LENZ

Maker

LENZ is an interdisciplinary theatre cooperative made up of stage actor and writer Marit Hooijschuur (the Netherlands; she/her), director and designer Erasmus Mackenna (Scotland; they/them) and writer and dramaturg Roel Pronk (the Netherlands; he/him). LENZ is based in Amsterdam and works in the Netherlands and Scotland. Alongside its productions with Frascati Producties, LENZ also produces independent work, both for theatres and on location.

The latest production of LENZ, Anatomy of a Suicide, premiered in January 2025 at Frascati.

Erasmus Mackenna © QiQi van Boheemen

Roel Pronk © QiQi van Boheemen

Marit Hooijschuur © QiQi van Boheemen

Biography

The members of LENZ met at the Academy of Theatre and Dance, where they collaborated on the graduation productions Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland (2021) and JUNK (2021). In 2021, Erasmus created the production Schede en Mes with Frascati Producties as part of Beginnings, followed by LENZ (2022), both in close cooperation with Marit and Roel.

Convinced that the human race in its current state will become extinct in the near future, LENZ tells small-scale human stories that exposes the nihilistic hopelessness of this realisation and, through radical empathy and catharsis, investigates alternative futures. Steeped in idealistic hope and dedicated to the underground and the stories of outsiders in society, LENZ’s work takes place at the intersection of theatre, live music and performance.

LENZ is strongly influenced by musical genres such as folk, heavy metal, noise and drone, as well as experimental music collectives such as LANKUM, SunnO))), clipping. & BIG|BRAVE. Recurring themes include class, mental illness, gender, non-binary identities, loneliness and trauma. On the basis of these disciplines and topics, LENZ exposes socio-political systems and opens these up to discussion through its stories and characters. LENZ creates a solidary, tender, intersectional, contemporary repertoire on humanity in decline, wrestling with others and the world around them, seeking salvation.

Following the success of Schede en Mes, this production revived at Frascati early in 2023 under the title Sheath and Knife. In addition, LENZ is working with Frascati Producties on Katie Cruel, the second part of their murder-ballads trilogy, following on from Sheath and Knife. Katie Cruel premiered in May 2023 and will tour in The Netherlands March/April 2024.

HAYNTOLOGY is LENZ' next production and is scheduled for release in January 2024.

Na het succes van Sheath and Knife (Schede en Mes) tijdens Beginnings is deze voorstelling begin 2023 bij Frascati hernomen. In mei 2023 ging Katie Cruel in première, na Sheath and Knife de tweede in een reeks voorstellingen die de complexe driehoeksverhouding dader, slachtoffer en toeschouwer onderzoekt. De voosteling toert in maart en april 2024 door Nederland. Het derde deel, Lullaby, verschijnt in het najaar van 2025.

In januari 2024 presenteert LENZ hun nieuwste Frascati-productie: HAUNTOLOGY. Een modern, audiovisueel spookverhaal over de generatie die opgroeit in een afstervende wereld en met de oneindige draaikolk van het internet.

Begin 2024 ontving LENZ de Subsidie nieuwe makers van Fonds Podiumkunsten. Hiermee zal LENZ, naast Lullaby, bij Frascati Producties gaan werken aan een Nederlandse vertolking van het bejubelde stuk Anatomy of a Suicide (2017) van Alice Birch dat geensceneerd wordt met een cast van negen spelers. Het stuk gaat 9 januari 2025 in première in Frascati 1.