I am Ruben Stelli

Born in 1990 in Groningen (NL)

Since 2014, I have developed as a creator, transitioning from graphic designer to theater maker. Above all, I consider myself a maker and performer. My work revolves around connection, imagination, and simplicity.

I graduated from ArtEZ University of the Arts with the project Voorwaarts Mars, a visual exploration of brass bands. With this project, I won the ArtEZ Academy Prize. Afterward, I realized several (graphic) art projects.

Since 2017, I have performed street theater, initially as a hobby at winter markets. There, I discovered that theater on the street—among and with the audience—suits me well. Everything unfolds in the moment, and whatever happens, it belongs.

When my girlfriend and I built our own house in 2022, I felt it was time to truly pursue my theatrical passion. It became a journey to discover what I wanted to create and who I am as a maker and performer. I took classes in theater and improvisation and discovered the connecting clown. In 2025, I completed the two-year program at the School for Clown and Life in Utrecht.

In 2024, I cleared my schedule for six months to follow my dream: creating my own street theater performance. I rented a studio and locked myself in there for months. Through play and research, a performance emerged. That summer, I performed the first version of what would later become Met de Waslijn.

The work I want to create is centered on connection, imagination, and simplicity. The Clothesline is my first theater performance where I bring these elements together, and where I feel very much at home, as a performer, maker, and human.

Ruben Stelli