detheatermaker

We are Manizja Kouhestani and Fiene Zasada. During our upcoming residency, we will be exploring sexuality from a female perspective. We are curious about the different emotional repercussions of sex for women and men, and how biology, power and cultural norms influence each other. As stated in The Feminist Porn Book: ‘Feminist porn challenges the idea that depicting sex is inherently oppressive; instead, it can be a space where desire is celebrated, power is redistributed, and new forms of eroticism become visible.’ We are inspired by the work of Katherine Angel, Tony Tulathimutte, Anne Carson, Amia Srinivasan and Michael Kaufman, and look forward to exploring themes such as desire, rejection and patriarchal structures.

Fiene Zasada (she/her) is an actress and theatre maker. Since childhood, she has cherished a deep love for the musical genre. During her studies at KASK, she founded the collective De Miserabeln together with fellow students Bavo Buys and Matilde Casier, with which she brings musical interventions with a West-Flemish accent.

In 2022, Fiene did an internship at Walpurgis during the Libretto Reading Aïda. A year later, she appeared on stage in Portici, again in a Libretto Reading. In 2023, she appeared in De Duivels/ Les Diables by Krapp and KVS. She graduated in 2024 with This is not a love song, a performance she created together with Joshua Smits and Luca Persan, based on personal desires, their own view of intimacy and the urge for love and friendship. This earned them a selection for Jong Werk at Theater Aan Zee and the Horlait-Dapsens Prize. Fiene is currently appearing in Fairy Tales by Tibaldus and also performs in My Nemesis, a production she created together with Manizja Kouhestani, which was also selected for Jong Werk at Theater Aan Zee 2025.

Manizja Kouhestani (she/her) is an actress and theatre maker. During her studies at KASK, she performed in A Separation (2021) and About Elly (2023), both by tg STAN. About Elly will be followed by a French tour in December 2025. In 2024, she did an internship at De Roovers (Dwarskijker) and De Warme Winkel (Het Zomeroffer), and later that year she appeared in the revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Dood Paard. She can currently be seen in The Voice of Fingers by Thomas Bellinck and Said Reza Adib.

As a maker, Manizja often draws on themes that touch or intrigue her personally, sometimes experiences she has had herself, sometimes something she does not yet fully understand. She is currently completing her Master’s degree in Drama at KASK with the performance My Nemesis, which she created together with Fiene Zasada. With My Nemesis, they were selected for Jong Werk at Theater Aan Zee 2025.

Photo: Johan Pijpops