PLAYWRIGHT & LIBRETTIST

Commissions and text written for directors, theatre companies, and musical ensembles to stage.

Hin und Her (UPCOMING)

Play by Maaspoort Venlo

Standing on a bridge between two nations, a man finds himself stranded with nowhere to go. The country where he built a life deports him; the country of his birth refuses him entry. While the rest of the world navigates a system of fluid borders he is caught in the no-man's-land in between.

Directed by Eva Custers with three actors and live music, this tragicomedy tackles the bureaucracy of borderlands. Newly adapted by Amanda Payne from Ödön von Horváth’s nearly century-old masterpiece, Hin und Her.

Cast: Sem Abelskamp, Céline Amadi, Judith Westbroek | Director: Eva Custers | Text: Amanda Payne | Music: Timo Tembuyser | Dramaturgy: Ludo Costongs | Set & Costume Design: Lobke Houkes.

Grond (2025)

Musical by Nanoek

How do you find your footing when the ground gives way? Grond is a bold, brave musical about grief. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Ally plummets into the disorienting landscape of mourning. Finding no handbook for grief, she clings to an eccentric undertaker who guides her through the postmortem dreamscape.

Cast: Sara Afiba, Saskia Mees Christeller, Jonathan Demoor, Charlotte Dommershausen, Melissa Lodder, Wies Jansen Holleboom | Writers: Marjolein Beumer, Amanda Payne, Teuntje Post | Composers: Charlotte Dommershausen, Job Greuter | Directors: Anouk Beugels, Suzanne Heijdra | Choreography: Cody Schuitemaker | Set & Costume Design: Leoni Pirenne | Dramaturgy: Eline de Jong, Anouk Mulder | Sound Design: Maarten Houdijk, Jeroen Hoekstra | Lighting Design: Jordy Veenstra | Music producer: Jan van Eerd | Photography: Daniela Petrovic.

Alle Markten Thuis (2025)

Theatrical concert by De Borski’s

Alle Markten Thuis is a theatrical concert featuring six brand-new musical works inspired by encounters with market vendors, from a Volendam fishmonger to an Amsterdam poffertjes baker. Real-life conversations were set to verbatim text and brought to life by composers.

Concept: Isabel Pronk, Valentine Blangé | Text: Amanda Payne | Composers: Camiel Jansen, Sarah Neutkens, Jasmine Karimova, Michele Mazzini, Benjamin de Boer, Valentine Blangé | Performers: Isabel Pronk (vocals), Valentine Blangé (violin), Michela Zanoni (harp), Benjamin de Boer (double bass) | Set & Costume Design: Quinten de Smedt.

Als het donker wordt (2024)

Theatrical concert by Isabel Pronk for Dutch Classical Talent

Isabel Pronk takes you on a journey through the hauntingly beautiful emotions of loneliness and vulnerability that arise in the quiet of the night.

Concept: Isabel Pronk | Text: Amanda Payne | Director: Fabienne Vegt | New Music: Sarah Neutkens | Performers: Isabel Pronk (vocals), Valentine Blangé (violin), Vera Kooper (piano), Ketevan Roinishvili (cello) | Photography: Juri Hiensch.

Pink Elephants on Parade (2021)

Music Theatre by Werkplaats Walhalla and de Transmissie

Pink Elephants on Parade is an anti-coming-of-age story in the form of an electro-pop performance that transports you into a psychedelic fairy tale with live visuals and music.

In 2019, Jip Bartels, de Transmissie, and Amanda Payne won the Walhalla Pitch with their hallucinatory presentation of Pink Elephants on Parade, an ode to imagination and a requiem for childlike fantasy.

Director & Dramaturg: Anouk Beugels | Libretto: Amanda Payne | Cast: Jip Bartels, Amanda Payne, Ayla van Summeren | Music: David Schwarz, Jip Bartels | Video Design: Derk Stenvers | Set Design: Quinten de Smedt | Costume Design: Ferry Pappalardo. | Photography: Vincent van Woerkom.

Niet Antigone (2021)

Live-podcast musical by Nanoek

Niet Antigone is a contemporary response to Sophocles’ timeless tragedy. At its heart are two young women, artistically aligned in their defiance of the status quo. But unity gives way to tension, as their collaboration unravels into a battle between writer and composer. What are they truly trying to say through this reinterpretation? And who, in the end, most embodies Antigone?

WORM.UBIK (O. festival for Opera. Music. Theatre) Rotterdam

Cast: Charlotte Dommershausen, Tjyying Liu, Timo Tembuyser, Lucretia van der Vloot, Suzanne Heijdra, Job Greuter, Mees Christeller, Amanda Payne | Director: Anouk Beugels | Text: Amanda Payne | Music: Charlotte Dommershausen | Writing Coach: Ramsey Nasr | Music Coach: Jeroen Sleyfer.

Lokroep (2021)

Musical by Nanoek

Lokroep is a raw, music-driven exploration of the grey area between seduction and threat in the #MeToo era. Composed, written, and executed by a new creative collective.

Director, Concept: Anouk Beugels | Composer: Job Greuter | Musical Coach, Pianist: Paul Maassen | Writers: Elisabeth van Nimwegen, Marijn Bellaard, Amanda Payne, Lotte Pierik, Lisse Knaapen, Mirthe Bron | Writing Coaches: Tjyying Liu, Anouk Beugels | Lighting Design: Lightwise | Cast: Shanice Redan, Marijn Bellaard, Tjyying Liu, Lisse Knaapen, Saskia Mees, Charlotte Dommershausen, Okke Westdorp.

Privileged the Musical (2019)

Music-theatre by P(L)AYHAUS

P(L)AYHAUS is a music-theatre collective created by Charlotte Dommershausen and Amanda Payne. They collide urgent social issues with atomic physics, fuse spoken word with the drama of Poulenc, and stage a musical with zero flying sets, no tap dancing, just two voices.

Text: Amanda Payne | Music: Charlotte Dommershausen.

T.U.G. Club (2018)

Music-theatre by P(L)AYHAUS

The Unsatisfied Girls Club asks: how can a privileged young woman speak sincerely about social injustice? In this electro-pop-tinged, poetry-laced performance, P(L)AYHAUS dives in (naive but earnest) on a search for a stance, for something authentic, for the first step toward… well, toward what, exactly?

Text: Amanda Payne | Music: Charlotte Dommershausen.

© Cargo

Amanda Payne (2025)