PIET DEFRAEYE

Piet teaches Performance Studies and Contemporary Theatre at the University of Alberta. A scholar, theatre director, and dramaturg; he researches strategies of stage provocation and has written extensively on contemporary performance in theatre and dance. He has toured internationally with several productions, including an award-winning production of Evelyn de la Chenelière’s Bashir Lazhar (Edmonton, Antwerp, Munich, Dresden, Innsbruck, Kiev, London, Edinburgh, Kitchener-Waterloo). His recent publications include Brussels 1900 Vienna (Brill, 2021), and (co-edited with Lily Climenhaga) a special issue of Theater (Yale, 51.2.) on Milo Rau.

He has published on the Rwandan genocide and is at the apex of an interdisciplinary research project on the figure of Patrice Lumumba, the assassinated first Prime Minister of the Congo, as he appears in cultural discourse and practice.

He was a Guest Professor for extensive periods of time at several European universities.