Kristien De Proost (1972) is a Belgian artist and writer who works mainly in the theatre. After studying Dutch and English literature at the University in Leuven, she receives a Master Degree in Performing Arts at the Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp (2000) She works as a freelancer at Toneelhuis (Luk Perceval, Jasper Brandis), het Paleis, Victoria (Christoph Frick), Crew (Eric Joris), KVS, BRONKS (Johan Dehollander), Transquinquennal and LOD (Josse De Pauw).
From 2004 until 2017 she is part of the artistic core of the Brussels based theatre artists collective Tristero, with whom she creates and performs i.a. Abigail’s Party, Iemand van ons, Face to the Wall, Living, Coaltion and We Want More. These, often multilingual, performances tour throughout Belgium firstly, and later on also internationally, mostly in the Netherlands and France.
In 2013 Kristien De Proost creates her first solo performance Toestand, a theatrical self-portrait. She develops the concept, writes the text and performs the extremely physical performance: running on a treadmill for more than 70 minutes while describing her present state. The French version of the performance, Au courant, has its opening night at the Printemps des Comédiens festival in Montpellier, France. The English version, On Track, plays a four weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The three versions have been performed at venues and festivals in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania and Brazil and are still touring.
In 2017 Kristien De Proost decides to leave the Tristero collective to focus on writing and more solo work and encounters with new artists. She worked as a performer in Julian Hetzel’s All Inclusive and toured with Milo Rau’s La Reprise.
In 2019 she joins Lisi Estaras, Mirko Banovic and Sara Vanderieck in the research project When I look at a Strawberry, I think of a Tongue.
2020 brings the collaboration with Bwanga Pilipili on the new show Simon, Garfunkel, My Sister and Me and a second collaboration with Julian Hetzel on Mount Average.
Besides theatre work, Kristien De Proost also acts in movies (Girl (2018), Problemski Hotel (2015) and tv-series (De Twaalf (2018), Kinderen van Dewindt (2006-2008).