About Us

Baz Jones and Kristen Sandstrom met during the autumn of 1995 at St. Johns University in York, England. Kristen was visiting as part of an exchange program with Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. Their friendship blossomed and has maintained and strengthened over the past 27 years. Over many cups of tea (coffee for Baz!) and pints of beer, Kristen and Baz have discussed a myriad of global issues and how art can serve as one of the most powerful healers during challenging times. Both Kristen and Baz have been involved in several creative endeavors over the years. Baz has created a variety of short films, and Kristen has been involved with her community theatre for years. They both want to make art that will unite rather than divide and hopefully create calls to action for change. They hope to do all of this while entertaining an audience with engaging international storytelling.

The idea of Ye Company of Wretched Strangers was born in 2019 following a conversation about the little known play called Sir Thomas More, by four different playwrights in the 17th century. One of these playwrights is William Shakespeare. In this play, there is a riot surrounding the issue of refugees in London, and Sir Thomas More delivers the monologue that inspired the name, Ye Company of Wretched Strangers. You can hear Sir Ian McKellan recite the monologue here: