Lies Pauwels, born in Ghent (Belgium) in 1968, is a director and actress. She worked closely with Alain Platel and Arne Sierens and has been associated with companies including Stella Den Haag and Het Toneelhuis. For her role in Freetown after Rob de Graaf she received the Colombina in Amsterdam in 2011 as best actress of the season. Since 2001 she has focused mainly on her own creations, often developed through controlled improvisations and bringing professional actors together with non-professional performers. Her works have been shown at, among others, Manchester International Festival, Singapore Arts Festival and LIFT Festival London; she has also worked at the National Theatre of Scotland, Burgtheater Vienna, Theater Basel, Berliner Ensemble, LOD muziektheater and hetpaleis Antwerp. Her works at Schauspielhaus Bochum include The Hamilton Complex, Baroque and Werther (Love & Death). In the 2025/2026 season she develops Same Same – Ein Abend mit Zwillingen at Schauspielhaus Bochum. Since 2024 she has increasingly turned to reworking literary classics, including Der Steppenwolf at Theater Basel, Werther (Love & Death) at Schauspielhaus Bochum and Twelfth Night at the Münchner Kammerspiele. She has a long-standing collaboration with visual artist Johanna Trudzinski.

Past roles: