Kees Roorda

Kees Roorda (°1967) is an Amsterdam based theatre director, playwright and award-winning screenwriter. He studied Dutch literature and became student-apprentice with the acclaimed directors Ivo van Hove and Gerardjan Rijnders. Meanwhile he made his debut in writing. First came Tomorrowland, based on his friendships with the young Moroccan visitors to the Amsterdam ‘coffeeshops’. The script received many accolades and Roorda was invited to the prestigious postgraduate academy DasArts of founder Ritsaert Ten Cate. In 2006 Roorda founded his own theatre company, The Glasshouse, producing multidisciplinary cutting-edge theatre. Over the span of several years their performances successfully travelled to hundreds of theatres and festivals across Europe and South Africa. Meanwhile he reworked his play A White Ballad into a screenplay. The resulting film won an award for best film at the Tiburun International Film Festival 2007. In that same year Roorda was nominated for the BNG award as most promising theatre maker in the Netherlands. After leaving Glasshouse in 2012 Roorda decided to focus on writing. He was commissioned by theatre company Tryater and wrote The Truth of Rockville, inspired by a murder of a teenage girl in a rural village resulting in a revolt against a nearby refugee camp. The Truth of Rockville was received as “a homerun” and “outstanding political theatre”. A Kid Like Rishi was selected for the Dutch theatre Festival 2018 and shortlisted as best the German Youth Theatre Prize. In june 2022 “Rishi” was staged at Cell Theatre in New York and became New York Times critic’s pick. Roorda is the recipient of the Dutch playwright grant for his upcoming play Flower Street on the impact of gentrification on residents of a social housing complex. In 2020 he cofounded The Dutch House for Playwrights, Toneelschrijfhuis. Summer 2022 his immersive text “the Woods” opened at the Oerol festival and received glowing reviews. Currently Roorda teaches part time on the Art Academy Utrecht, writing for performance. Meanwhile he works on the screenplay “Edward”.