Founders
Saskia Maas
Co-founder and Director of InterActing,
Founder Boom Chicago and Falcon Agency
Saskia Maas is co-founder of InterActing, an initiative that teaches social skills to young people with autism through improvisation. She is also the CEO of Boom Chicago, a creative comedy company in Amsterdam that she founded in 1994 with Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld.
Pim Donkersloot
Founder ChildCenter
Pim Donkersloot started ChildCenter in 2001, a non-profit organization providing treatment and counseling for children on the autistic spectrum. Pim is an educationalist (UvA) and specializes in autism and related disorders. Donkersloot, himself a father of 3 children, 2 of whom are on the autistic spectrum, is also the author of two books, including “Autism, a problem for the whole family.
The Education Team
Jake Lefebvre
Principal
Jake is a teacher at Boom Academy and head coach at InterActing. In 2010, he landed in Amsterdam as a Belgian and built a performing career. He gained experience as a performing artist within the dance, musical, club, music and theater worlds. In 2019, he dove into the world of Improvisational Comedy and immediately joined Boom Chicago and InterActing. He enjoys working with young people to help them grow and reach their full potential.
Theater Assistants
Adam Emara
Theater Assistant and translator
Adam has taken various courses (from Middle Eastern studies to Humanitarian Aid) around the world (from Colombia to Sweden). He has since returned to his beloved The Hague. Playing theater and organizing theater productions has always been a big part of his life. Naturally, then, he can’t get enough of improvisational theater. Nothing makes Adam feel more in the here and now than standing on stage with a friend and creating a wild story. For that reason, he is also so awestruck that he joined the InterActing family in November 2025. To see the kids “find their character” and do absolutely great on stage fills him with joy. Adam is happy that he gets to witness the creativity of the students and lend a hand when they need a helping hand or an encouraging word.
Zoé de Bruijn
Child Psychologist
Zoé is a child psychologist and has worked as a counselor for children and adolescents with autism. She was responsible for creating creative projects for children with fetal alcohol syndrome and has lectured on the subject at universities and colleges. According to Zoé, theater is the way for young people with autism to develop social-emotional skills and increase self-confidence through play.
Zep de Bruyn
Theater assistant and translator
Zep is a theater assistant and translator at InterActing. He works in the book industry as an independent creative entrepreneur, primarily as an illustrator, writer and videographer. He has been actively involved in improv comedy since 2020 and as an English-language stand-up comedian since 2022. He is regularly impressed by the young people at InterActing and their growth on and off stage.
Sinead Scanlan
Theater Assistant
Sinéad just graduated from the University of Amsterdam and has been assisting with InterActing since 2022. She began studying improv at Boom Chicago in 2019, quickly completed the entire curriculum, and has since performed as part of several student house teams. Sinéad, who has struggled with anxiety and stage fright since childhood, has found that improv has helped her tremendously, and she enjoys watching InterActing teach young people the same confidence-building skills.
Amy Lawrenson
Theater Assistant
Amy is a theater assistant and teacher at InterActing. She has been improvising for three years and trained with Boom Chicago and EasyLaughs. Amy loves playing larger-than-life characters and having a great time on stage. She has performed with the main cast and is a member of Boom Chicago Academy’s Home Party team. When she is not performing, Amy is a wellness journalist and copywriter. She works with brands such as Rituals, Kerastase and Under Armour.
Charlotte Goodchild
Theater Assistant
Charlotte has been part of the InterActing team for two years. Improvisation is all about letting go of all preconceived ideas and embracing the moment! Charlotte loves that this is reflected in her work. She enjoys working with students and being spontaneous and crazy together.
Nathania Velasquez
Theater Assistant and translator
Nathania works as a freelancer in the theater industry. She joined the InterActing team in the first quarter of 2024 and it has been a great experience ever since.
What she really loves about working for InterActing is seeing the students develop not only their improv skills, but also their social skills. She finds it a huge privilege to grow with them and listen to all their great ideas and suggestions.
Omar Breeveld
Theater assistant and translator
Omar joined InterActing almost a year ago because he himself plays regularly on a team. He wanted to find a way to work on his basic skills while helping others discover the fun and benefits of improvisational theater. He works as both a teacher and a translator.
What he loves most about working at InterActing is seeing how smart the kids are and how creative their approach to scenes is!
Mark Prendergast
Theater Assistant
Mark is a filmmaker and improviser. He joined InterActing in early 2025, primarily as a teaching assistant. He loves working with the young people and creating a fun atmosphere where they can learn and grow!
Nic Lakey
Theater Assistant
Nic is a theater assistant at InterActing.
Debbie Carvalho
Theater Assistant
Debbie is a marketing and communications professional who moved to Amsterdam in 2022. Since then, she has explored and trained in the world of improv at Boom Chicago Academy, where she was also a member of their Improv-to-Sketch house team, Son Of Clem. In 2024, she joined InterActing as a theater assistant. She enjoys supporting students as they discover and further grow their comedic talents through improvisation.
Jakob van Klinken
Theater Assistant and translator
Since early 2025, Jakob has been a theater assistant and translator at InterActing.
The Board
InterActing was founded by Saskia Maas of Boom Chicago and Pim Donkersloot of the ChildCenter Foundation
Irene Koel
President
Irene Koel is a social innovation entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, volunteer with Women on Wings. Her podcast MonkeyTalk on creativity has been listened to more than 100,000 times.
For the first 16 years of her working life, she worked in the advertising industry at FHV/BBDO. With her networking organization The Zooooo, she now puts her extensive experience and network to work for social causes.
“From hole in the market to hole in society,” as she says herself.
For more information: www.thezooooo.com
Tomer Zakai
Treasurer
Treasurer Tomer Zakai is director/owner of Consult&Co, a dynamic and creative administration and advisory firm focused on Dutch small and medium-sized businesses.
Tomer started his firm to be an all-round financial partner for their clients, offering services that encompass the entire financial business, from administration to tax advice and (business) financing.
Alexander Jansen
Secretary
Alexander Jansen works as a strategic communications consultant and manager for market-leading organizations and specializes in complex issues.
In addition, as part of the LGBTIQ+ community, he is actively involved in society and multiple directors for political and cultural associations and foundations.
“Being different is difficult, which is why it’s important to give young people the tools to find their place in society. It’s great to be able to contribute to that through InterActing.”
Davide Tararbra
Board Member
Davide has worked in IT for the past 15 years, with experiences ranging from product and business development at Amazon.com to strategic partnership with Google and expansion at Wolt.
To deal with the unexpected and improvise in business, he came in contact with the power of stand-up comedy at Boom Chicago. He is excited about expanding InterActing’s role for young people to create a safe place where they can develop the skills to solve problems and build self-confidence.
Our partners
