On April 26th, Louis Janssen (Venray, 1956), owner of Theateradvies® bv was appointed as Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau by His Majesty the King of the Netherlands. The royal decoration was presented May 2nd by the Mayor of Blaricum, Mrs. J.N. de Zwart-Bloch.
Louis Janssen starts his career in theater very early, at the age of 13. First as Stage Hand, later as Electrician, Stage Manager and Technical Director. He does that in the Theater of Venray, Theater ‘de Vest’ in Alkmaar, ‘de Oosterpoort’ and Municipal Theater in Groningen and with the touring drama company ‘Toneelgroep Amsterdam’. In between he studies Stage Management at the Juilliard School of Arts in New York.
In 2001 he starts, together with Gerbrand Borgdorff, his company Theateradvies® bv. After a careful start with only the two of them, the company has grown to nine people now. The company is responsible for the planning and technical design of numerous new and old and monumental theaters, not only in the Netherlands but all over the world. In the Netherlands, Belgium and the rest of the world, Theateradvies® bv is well known and well respected.
Besides his professional career he always has been voluntary active in several organizations. In the Netherlands among other things: Chair of ‘Stichting Tekening’, digital floorplans of theaters in the Netherlands and Belgium; Member of the board of editors of ‘Zichtlijnen’, the Dutch theatre technical magazine; Member of the board of ‘VPT’, the Dutch organization for theatre technicians; Member of the board of ‘Stichting Vakbeurs Theatertechniek’, the foundation which organizes the theatre technical trade show ‘CUE’. Member of several commissions of the local volleyball club ‘BOK’.
Louis is also active on international level. Since 1986 he has numerous official positions in OISTAT (Organisation Internationale des Scénographes, Techniciens et Architectes de Théâtre), the worldwide organization for theatre technicians, theatre architects and designers for theatre. Member and vice-chair (12 year) of the Technology Commission and 12 years member and vice-president of the Executive Committee of OISTAT. In 2009, Louis is elected as President of OISTAT. In 2017 Louis will, after 20 years in the Executive Committee, of which 8 years as President, end his organizational work for OISTAT. Louis is asked many times as speaker at conferences, both in the Netherlands as International.
Louis has received several awards, amongst others the Silver and Golden ‘Krommer’ for his 25th and 40th jubilee in theatre. He is carrier of the ‘Frits van den Haspel’ Award, a prestigious award for promoting the profession of theatre technicians, both at national and international level. For his work for OISTAT, he was awarded the Honorary membership of OISTAT.
