Boom Chicago's Ensemble

LOLU AJAYI

Lolu started doing improv in the year of our Lord 2000. Lolu started acting in one of our Lord’s favorite years 1993 or 1994. Lolu forgets. Lolu started writing in the year 19..something. Lolu has performed improv with True Lies, House of Mangoes, the Improv Club and Blind Date. Lolu is Nigerian and apologizes for the emails. Coincidentally he’s also a Prince. True story.

JOSH RACHFORD

Josh grew up near Washington, D.C. and studied Cognitive Science at the University of Virginia. Then he lived in New York City and worked at Tumblr, while studying improv and sketch at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.In 2010, Josh moved to LA, where he appeared in The Newsroom on HBO, in commercials for major brands, in shorts for FunnyOrDie and Collegehumor, and more. As a comedian he’s performed in New York and LA, done stand-up in Las Vegas, and toured the US as a director and actor with the Story Pirates, a non-profit theatre company.Now residing in Amsterdam, Josh is an actor at Boom Chicago.

KAREL EBERGEN 

Karel, despite his Dutch name, hails from San Francisco, California. He studied theater at UCLA and in 2013 he moved to Los Angeles where he was an actor, writer, director, and other things you can just claim to be in LA. He studied sketch and improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade, where he was on the UCB Mess Hall team Biscuits, and has also appeared in several commercials, most notably one with Ron Jeremy. Karel, just like Josh, has toured the US with Story Pirates, but never met Josh during that time :(.  Karel is very excited to be a performer at Boom Chicago. To non-Dutch speakers “Karel Ebergen” is pronounced “George Clooney.”

CENE HALE

Cené is an ethnically ambiguous and occasionally androgynous actor and writer from Austin, TX. Cené's work has been featured on IndieWire, Huffington Post, Above Average, and WhoHAHA. Most notably, she has been retweeted by Issa Rae the creator and star of the HBO show 'Insecure'. Cené studied at Cold Towne theater where she was on the house team Loverboy, and regularly performed with Improv and sketch troupes Damn Gina, Girls Girls Girls, Love Me Tinder, and Kingz (to name a few). Cené is an improv floozy.  Cené is stoked to get to perform at Boom Chicago. Like Karel, to Dutch speakers Cené is pronounced Beyoncé.cenehale.com | @ceneatx

ELSE SOELLING 

Else was born and raised in the gloriously green and reliably rainy city of Seattle, weather she has been told is comparable to the Netherlands--we'll see about that. She moved to Los Angeles in 2012 to sweat constantly in the heat and to study improv at Upright Citizens Brigade. Elsehad a very brief career in modeling, an experience more along the lines of wilderness survival, that involved the niche ability to make a variety of metal detectors look really, really good--she is a professional, after all.Else now resides in Amsterdam and rides a bicycle everyday, just like the locals!

Ace Manning

Ace’s high school job was as house manager of his local improv theatre and later began improvising in 1999 with a troupe called the Well Hung Jury. In 2003 he began touring the United States with the Available Cupholders out of Chicago. Following that, Ace trained at Improv Olympic and Annoyance Theater. Since 2008, Ace has been working at the Hideout Theatre in Austin, Tx as an ensemble member while returning to university for a Mathematics degree. To keep Ace completely deprived of sleep he also became an award winning cocktail bartender winning the "Austin Chronicle’s Best Mixologist" in 2011 and 2012. Ace joined the cast this year and is happy to finally be living out a dream.

GREG SHAPIRO 

Gregory Shapiro. Comedian. American. Dutchman. Celebrating 25 years in comedy.Shapiro came to the Netherlands in 1994 to help establish comedy theater Boom Chicago,after graduating from Northwestern University. In 2007 Shapiro presented ‘Comedy Central News’ and went solo. He’s since worked with BNR fm, Time Out Amsterdam and VARA HumorTV.Together with Pep, Greg has created and performed in seven critically acclaimed political shows on Boom Chicago's stage.

PEP ROSENFELD

Pep is Boom Chicago's creative multi-tasker: Writer, performer, director, trainer, stand-up comedian, public speaker, host, facilitator and developer of new corporate programs.He loves comedy about current events and politics, and he has co-written and co-starred in Boom's political shows including Bye-Bye Bush, 9/11 Forever, Delete Zwarte Piet Niet and Political Party, the comedy show/interview/debate with Maurice de Hond and Dutch politicians. His writing on America's long-running television show, Saturday Night Live, was nominated for an Emmy.

ROB ANDRISTPLOURDE

Rob AndristPlourde has been an employee of Boom Chicago for more than twenty years. His Dutch is better than yours unless you are Dutch and then it's better than your friend's. Rob is enthusiastic about pop culture and music. Rob sometimes repeats himself and is enthusiastic about pop culture and music. His family is so beautiful that they shimmer. Rob can prove this.Rob wants you to enjoy the Boom Chicago. So, stop reading this and go see Boom Chicago. Rob says thanks. Thanks.

MICHAEL DIEDERICH 

Michaelhas been a Boom Chicago cast member for years. He performs in Boom Chicago’s 250 seat theater in Amsterdam several nights a week. He teaches workshops on presentational skills and teambuilding to top level companies around Europe. He is an excellent Master of Ceremonies and booked on a regular basis as host for events such as the Mobile Convention in Amsterdam and company events such as Pepsico, Kraft Foods, ABN AMRO, Norton Rose and the Expat Center Amsterdam.In 1998 he hosted the festive reopening of the Boom Chicago's theater after an extensive renovation. Finally in 2006, he joined the ensemblefor real.A few years ago, he placed second on The Weakest Link (Holland) and was invited back to perform on a special reunion show of the "best losers." He went on to win that one.

JIM WOODS

Boom Chicago's Artistic Director was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He started improvising when he was 15 at Comedy Sportz then moved to Chicago to learn long form. He performed with the house team Deep Schwa at I.O. Chicago. Then he was hired by Boom Chicago so he moved to Amsterdam. From there he moved to LA where he performed with the 2 UCB house teams Last Day of School and the Smokes. While in LA he appeared on TV shows such as The Office, Reno 911 and How I met Met Your Mother. He also performed with Drew Carey in the Drew Carey Improv Allstars show.

SACHA HOEDEMAKER

Sacha is Boom Chicago's musician. Since he started playing piano at a young age, he has accompanied singers throughout the Netherlands. In 2010, he was introduced to improvisational theater and has been hooked ever since.He has worked together with over twenty improv teams in the Netherlands, as well as teams all over Europe.

BRIAN TJON AJONG

Next to James Brown, Brian Tjon Ajong is the hardest working man in show business. Brian has been a stage technician at Boom Chicago since 2008. When not making actors look better than they actually do,  Brian plays guitar for his renowned heavy rock band Green Lizard and also provides musical and bar tending support for the punk reggae band Jaya the Cat. He is the proud father of his cats David and Bowie.

EMIL STRUIJKER BOUDIER

Emil has been adding lights, music and sound to improv shows for years now. From small rooms to being the head tech at the international festival, IMPRO Amsterdam.He started honing his innate skills at the easylaughs troupe in Amsterdam. Quickly becoming an integral part of their shows and the first call other improv groups made when doing shows. In that journey he became the first improv tech ever to create his own show.A great improvisor in his own right, a master with the light and sound faders.