BOOM CHICAGO's "Me, MySpace and iPod"
Main Stage @ Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport
Thursday, April 26
7:30pm
Tickets: $25, at the Athenaeum Theatre box office; Ticketmaster: 312-902-1500; and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com (enter "Chicago Improv Festival")
Me, MySpace and iPod
Boom Chicago plugs into modern life with the high speed comedy show Me, MySpace and iPod. Four actors, a musician and a multi-media technician create an incredible spectacle that combines sketch comedy, improvisation and high tech tricks. Boom Chicago’s fifth show in Chicago is faster than fire wire! Not long ago a Yahoo was just a hillbilly, Google was a very big number and the Amazon was the largest river in the world. Today, they are successful businesses and we download articles, music, videos and porn onto our computers, iPods and phones without thinking. We shop, bank and lose our identities online. We set up MySpaces, avatars and wikis, and we blog, vlog, and chat. Me, MySpace and iPod takes a megabyte out of our connected lives and saves to disk the amazing technological tidbits that have become a part of our everyday lives.
The reviews for Me, MySpace and iPod have been gushing!
Merijn Henfling, the comedy critic forAmsterdam’s leading daily, Het Parool, wrote the show was "Genius... We are once again grateful that [Boom Chicago] decided to make Amsterdam their home." Respectedradio personalities Peter de Bie and Francisco van Jole, raved on TROS radio that "people are saying this is the best Boom Chicago show ever, and we would agree." Henk van Gelder, senior theater critic at NRC Handelsblad, called the show, "Sharp and interactive. They have created an entirely new form of theater; call it digital comedy." Leading tech bloggers Dutch Cowboys said Me, MySpace and iPod was "a surprising show you have to see." Read, listen to and watch all the reviews here.
Chicago Production
Me MySpace and iPod stars Suzi Barrett, Matt Jones, Greg Shapiro and Jim Woods. Musical Director David Schmoll writes music and improvises live. Head Technician Steven Svymbersky operates sound, lights, computers and the internet. Andrew Moskos and Jon “Pep” Rosenfeld produce and direct the show. This is Boom Chicago’s third time playing the Chicago Improv Festival. Boom Chicago also performed on Second City’s mainstage during the week long Comedy Swap between the two troupes in 2003 and 2004.
Boom Chicago bios:
Actor/Writers:
Suzi Barret – Actor/Writer
Suzi Barrett began with Boom Chicago in 2003 and could not help but come back in 2007. After studying theater at Western Michigan University, she moved to Chicago, where she blossomed into the fearlessly funny miracle she is now. Rescued from the world of table-waiting by Boom Chicago, Suzi has proved herself to be a star on the Amsterdam stage stealing the heart of every single critic and audience member alike. She has been head writer of Boom Chicago's corporate shows department since 2005. She is in the process of developing a Boom Chicago show for Comedy Central in the Netherlands.
Matt Jones – Actor/Writer
Born and raised in Southern California, Matt has been performing improv in Los Angeles since the age of 17 and could be seen in various plays and musicals since the age of 6.
Matt loves movies, music, puppy dogs, and a nice long cry. Matt's performed with such improv and sketch groups like Comedy Sportz, Improv Olympic, National Comedy Theatre, Improv Bandits, and his baby Ultimate Improv where he performed the last four years before coming to Amsterdam. Matt has since moved back to Los Angeles where he is pursuing a career in television.
Greg Shapiro – Actor/Writer
Greg came to Amsterdam to join his high school buddies 10 years ago, and now he's gone native. A local celebrity, Greg has appeared in films & TV (Phileine Zegt Sorry, Down, GTST) years of commercials, and even NOS Journal. His writing has appeared in Expats Magazine, Sum, and The Amsterdam Times. But he's most proud of maintaining the nightly Boom Chicago News segment and the Weekly Full Frontal News Videos he creates for Sprint mobile in the U.S. In addition to Boom Chicago's regular shows, Greg also created the critically acclaimed two-man shows Going Down: A Comedy Show About Pessimism, Yankee Go Home: Americans and Why You Love to Hate Us and Mr America Contest: A Comedy show about the U.S. Presidential Race (all performed with Jon Rosenfeld).
Jim Woods – Actor/Writer
Born and raised in North Carolina, Woodsy is a good ol' southern boy. He moved to Chicago, where he performed at the ImprovOlympic for almost three years. In 2003 he was hired by Boom Chicago and moved to Amsterdam. He was an instant hit where he has been making Boom audiences laugh for three years with impersonations and improvisations alike. Jim has become a minor celebrity in Holland playing the dumb half of Brad and Eric, in a series of videos for MTV. Years later people on the street still quote him back his catchphrase: "What's on MTV?" Now in 2007, Jim's a little confused as to how he ended up in Amsterdam again. Can anyone give him a ride home?
Crew:
David Schmoll – Musical Director
Keyboardist/guitarist David Schmoll has managed to avoid having a real job for most of the last 25 years. In 1996, through a series of bizzare coincidences, he discoverd the art of improvisation for the theater. Actually, he got tossed into an improv show in front of a packed house, with no preparation other than the following advice: "No matter what happens, just keep playing." He kept playing all right - for nearly 7 years, first at Cabaret Dada (Cleveland's first improv theater), then as musical director for Second City Cleveland, and now in Amsterdam at Boom Chicago. When he's not playing silly music for comedy shows, he enjoys egg-scrambling, yak-vaulting, and collecting rare vintage paper clips (he has over a thousand at last count). Dave is happily bald, and hopes to remain so for many years to come.
Steven Svymbersky – Head Technician
Steven came to Boom in 1997 after selling Quimby's, the infamous Chicago underground bookstore he founded in 1991. Since his arrival he has risen through the ranks from promoter and boat captain to the head of the technical department. He is one of Boom's eldest employees (born.1960) and has more tattoos than anyone else on the staff, not to mention those wacky pierced nipples! Steven traveled to Amsterdam from Chicago with his wife, Sherri and daughter, Maddie. In 2001 they expanded their clan with son, Xavier.
When Steven isn't mopping the stage or looking for a picture of Ayer's Rock on the internet for Shift Left/Shift Right, he is indulging his son's fascination with sword fighting or having his Dutch corrected by his nine year old. Ian in the front bar thinks he's an "okay guy, 'though I don't really know him, y'know?" Rob Andristplourde also says he's not so bad.
Jon “Pep” Rosenfeld – Artistic Director
One of the fouders, 'Pep' took a break from Boom to write for Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. In 2001, his work on the weekly televsion show's famous news segment was nominated for an Emmy. Back at Boom, Jon created Going Down: A Comedy Show about Pessimism and Yankee Go Home: Americans and Why You Love to Hate Us (with Greg Shapiro). The former was called the best Boom show ever by the Volkskrant. The latter... wasn't. He also directed 2003's critically acclaimed Boom Chicago Saves the World (Sorry About the Mess). Jon can spend one night at Dino’s after hours club (RIP) and the next having a cup of tea while doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Pep doesn't bullshit and he frequently has a good feeling. He recently had twin boys.
Andrew Moskos – Executive Producer
One of the original founders of Boom Chicago, Andrew starred in Boom's productions from 1993-2000. These days, he produces and develops show concepts including Boom Chicago Saves the World (Sorry about the Mess), Live at the Leidseplein: Your Privacy is our Business, Europe: We've Created a Monster, Ironic Yanks, and Here Comes the Neighborhood. He directed Jon Rosenfeld and Greg Shapiro's Going Down: A Comedy Show about Pessimism and the critically acclaimed Mr. America Contest about he Bush-Kerry election of 2004. Sorry about the outcome. Andrew created Boom Chicago Video Productions in 2004 after the world-wide hit Florida Voting Machine where a John Kerry supporter accidentally votes for George Bush at an electronic voting booth.Today BCVP makes comedy content for distribution channels like Joost, MSN, MTV, Comedy Central, AOL, Sprint Mobile, T-Mobile and corporate clients like Microsoft, Mentos and Heineken. In 2006, Brendan Hunt’s daily World Cup video series The Unlikely Fan was seen my almost one million people worldwide. 2007 will see the launch of boomchicago.tv, an entertainment website featuring Boom Chicago’s and other aggregated videos. Andrew is also end responsible for Boom Chicago's marketing, sales and operations. Married with two boys, Andrew also enjoys writing for this website and the Boom! Magazine. Someday he will be mayor of Amsterdam.