From research to dress rehearsal
- Elisa Nelissen
- Dec 18
- 8 min read
How Ben Verhoeven started a new theater genre in Flanders
While many children have a clear penchant for either languages or science, young Ben Verhoeven felt at home in both domains. Today, he combines his love for theater and improvisation with his background and interest in science through his company ERLNMYR. In the fall of 2025, he launched his sixth show Lang zullen we leven (which literally translates to: long shall we live). In this story, Verhoeven discusses four important steps that helped him get his science theater business off the ground: getting ideas, finding collaborators, securing funding, and selling his shows.
But first, let’s see where it all began. “I’ve always been fascinated by language and theater, as well as science and technology,” Verhoeven says. “My school career has been a mix of both. I started taking theater classes and performing when I was seven. In secondary school, I studied science and math, even if I was also the best in class for English. So after secondary school, I did end up studying English and theater, film, and literary studies.”
He then went into yet another direction and opted for an MA in Computational Linguistics, which was followed by a PhD. While working on his PhD, Verhoeven became actively involved in improvisation theater. A plan started taking shape in his head. After his graduation, he would take the leap and combine his passions by doing science theater as well as help other people on stage by giving science communication training through his company ERLNMYR.
