Who we are
We are an international Playback Theatre company with a heart for people and a nose for stories that connect. We are a diverse team that consists of eight enthusiastic people. That enthusiasm and diversity are at the core of our quality to do this beautiful work.
Ann Duchateau
founder & leader ⎮ performer ⎮ conductor ⎮ trainer
sPlayback theatre makes Ann’s big heart beat a beat faster every time. In 2009 she instantly fell in love with this wonderful method. Even though at that time she did not yet know what contribution it could make. She discovered this over the years during numerous trainings with international trainers in playback theatre: connection, comfort, hope, insight, relief, it opens up perspectives and an honest dialogue that goes to the heart of the matter.
In 2017 she founded the first professional playback theatre company in Flanders, Belgium. But Ann felt there was a need for an international group to help conduct connecting dialogue across borders. In the fall of 2020 Ann started to assemble her team very carefully and in March 2021 Perspektives was born.
Together with this group of empathetic and talented performers, she wants to make sure that people in organisations and the broader society understand each other better and can really meet each other, online and offline.
As a conductor she has an ear for what really wants to be told within people and groups. She knows how to bring this to the surface with the right tempo. As an actor she brings the necessary depth to stories and sometimes a surprising perspective.
More about Ann
Ann is Flemish and lives alternately in Belgium and Portugal. She holds an MA degree in Anthropology and is certified as a psychodramatist and mediator of group conflict. She is a dialogue and empowerment facilitator, mediator, a soft skills trainer and she facilitates programs in personal development. She is also a trainer in applied theatre and action methods such as Playback Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed, Psychodrama and Playback Therapy and Coaching.
In everything she does, she has been using theatre as a tool since 2006. Whether she is coaching, training, guiding a dialogue or a change process, applied theatre is the common thread. Her toolbox includes interactive business theatre, forum theatre, psychodrama, improv and Playback Theatre. She is also adept at duo and solo Playback Theatre and clowning for social purposes. She combines all these methods and forms when the situation calls for it.
She enthusiastically passes on her expertise in applied theatre to others who work with people and groups. Those who want to learn Playback Theatre, forum theatre, Psychodrama or Playback Therapy and Coaching will experience her as a dedicated and knowledgeable trainer.
Andrea Wilches Riaño
performer - conductor
Andrea’s background as an actress, psychologst and psychodramatist connects her deeply with the task of performing in Playback Theatre.
What really changed her as an artist and performer is her personal experience of becoming disabled. As part of the disabled community she brings a flare of diversity and inclusion to Perspektives to show people you are always capable of exploring your creativity and contributing to the world. Next to that, she has a great sense of humor.
Playback Theatre has given her the opportunity to listen to others with compassion and respect and transform their stories in creative and spontaneous ways, giving them back a piece that will allow them to connect to this experience in a unique and transformative way. Through Playback Theatre she has opened a new sensibility that allows her to be more present in her own story and always remember that creativity is present in everything that we do. She loves the spontaneity of Playback Theatre ant the generosity of it being able to play back others’ life experiences in situ. This gives her the extra layer of social constructivism and pure human interaction.
To Andrea Playback Theatre is an important tool that helps people heal and gives them the chance to develop empathy towards others and human connections.
More about Andrea
Andrea is born in Colombia and currently living in Argentina. She is a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychodramatist and a psychodrama trainer.
Elsa Maurício Childs
performer
The moment Elsa, who had worked as an actress for years, found out about Playback Theatre, in the beginning of 2017, she knew she wanted to do this for the rest of her life, no matter what. The way she felt that Playback brought together her own ethical and aesthetic stance on art in general and on theatre in particular was profoundly inspiring for her.
Since then, Elsa has been practicing Playback as an actress and a conductor. She has extensive experience in online performances and has done intensive, ongoing training in all aspects of Playback Theatre, as a member of several online and in-person Playback Theatre companies.
She brings poetry, silence, and bodily expression to her enactments, seeking to reach more profound, empathic and minimalist readings of the stories offered by the audience. She also brings deep listening skills and her full presence and openness of heart while receiving the gift of sharing that is the basis of Playback Theatre.
She deeply believes in the power of creating meaningful spaces for the sharing of personal stories and community building that is the essence of Playback Theatre and is committed to contributing to the creation of these spaces to the fullness of her ability.
More about Elsa
Elsa is Portuguese, living in Portugal. She works as an actress, an assistant stage director and a writer since 2010 other forms and areas of theatre. She is one of the founding members of two non-profit cultural associations. She has founded her own Playback Theatre group in Lisbon and is a Listening Hour guide.
Hadass Pelter
performer ⎮ conductor
With great joy and sensitivity Hadass makes herself available and subservient as a part of Perspektives. She loves to be part of this diverse, international group to bring strong Playback Theatre performances, online as well in the physical space. She believes strongly in the deep exchange and recognition Playback Theatre can bring, in telling and personal stories and transforming them into theatrical expressions.
More about Hadass
Hadass is Dutch and lives in the Netherlands. She is a drama therapist and drama teacher. She is also adept to solo and duo Playback Theatre. Besides Perspektives, she is also affiliated with a Playback Theatre company in Amsterdam.
Lou van Laake
performer ⎮ conductor
Having been a fairly isolated Playback Theatre practitioner in Ireland, she is a self-reliant, explorative actor and conductor, who can work creatively with little resources. From her community mental health work and singing backgrounds, she brings a big ear for both personal stories and group feelings, adapting herself to every audience.
She loves the process of making the literal concrete world more physical, sensory and theatrical. To trust the body, and not to be led by her mind, brings her freedom and creativity within herself, and connection with others. To find similarities, disagreements and understanding in people’s stories makes her feel more part of something, more active in the world and more human.
More about Lou
Lou is native to the Netherlands but living in Ireland since 2004. She works part time as a community mental health worker, sings in numerous bands covering music from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, and she runs a Playback Theatre company juggling her various hats of psychologist, Dramatherapist, performer, actor and facilitator.
Marcin Pietruszka
performer ⎮ conductor
More about Marcin
Marcin is Polish, living in Poland.
Ward Waeben
musician ⎮ performer
At the age of 10 Ward started to play the piano. Ever since his life was filled with music. He got a master degree in music education and for several years he was a music teacher.
By coincidence he was asked to act in a musical and that changed his life as an artist. He enriched himself with several studies in acting and fully developed himself as an actor thanks to the interactive business theatre projects of Ann Duchateau.
When Ann founded the Flemish Playback Theatre company Levenzegt and asked him to join, he did this with pleasure. And when she decided to also found an international company, he immediately applied to be part of this.
Ward got passionate about this form of theatre. It strikes him to see how much this form can mean for himself and other people in personal and professional growth. He likes to help people to see how their story can connect to other people and how deeper layers and different perspectives can be shown.
In this group Ward took back his role as a musician. He needed only a few pointers from Ann to develop himself as an excellent playback theatre musician who enriches the story and deepens the experience.
More about Ward
Ward is Flemish and live in Belgium. He is also an actor in interactive business theatre and living history, a clown and and animator. Besides Perspektives, Ward is also affiliated with the Flemish Playback Theatre company Levenzegt.
Yvonne Bokdam
performer ⎮ musician
Theatre and acting have been a part of Yvonne’s life since childhood. She is trained as a theatre maker and actress. Over the years she has gained a lot of experience.
With the course in Playback Theatre that Ann asked her to participate in, her enthusiasm for this form of theatre was born. She realizes time and again how powerful this form is by experiencing what Playback Theatre does with her own stories. And she also sees how she can touch people with her acting using this method.
More about Yvonne
Yvonne is Dutch, living in the Netherlands. She teaches drama and theatre in school.