Patsy Kroonenberg - Ze Is Er Nog

My mother was Jellie Brouwer. A professional interviewer for the radio program Kunststof. As a child, I talked to the radio and thought she was talking back. Now she is dead and it is silent.

I miss chatting, I miss coming home and her: “Yoohoo!”, I miss our gossiping about Dutch celebrities, I miss being able to call her when things weren't going well, or when they were going really well. And the further I drift away from our last conversation, the different the questions become. When do you know if you want children? How do you know if love is true love? How do you stay cheerful while the world is ending?

My mother is no longer here, but all those interviews remain. In a room full of white tiles bearing words of wisdom, I listen to my mother's two thousand three hundred hours of interviews. In She Is Still Here, I enter into a conversation with her again. I will ask her all those questions, knowing that she will always answer with a counter-question.

The press on “Kroonenberg’s great strength lies in the compassion with which she portrays those bumbling characters and shortcomings.” - de Volkskrant (on The World’s Biggest Dog Show in the Netherlands) “Kroonenberg had already made a name for herself in earlier work ... with juicy interpretations of outspoken characters, which she shaped with a mixture of humor and compassion. But in The Sleep-Inducing Existence of Evelien, she looks closer to herself, in smaller and vulnerable acting. In doing so, she taps into a fascinating new layer of her acting, of which we would like to see more.” - Theaterkrant (on The Sleep-Inducing Existence of Evelien)

About Patsy Actress and theatre maker Patsy Kroonenberg (1998) has performed with Het NUT, Theater Oostpool, Sonnevanck, HNTJong, and Orkater, among others. Additionally, she created productions such as Totale Treurnis, De grootste hondenshow ter wereld in the Netherlands, and Het slaapverwekkende bestaan van Evelien. In 2023, together with Julie Boellaard, she won the Audience Award at the Café Theater Festival with the production Maiks Open Mic, and in 2024 she won the Piket Art Prize for promising young makers. Besides theatre, she also makes podcasts and is working on her debut novel with Das Mag. Patsy is creating this production as part of the Nieuwe Makersregeling at Via Rudolphi Producties.