Karlijn Kistemaker, graduate of the Theatre Director study programme of de Theaterschool, received the Top Naeff Prize 2013 on 1 July. The Top Naeff Prize is traditionally awarded as an incentive prize to promising talent from de Theaterschool.
The Top Naeff Prize is the oldest theatre student prize in the Netherlands and is awarded on an irregular basis to a promising student or students who have graduated from de Theaterschool.
The jury praised Karlijn Kistemaker for the manner in which she is able to convey existing texts on a personal level. Karlijn has even developed her own signature style as a theatre director already. She dares to aim for the grotesque, while form is always powered by the content, and actors love to perform in her pieces. With her analytical vision, bizarre humour and empathy, Karlijn makes instantly recognisable theatre that eases the heaviness of a life that never goes as we would like.
Karlijn is the director of the successful show De Vader (The Father), the graduation production of Karlijn Kistemaker (Theatre Director study programme) and Calle de Hoog (Scenography).
About the Top Naeff Prize
The Top Naeff Prize is awarded courtesy of the Top Naeff Prijs Fonds (Top Naeff Prize Foundation) and is made possible by the Emma Morel Fonds (Emma Morel Foundation). The prize also includes €750 and a trophy as a keepsake. In addition, the prizewinners may also be pleased with the fact that they are in the company of a select group of previous winners.
The first female prizewinner was the actress Sigrid Koetse who graduated in 1955. Following her, the prize was won, among others, by: Peter Oosthoek, Suzanne Kennedy, Boukje Schweigmann, Theun Mosk and Carice van Houten. The prize is awarded to an especially talented class on rare occassions. In 2012, the Top Naeff Prize was awarded to Dionne Verwey, a graduate of the Mime study programme, for her dazzling graduation show Man.