Founders
Saskia Maas
Co-founder and director of InterActing
Founder of Boom Chicago and Falcon Agency
Saskia Maas is co-founder of InterActing, an initiative that helps young people with autism develop their social skills through improvisational theater. She is also CEO of Boom Chicago, a creative comedy company in Amsterdam that she founded in 1994 with Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld.
Pim Donkersloot
Founder of ChildCenter
Pim Donkersloot founded ChildCenter in 2001, a non-profit organization that provides treatment and counseling for children within the autistic spectrum. He is an educationalist (University of Amsterdam) and specializes in autism and related developmental disorders. Donkersloot, himself the father of three children, two of whom are within the autistic spectrum, is also the author of two books, including Autism, a problem for the entire family.
The Education Team
Jake Lefebvre
Head teacher
Jake is an instructor at Boom Academy and head coach at InterActing. In 2010, he moved to Amsterdam from Belgium, where he built a career on stage. He gained experience as a performing artist in dance, musical, club, music and theater. In 2019, he was introduced to improv comedy and immediately joined Boom Chicago and InterActing. He gets great satisfaction from working with young people and helping them grow and reach their full potential.
Theatre Assistants
Adam Emara
Theatre assistant and translator
Adam took a variety of courses, from Middle Eastern studies to Humanitarian Aid, and studied in Colombia and Sweden, among other places. He has since returned to The Hague. Theater, and especially improvisation, has played an important role in his life for years.
Since November 2025, he has been affiliated with InterActing, where he supports children on stage and helps them develop their creativity and confidence through an encouraging and supportive approach.
Zoé de Bruijn
Kinderpsycholoog
Zoé is a child psychologist and has experience counseling children and adolescents with autism. She has developed creative projects for children with fetal alcohol syndrome and has lectured about them at universities and colleges. According to Zoé, theater is an excellent tool for young people with autism to playfully develop social-emotional skills and increase their self-confidence.
Zep de Bruyn
Theatre assistant and translator
Zep is a theater assistant and translator at InterActing. He also works in the book industry as an independent creative entrepreneur, focusing on illustration, writing and video production. He has been active 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 development on and off stage.
Sinead Scanlan
Theaterassistent
Sinéad is a recent graduate of the University of Amsterdam and has been assisting with InterActing since 2022. She began improv at Boom Chicago in 2019, completed the full curriculum and has since performed on various student teams. Sinéad has struggled with anxiety and stage fright since childhood and has experienced how improv has helped her with it. She finds it inspiring to see how InterActing allows young people to develop similar confidence-building skills.
Amy Lawrenson
Theaterassistent
Amy is a theater assistant and teacher at InterActing. She has been improvising for three years and trained with Boom Chicago and EasyLaughs. She loves outspoken, energetic characters and enjoys playing on stage.
Amy performed with the main cast and is a member of Boom Chicago Academy’s Home Party team. In addition to her work on stage, she is a wellness journalist and copywriter for brands such as Rituals, Kérastase and Under Armour.
Charlotte Goodchild
Theaterassistent
Charlotte has been part of the InterActing team for two years. For her, improvisation is about letting go of fixed ideas and fully embracing the moment. This aligns well with how she approaches her work. She enjoys working with students and collaboratively creating spontaneous and playful scenes.
Nathania Velasquez
Theatre assistant and translator
Nathania works as a freelancer in the theatre industry and has been affiliated with InterActing since the first quarter of 2024. Since then, she has experienced it as a valuable and inspiring collaboration.
What she appreciates most about InterActing is seeing how students develop, not only in improvisation but also in social skills. She finds it special to guide them, grow alongside them, and hear their ideas and creativity.
Omar Breeveld
Theatre assistant and translator
Omar joined InterActing almost a year ago because he regularly performs in teams himself and wanted to deepen his foundational skills, while also helping others discover the joy of improvisational theatre. He works as a teacher and translator.
What he enjoys most about InterActing is the sharpness and creativity of the children, and their surprising way of approaching scenes.
Mark Prendergast
Theatre assistant
Mark is a filmmaker and improviser and started at InterActing in early 2025, mainly as a class assistant. He enjoys working with young people and creating a positive atmosphere in which they can learn and grow.
Nic Lakey
Theatre assistant
Nic is a theatre assistant at InterActing.
Debbie Carvalho
Theatre 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
Theatre assistant and translator
Since early 2025, Jakob has been a theatre assistant and translator at InterActing.
Het Bestuur
InterActing is opgericht door Saskia Maas van Boom Chicago en Pim Donkersloot van Stichting ChildCenter
Irene Koel
Chairperson
Irene Koel is an entrepreneur in social innovation, a teacher, and a speaker, and she volunteers with Women on Wings. Her podcast MonkeyTalk about creativity has now been listened to more than 100,000 times.
For the first 16 years of her career, she worked in the advertising industry at FHV/BBDO. With her network organization The Zooooo, she now uses her extensive experience and network for social causes.
“From gap in the market to gap in society,” as she puts it herself.
For more information: The Zooooo
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 advisor and manager for market-leading organizations and specializes in complex issues. In addition, as a member of the LGBTIQ+ community, he is socially active and holds several board positions in political and cultural associations and foundations.
“Being different is difficult, which is why it is important to give young people the tools to find their place in society. It is fantastic to be able to contribute to that through InterActing.”
Davide Tararbra
Board Member
Davide has worked in the IT sector for the past 15 years, gaining experience across a wide range of areas, from product and business development at Amazon.com to strategic partnerships with Google and international growth at Wolt.
To better cope with the unexpected and learn to improvise in business, he was introduced to the power of stand-up comedy through Boom Chicago. He is enthusiastic about further expanding the role of InterActing for young people, as a safe environment where they can develop skills to solve problems and build self-confidence.
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