MEET THE CAST
STACEY SMITH
Recognized for her enduring positivity, explosive shows, and unparalleled work ethic, Stacey has worked in the field for over a decade. She is currently a mainstage cast member at the famous Boom Chicago Theater in Amsterdam and as of September 2022, she is the Artistic Director. Stacey is also the creator of Stacejam, an improvised solo musical extravaganza that has earned her critical acclaim.
Comedy, music, and theater have always been part of Stacey’s professional and personal life. Originally from Long Island, New York, Stacey grew up in music and musical theater and studied theater and Speech and Music at university, later moving to Chicago to pursue a comedy career. While working as a nanny, Stacey took improv classes at The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance. She received her first full-time gig, touring on cruise ships with The Second City at the end of 2012.
As a performer, Stacey has toured with The Second City and was a featured performer for two of the company’s theatricals, Life Hacks and #DateMe. She has performed shows with renowned talents like Jason Sudeikis (SNL/Ted Lasso), Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso), Taran Killam (SNL), Arjen Lubach, Chris Redd (SNL), Amber Ruffin (Amber Ruffin Show), Terry O’Quinn (LOST), Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall) and Dickie Smothers (The Smothers Brothers).
As a teacher and education director, Stacey has created programs for multiple schools and has designed specialized workshops, including a program for young female-identifying students called S.H.E. (Sisterhood Humor Empowerment). Before joining BoomChicago, she taught and managed training centers in Chicago and Boston, including ComedySportz Chicago, ImprovBoston, The Second City, and iO Chicago.
Stacey is also an accomplished comedy producer. In 2015, she founded The Chicago Musical Improv Festival at the iO Theater in Chicago, and before this, she worked as an assistant producer on the Chicago Improv Festival, Chicago Women’s Funny Festival, The Teen Comedy Fest, and The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. Stacey has produced countless shows in Chicago, including the long-running musical comedy show The Musical Armando and Fraudway. In 2021, she became the artistic director of The Boom Chicago Comedy Festival.
MATT CASTELLVI
Matt Castellvi is a Chicago native comedian who has been performing worldwide for the past 15 years. He has trained at Second City, iO and CSz Theater in Chicago and performed regularly with The Musical Armando at iO and with Baby Wants Candy at Second City. Matt has headlined comedy festivals all over the world including The Miami Improv Festival, Big-Little Comedy Festival, Omaha Improv Festival, Chicago Musical Improv Festival, Oslo Improv Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Matt is a stand-up regular at Zanies (Chicago, Rosemont, and St.Charles) Laugh Factory Chicago, Comedy Bar, The Comedy Shrine and was voted best stand-up (runner-up) in Chicago by the voters of the Chicago Reader 2019. Currently, Matt is based in Amsterdam as a cast member with Boom Chicago and recently opened for ILIZA SCHLESINGER at The Royal Carre for 1500 people.
KATIE NIXON
Katie Nixon (she/her) is an American comedian, actor, instructor, host, and writer based in Amsterdam. A Boom Chicago cast member since January 2022, Katie can be seen on stage 5 nights a week high-kicking, singing, and spouting off random bits of trivia. She loves teaching for the Boom Academy and introducing improv to students from around the world. She also hosts the monthly “Queer Community Night” in the Attic.
Before moving to Amsterdam, Katie spent ten years in Chicago where she appeared regularly at The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance. She has written and performed sketch comedy with several groups at festivals across the USA. Named Logansquarist’s Best Comedian in 2016, Katie has appeared solo at The Laugh Factory and the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival.
SIMON LUKACS
Simon Lukacs has made his great escape from Brexit Britain to join our cast in booming Amsterdam. He has been improvising for 7 years, and has performed with some of the best improvisers in the UK and beyond. He trained with The Second City, The Free Association, Monkey Toast and The Spontaneity Shop. He has taught improv for The Free Association, one of London’s premier improv schools/ theaters, and is a member of their house Harold team The 838, as well as performing with them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
His main improv squeeze is The Petting Zoo (“Improv supergroup” Time Out London) – he is a founding member and with them has performed at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Del Close Marathon, The Brighton Fringe, The Comedy Cafe Berlin, and their London residency at The Free Association theatre, London. He’ll bring them out to Amsterdam, you mark his words!
As a character comedian, Simon has taken two shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – Kayfabe in 2015 and Simon Lukacs Shows His Range in 2016. He has written for ITN in the UK, and appeared alongside critically acclaimed sketch act Massive Dad for BBC3.
RAQUEL PALMAS
Originally hailing from New York, Raquel Palmas is an Amsterdam-based improviser, actress, and musical comedian. Joining Boom in March 2023, she is as musically talented with her quick lyrics and songs as she is witty with her jokes. Whether she is wowing crowds with comedic freestyling or hosting corporate gatherings, her joy is infectious.
Raquel proudly focuses her comedic energies on bringing her diverse voice to the stage and the screen She studied theatre at Brooklyn College before shifting her focus to comedy and touring internationally. She is overjoyed to be able to make art that consists of laughter and heartfelt whimsy. She has hosted events with several organizations most notably Netflix, The US EMBASSY, Facebook, and Bank of America.
Filmed Credits: VH1: Love and Hip Hop (2022), Until I Met You (2022), Broke Boi (2021)
Stage Credits: Baby Wants Candy (2022, 2023), Shamilton (2022, 2023), Thrones: Musical Parody (2019), it’s not a trip it’s a journey (2019), Cartography (2017).
ANDREW MCCAMMON
Starting March 2024Andrew McCammon graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Creative Writing. He moved to Chicago in 2011 to discover the horrors of bitter Chicago winter. Andrew has performed as an understudy on Second City’s Mainstage and e.t.c. Theaters and with the Second City Touring Company. He is creator and director of award winning sketch comedy troupe, Damn, Gina! Andrew is happy to be performing back on land after recent stints at sea as host of The Price Is Right Live on Norwegian Cruise Line alongside his beautiful and talented wife, Erin Island.
ERIN ISLAND
Starting March 2024Erin Island is an actor from Chicago who loves performing and teaching around the world. Erin is originally from St. Louis, Missouri and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting and Directing from Southeast Missouri State University. She is a graduate of the iO Chicago and The Second City training programs. In Sacramento, California she was a director, actor, and stage manager with B Street Theatre and New Helvetia Theatre. Erin recently explored the world with Norwegian Cruise Line as the announcer for The Price is Right Live alongside her husband (and favorite travel partner) Andrew McCammon.
ROB ANDRISTPLOURDE
Rob AndristPlourde has been professionally performing and teaching short form improvisational comedy since 1989. After three years of performing with Comedy Sportz Chicago, Rob moved to Amsterdam to work, improvising, writing and teaching comedy with Boom Chicago. In addition to his solo shows “Rob It Like it’s Hot!” and “Legends of Rob”, Rob is one of the creators of “Yo! Here We Go”, Boom Chicago’s longest running, hip hop freestyle piece. Bringing a serious sense of joy and wonder to comedy, Rob loves short form, beat boxing and watching students get improv. When not doing comedy, Rob pursues the music scene and recommends music you will like.
PEP ROSENFELD
Known for his humorous, disarming approach to just about any business situation, Pep Rosenfeld is one of the industry’s most sought-after event hosts, keynote speakers and trainers. Pep does it all, both in person, digitally and of course hybrid. Everything’s hybrid these days.
He hosts high profile events like the Nordic Business Forum where he made Barack Obama laugh. Pep also hosted The Next Web, Brand Minds, the Accenture Innovation Awards and TEDx Amsterdam… in the old days when it was magic. His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. He’s great to work with too.
Pep hosts high stakes business events for international companies like Johnson & Johnson, Ahold, KPMG, ING, IBM, Software AG, Netflix, Google, Adyen, Novartis… There are more than a thousand. We could do this all day. He injects humor and energy into each event, making it more unique and engaging.
As Co-Founder and Director of Content for Boom Chicago for Business, Pep gets to follow his passion daily: Using comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick. You can see this in his TED talk, ‘Fight, Flight or Make Your Opponent Laugh.’ His interactive keynote, ‘Humor Makes Business Better (Yes, even yours)’ is in high demand.
Pep knows and lives humor. Combined with his kind, honest communication, he helps companies put that philosophy into practice all over the world.
ANDREW MOSKOS
Andrew Moskos is co-founder and an active partner of Boom Chicago who loves big ideas. Recent themes in his comedy productions include artificial intelligence, US politics, and 90s sitcoms that are having an unlikely renaissance.
Andrew hosts, writes for and performs at international conferences. Over the past 25 years, he has worked on high stakes corporate events for most major companies in the Netherlands. Yes, ‘most’ as in a majority of them. He coached Prime Minister Mark Rutte and co-wrote his ‘most successful speech ever’ for the Dutch Correspondents dinner. Unlike his partners Pep and Saskia, he has never given a TED talk.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
SASKIA MAAS
Saskia is CEO of Boom Chicago and Boom Chicago for Business. In that role she is responsible for business development, production of global corporate programs, strategy, finance, sales and public relations. Saskia has a Masters degree in linguistics from Tilburg University and completed Nyenrode’s prestigious one-year Executive Management Development Program. She was also a participant of the leadership program at THNK, the school of Creative Leadership.
Saskia is also one of the founders of Inter-Acting, teaching children with autism social understanding and skills through improvisation. Inspired by her youngest son, she designed the program to help autistic students break out of their patterns and routines to embrace the unexpected with improvisation. Watch her TED talk on that project here.
PEP ROSENFELD
As Director of Creative Content, Pep does it all: high level event host & facilitator, writer, stand-up comedian, public speaker, coach, and developer of innovative corporate programs. A co-founder of Boom Chicago, Pep’s passion is using comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick, as featured In his 2012 TED talk, ‘Fight, Flight or Make Your Opponent Laugh.’ Pep hosts events like The Nordic Business Forum, The Next Web Conference, Accenture Innovation Awards and TEDx to rave reviews, and he was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on America’s long-running television show, Saturday Night Live.
ANDREW MOSKOS
Andrew Moskos is co-founder and an active partner of Boom Chicago who loves big ideas. Recent themes in his comedy productions include artificial intelligence, US politics, and 90s sitcoms that are having an unlikely renaissance.
Andrew hosts, writes for and performs at international conferences. Over the past 25 years, he has worked on high stakes corporate events for most major companies in the Netherlands. Yes, ‘most’ as in a majority of them. He also coached Prime Minister Mark Rutte and co-wrote his ‘most successful speech ever’ for the Dutch Correspondents dinner. Unlike his partners Pep and Saskia, he has never given a TED talk.
MEET THE PRODUCTION TEAM
SACHA HOEDEMAKER
Sacha Hoedemaker has been involved with Boom Chicago’s Music Department for over a decade. As the Music Director at Boom Chicago, he is responsible for the selection and production of (original) music for live shows and other creative projects. You’ll also see him play live during our shows!
In 2010, Sacha was introduced to improvisational theater and was hooked right away. His professional experience combined with an eye and timing for theater made him a highly sought-after Musical Director and improviser across Europe. He is considered one of the best Music Directors in Europe. Sacha loves teaching, playing live, producing and working with people on creative and/or musical projects! He is an improviser at heart and always looking for new stories to tell, through his music.
In 2020, he became the head of our Tech Department and made sure Boom Chicago was brought into the future with a live stream setup.
In 2020, he started releasing music under his own name on streaming services and his music is being streamed by more than 300,000 listeners on a monthly basis. He is the bandleader of the Frenchcore orchestra, Dr. Peacock, in Concert, playing on major Hardcore festivals like Defqon.1. Oh, AND he won an Emmy for HitRECord’s #CreateTogether.
EMIL STRUIJKER BOUDIER
Emil has been adding lights, music and sound to improv shows for years, from small rooms to Boom Chicago’s main stage. He started honing his skills at Easylaughs in Amsterdam and kept going.
In addition to his work at Boom Chicago, Emil is also the head technician at the international festival, IMPRO Amsterdam. There, he is an integral part of their shows and the first call for visiting improv groups. He was the first improv tech in the festival to be asked to create his own show. An improvisor in his own right, he is a master with the light and sound faders.