Gavin-Viano
Maker
Rotterdam-based director Gavin-Viano creates work charged with social urgency. Through grassroots initiatives, he addresses themes vital to the Black community, LGBTQIA+ community, human rights activists, and vulnerable young people.
Biography
Gavin-Viano trained at Codarts Rotterdam Dance Academy and received scholarships to The New York Film Academy. As a performer, he has appeared in Grease(Vorst Nationaal), Yab Yum (Koninklijk Carré), Rocky Das Musical (Stage Entertainment Hamburg), and Ragtime Das Musical (Staatstheater Kassel, Braunschweig, and Oper Graz). After this he studied stage direction at the Toneelacademie Maastricht. In 2020 his graduation performance Ach Mijn Wederhelft won the DNA Next Stimuleringsprijs. During his studies, he served as assistant director at Toneelgroep Oostpool and part-time research advisor at VSBfonds. He currently develops work at VIA ZUID, IMPACT, HNTjong, DOX and Frascati Productions.
At the 2020 Town Tales festival at Frascati, Gavin-Viano presented A Plastic State Of Mind. The following year, he began his trajectory as a Frascati-maker with the trilogy Ach Mijn Wederhelft—an exploration of sexual revolutions past, present, and future. His second Frascati production, Bloodscent (2022), was a layered, performative work about a young woman healing from trauma, featuring Pricess Bangura in the lead. Multiversum (2023) deepened his signature visual language blended with music, channeling the power of childlike imagination and exploring the question: can we reclaim child's play to free ourselves from trauma? In summer 2024, A Shadow Can See premiered at de Parade: an audiovisual performance where a shadow takes the lead. The subsequent year he took that stage to field test a piece he would later expand upon at Frascati: Yes Girl, a fairytale and nightmare rolled into one. Yes-Girl will premiere at Frascati on April 1, 2026.
Gavin-Viano aims to make Dutch theatre more accessible to communities previously denied a voice there. He tells non-Western stories, offers perspectives that counter the habitual white-male-gaze, and deliberately seeks the intersectionality of his characters. In doing so, he creates worlds where language, movement, and music flow together, and where humor forms the foundation for dramatic exploration.
Nominations
Bloodscent was nominated for BNG Bank Theaterprijs 2023. According to the jury: "...it's impossible to avert your gaze from this rock solid audiovisual ritual."
Press
"Viano is een performer bij wie er altijd wat op het spel lijkt te staan. Dit half uur swingt en fascineert, en het is slechts wachten op meer." ★★★★ NRC over A shadow can see
"Ik bevraag de codes van het theater." Interview in Het Parool
''... een magisch en soms beklemmend mooi beeld...'' Theaterkrant (Keuze van de Criticus) over Bloodscent
''(...) En dat alles komt terug in de dynamische performance van hoofdrolspeelster Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura. Waar we geneigd zijn heling te beschouwen in termen van zachtheid en een innerlijke reis, toont zij dat dat proces ook woest, getergd en extatisch kan zijn.'' Het Parool over Bloodscent
"Smachtende liefdesliedjes van zelfbewuste zanger Gavin-Viano." ★★★★ NRC over Able to Fuck Love
"Theater om de kloof tussen zwart en wit te dichten." Human over Melanine Ten Strengste Verboden
Productions
