Martin Winks founded Bielefeld University's English Drama Group (EDG) in 1976. The primary goal was to offer students of English as well as students from other departments of the University a possibility to improve their language skills in an entertaining and active way. After Martin Winks's retirement in 2003, Mirjam Manoutchehri became head of the group. She was responsible for successes like Thornton Wilder's Our Town and J.M. Barrie's Quality Street. In 2010, Marie Gloystein took over the English Drama Group for three semesters and directed Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo and An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. When she left Bielefeld University for an internship in 2011, Stefan Becker and Helena Erlach produced The Queen & I, a comedy by well-known British author and playwright Sue Townsend. The production staged in summer semester 2011, an evening of different one act-plays entitled Leave My Family Life Alone!, was directed by Stefan Becker and Marie Gloystein. Since October 2011, Stefan Becker is responsible for the group and its performances apart from The Godfather, which was produced and written by Lasse Lassen. Yet another turn of leadership took place in Summer 2014 - after the joint production The Ordinary Madness - A Three Act Trip Into Your Unconscious directed by Stefan Becker, Angie Starczyk, and Sonja Vollmer. Sonja Vollmer and Stefan Mießeler directed the English Drama Group for the summer semester production 2014, The Rover, while Bernhard Eickenberg created a stage version of The Princess Bride and Jessica Pade and Till Meister produced A Murder is Announced. Once more, a change in the head team took place when Angie Starczyk returned from a semester abroad. In a joint production with Sonja Vollmer John Patrick's The Curious Savage was staged. From summer semester 2015 to winter semester 2016/17, Starczyk was solely responsible for the English Drama Group, until succeeded by Nick Maaß. Stuff Happens (summer semester 2017) was Starczyk's last and Maaß's first production.
An important aspect of the EDG's work is the involvement of the students in the whole developmental process of the plays. They are not only required to learn their lines and put on a good show, but also take over a wide range of organisational and artistic tasks backstage. From props to costumes and stage make-up: every detail of a production is developed and realised in cooperation with the students.