD Mime Prize. The jury stated: “Davy Pieters once again demonstrates that she is developing a unique body of work, meticulously and intelligently exploring what it means to be human in a world shaped by technology and apocalyptic threats. She does so with a distinct signature—visually and musically striking, influenced by film, games, literature, science, and documentary materials. Davy Pieters is an essential director and theater maker in both the Dutch and international theater landscape.”

In June 2021, DO NOT LOOK BACK WITH REGRET premiered and was also nominated for the VSCD Mime Prize that same year. The jury praised its refined and overwhelming visual language: “Cinematic scenes, abrupt dark transitions that shift time, a constant downpour of black ash, and the magical lighting of Varja Klosse. Jimi Zoet’s soundscape shimmers and thunders. It is both an intimate gathering and a heartrending farewell.”
Between 2021-2024, Davy Pieters collaborated with Theater Rotterdam on a four-part series about growing up in a future world, focusing on the human life cycle—birth, youth, adulthood, and death. The series includes CRISPR (2022), Not All Is Lost (2023), HEAT (2024), and After us (2024)

With Nastaran Razawi Khorasani, Davy Pieters forms artistic duo Kobe. Together, they create interdisciplinary works across diverse platforms, from theater and museums to film, clubs, and (dance) festivals.