Biography

After graduating from drama school in Arnhem, Prins focused on directing productions for theatre, television and radio.

Prins graduated from drama school in Arnhem in 1961. But she chose to become a director because she suffered from stage fright and was dissatisfied with the productions she appeared in.

In 1965, she founded her own company, Theater Terzijde, the first political theater company in the Netherlands, where, in addition to actors, she brought in visual artists and musicians. She sought a way of working that could foster a different relationship between creators and between creators and audience members. She wanted to create pieces that questioned social reality without sacrificing poetry. Even then, she was acutely aware of her own privileged position and, in that light, questioned from which perspective a story should be told. The opening performance, "A Case of Lorca Is Unknown to Us," addressed the murder of the poet Federico García Lorca at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. A reviewer who questioned whether it was the task of theater to "enlighten the audience about the world in which they live," as Theater Terzijde set out to do, had to surrender to the "excellent moments of theater" and "all the youthful freshness and ingenuity" of the director.

In 1985, she founded another theater group, De Salon, together with Edwin de Vries and Henk van der Meulen.

In 2002 her autobiography "Zelfbeheersing" (=Self-Control) was published.