Combining writing and performing

She was always writing. But because of her specific background in theatre, ArtEZ-student Lisia Leurdijk never thought she’d actually be following a course in Creative Writing. She chose the course because it allowed her to combine playwriting and performing — for instance at spoken word evenings. Together with students from her class, Lisia organised the literary event ‘Waar de Schapen Heen Gaan’.

The assignment Lisia and her fellow students were given in their first year was to organise a literary event from scratch. With ‘The Subconscious’ as a theme, they came up with a programme using the sleep cycle as an inspiration. Various speakers returned a number of times on stage in order to indicate the different sleep cycles. Lisia was responsible for the programme’s content and liaising with the speakers. Music wasn't missing either. Lisia:

We asked Felix Draisma, a second-year student ArtEZ Music Theatre, to come and play. I met him at the interdisciplinary project ‘Pleasure Island’. It felt really professional to be taking care of it all myself. I learned a lot. Working together with classmates in a totally different way. Managing things instead of responding to each other’s texts.

Future colleagues

How are you experiencing your first year? “It’s been great. We have been very honest with each other and supportive in our feedback”, she says. After taking classes in reporting, poetry, short stories, visual arts and on the history of literature, she will be composing her own curriculum, subjects and projects, in the second year.

“The teachers are writers themselves, which is very nice. They are our future colleagues, and they are taking us seriously. A teacher doesn’t necessarily have more authority or knowledge than we do.”

Waar de Schapen Heen Gaan, Creative Writing