The Players
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Amyra te Nijenhuis
PERFORMER
Amyra started performing improv in 2013 in Groningen and then quickly evacuated to Frankfurt, where she performed at FITs. She also spent some years in the stand-up comedy scene, which culminated in her running her own show in Germany, and she would like to point out she was a finalist in a comedy competition in the Netherlands. Stranger Things, in turn, would like to point out that competition winners never say finalist. Finally, Amyra loves unpacking things, including packages, gifts, and deep-seated issues. -
Jelle Bonnema
PERFORMER
Jelle started performing improv in 2013, first alongside the group Friends of Mine before joining the ranks of Stranger Things Have Happened. He has the reputation of being the group’s best travel buddy: for our shows abroad, he’s always famously laid-back, to the point where we often have to wake him up right before a show. He has also performed long-form shows with Grown Men as well as the duo Paul and Jelle, which featured two players named Paul and Jelle. Our marketing team really nailed that one. -
Paul Hessels
PERFORMER
Paul has famously said that he started improv for ‘shits and giggles, and ended up with mostly giggles’. After attending the improv courses in Groningen, he first performed alongside the members of Friends of Mine before joining Stranger Things Have Happened. After several years, he moved on to teach improv workshops and courses in Delft before finally returning to the mothership in Amsterdam. Paul was also the other half of the long-form duo Paul & Jelle but somehow ended up with most of the profits. -
Thomas Mook
PERFORMER
Thomas was a founding member of Stranger Things Have Happened back in 2009, and hasn’t really managed to get away from it since. He was also a member of the long-form groups Two Guys and Grown Men, and has for over a decade taught improv courses and workshops across the country and occasionally beyond. In addition to this, he performs musical improv shows, but for some reason, only in Germany. He’s the writer behind such productions as North, Twenty Something, and the paragraph you’re reading right now. -
Kalpita Patel
PERFORMER
Kalpita started performing in musical theater productions at a young age, playing illustrious roles such as ‘Silly girl #1’ and ‘Munchkin #2”. It was later, in 2014, that she began her journey with sketch comedy and improv, joining UMass Amherst’s Not Ready for Bedtime Players. She continued dabbling with improv and acting in her time living in Los Angeles and Boston, and most recently moved to the Netherlands where she has continued to pursue too many hobbies such as bouldering, trying to be a functioning member of society, improv, geocaching, and most recently stand up comedy. -
Chandler Bullock
PERFORMER
Chandler joined the original cast of Stranger Things back in 2010 and is now a member of the Amsterdam crew. He’s also a veteran of such groups as Grown Men and Two Guys, and works around the clock as an actor and podcaster. He’s also a horror aficionado. When we asked him why a lover of horror would get into comedy, he replied: “When stuff gets bad enough, is there a difference?”
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Júlia-Janka Gasparik
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Half of Julia was raised by an actor, so she learnt how to walk in a theatre in Transylvania. Despite her father's mission to divert her from the dark side, she has been doing improv since 2010. Nevertheless, she likes dark places, so she stays backstage as our production manager, where she can still see and smell everything. Without her, everything in Stranger Things Have Happened would fall apart, so we bribe her with candy, drinks and these nice flattering words, since we can’t actually afford a proper salary. Thanks, Julia.
Treasury: Kees de Vries Secretary: Cees Krottje
Chair of the Board: Tom Wilcox