http://www.dequeeste.be

De Queeste Theatre Makers’ Group was set up at the Maastricht Stage Academy in 1997, when several Flemish students embarked upon a joint venture that was to prove both unusual and intense. After nearly 10 years of working on a project-by-project basis, De Queeste was awarded an operating subsidy by the Flemish Community in 2006. A year later, the organisation took another important step when it merged with the TOR workshop. This enabled De Queeste to transform itself from a theatre-makers’ group into a theatre-makers’ company.

Since 2010, De Queeste has had a brand new core ensemble of five actors, two directors, a stage designer and a musician. Drawing inspiration from their dreams and obsessions, plays both classic and new, and interviews and stories, they’ll be performing at unusual locations and in auditoria throughout Flanders and Holland and the Euregion. Op de hoge doorn (2010) is the new ensemble’s first creation.

As well as its ensemble work, De Queeste regularly welcomes up-and-coming actors and directors. The company is one of the partners in STROOM, the Province of Limburg’s new culture subsidy scheme. De Queeste aims to support young talent with professional coaching, as well as functioning as a meeting place for theatre-makers from the region.

De Queeste also has a good relationship with Toneelacademie Maastricht, Toneelgroep Maastricht, Het Huis van Bourgondië in Maastricht, TAKT Dommelhof in Neerpelt and ’t Arsenaal in Mechelen, among others.

In mid-2010, De Queeste will be swapping its trusty base in Genk for a new space in Hasselt. It has always deliberately chosen a base in Limburg, for the many opportunities it offers. De Queeste plays a pioneering and market-leading role in its own region. It aims to be a sustainable regional centre of expertise and an exciting creative platform for theatre-making based in a non-metropolitan context.

De Queeste is coordinated by its artistic director Christophe Aussems and business director Els Gennez. The members of the ensemble are Christophe Aussems, Lien De Graeve, Katrien De Ruysscher, Bert Hornikx, Geert Peymen, Tom Ternest, Helena Van den Berge, Bram Van Der Kelen and Domien Van Der Meiren.