Stef Lernous (Mechelen, 1973) is not only a Flemish actor and director, but also known as the artistic director of Abattoir Fermé. Together with Tine Van den Wyngaert and Nick Kaldunski, he founded this Mechelen-based theater company in 1999. Until 2005, Stef also wrote plays for other theater companies, including Fabuleus and Nieuwpoorttheater.

Occasionally, Lernous ventures outside the theater. In 2011, he directed the opera L'intruste, based on the work of Maurice Maeterlinck, at the Flemish Opera, and in 2013, he directed Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

Stef alternates between wordless visual creations and text and music theater. His expressiveness lies in the baroque visual power of his work, for which he himself designs exuberant costumes, makeup, and festive masks. His work can be seen in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany and is loved by a wide audience. It is carnivalesque folk theater on themes that often occur in the world of fantasy and fairy tales. No wonder he is considered ‘the founding father of lowland horror theater’.