Laura van de Werf

Laura van de Werf (she/her, 25) is graduating from the ArtEZ School of Acting in Arnhem.

Her work explores themes such as queer love between women, loneliness, and the fear of time passing and growing older.

Moving between childlike playfulness and an adult longing for love, Laura creates work that is both physical and narrative. She is drawn to characters who are on the verge of drowning in nostalgia.

Through vulnerability, humour, and imagination, she blurs the boundaries between fantasy and reality, creating space for ways of living and loving that are still searching for their place in the world, always from a queer perspective.

"I can't wait to sink my teeth into new repertoire and help bring new stories and voices to the stage—both in theatre and on screen. As an actor, I'm excited to play as many different kinds of characters as possible. During my graduation year, however, I felt a particular urgency to create space for queer and lesbian women on stage. This led me to write my graduation thesis, *Loved in Silence*, about the absence of femme lesbian stories, and to create *The Day No One Came* together with Renée Pinksterboer. The performance tells the story of a lesbian princess longing for her ex-girlfriend and for the happily-ever-afters that seem to exist only in fairy tales. I'm looking forward to entering the professional field and, hopefully, introducing audiences to many more unforgettable characters."