Sietske, Sjoerd, Lindah Leah

Action Zoo Humain’s in-house dramaturg Sietske de Vries, actor/creator Sjoerd Koolma and poet/writer Lindah Leah Nyirenda share a fascination with the cultural, historical and colonial legacy of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows in Europe.

The three met during Action Zoo Humain’s artistic intervention in December 2022 concerning the controversial ‘Native American logo’ of football club KAA Gent. This encounter prompted them to investigate further the legacy of the Buffalo Bill shows (on which KAA Gent’s logo is based) in Flanders and the Netherlands.

As part of Action Zoo Humain’s new creator trajectory, they will work together as a collective in 2027 to develop a new theatre production based on their artistic research into the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows. Spectacle, colonial imagery and the role of theatre in public debate are central to this project.

Sietske de Vries

Sietske de Vries has a background in socio-economic sciences (University of Antwerp), but ultimately chose to pursue the arts and completed a Master’s degree in Theatre Studies at Utrecht University in 2016. In recent years, she has worked as a dramaturg and project manager at Action Zoo Humain, DEGASTEN (Netherlands) and ChampdAction (Antwerp), and runs her own studio at the Blikfabriek in Antwerp. She  has a deep interest in theatre practices that focus on social challenges and political themes.

Lindah Leah Nyirenda  

Lindah Leah Nyirenda was born in Ndola (Zambia) and grew up in Belgium. She studied translation (English–French–Dutch) at Ghent University and journalism in Brussels (then HUB, now Odisee) and has been active for over a decade as a slam poet and spoken-word artist under the name “mıSoSı”. As an actress, she appeared in the productions Killjoy Quiz (Luanda Casella & NTGent) and Still We Rise (compagnie couRAGE). In 2025, she premiered her first solo show, BAKER (in collaboration with music theatre BRODER and Griet Grypdonck). With the arts collective DenderlandTV, she created the etymological language programme Wijs als Sijs.

Sjoerd Koolma  

Sjoerd Koolma attended the MBO Theatre School in Rotterdam, studied musical theatre and music theatre for a year at Codarts, and spent two years on the Artist Educator course at Artez. He then moved to Ghent, where he obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Drama at KASK. Since then, he has performed in and worked on the production THE CRUISABLE (Camping Sunset) and staged a monologue based on a text by Sarah Ringoet, Er schuilt een hooligan in mij (NTGent). As a singer, he continues to develop his skills and is still taking singing lessons with Tim Stuart.