The Breakdown with Robbie

Tom Kiradhy is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer whose projects have spanned Broadway, off-Broadway, the West End, and national and international tours. He most recently produced the Broadway production of the epic two-part play THE INHERITANCE (4 Tony Awards including Best Play), the smash-hit HADESTOWN (8 Tony Awards including Best Musical), the off-Broadway revival of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS starring Tammy Blanchard, Jonathan Groff, and Christian Borle (Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Revival of a Musical), Terrence McNally's FRANKIE & JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon (2 Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Play), and the ANASTASIA national and international tours. Select Broadway credits: ANASTASIA, the box office record breaking IT'S ONLY A PLAY starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, THE VISIT starring Chita Rivera (5 Tony nominations). Select West End credits: THE INHERITANCE (4 Olivier Awards including Best New Play), THE JUNGLE, Edward Albee's THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? Select off-Broadway credits: THE WHITE CHIP (N.Y. Times Critic's Pick), THE JUNGLE (N.Y. Times Critic's Pick), WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (N.Y. Times Critic's Pick). Additional Tony nominations: MOTHERS AND SONS, AFTER MIDNIGHT, RAGTIME, MASTER CLASS. Kirdahy serves on the Broadway League Board of Governors, the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Advisory Council for the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and is a founding director of the nonprofit Berwin Lee London New York Playwrights, Inc., which supports emerging playwrights. He is the 2019 recipient of the Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theater Producing. As an attorney, he spent nearly two decades providing free legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS and served for many years on the Executive Committee of the NYC LGBT Center.

Steven won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, as well as the Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Spring Awakening. His other musicals include Alice by Heart produced at the National Theatre of London, MCC in New York and is also a novel from Penguin Random House, The Nightingale produced at La Jolla Playhouse; Prometheus Bound at A.R.T; and Some Lovers with music by Burt Bacharach at the Old Globe and the Adirondack Theatre Festival. His plays include Arms on Fire, New York Animals, and a reconceived musical version of Shakespeare's Tempest. Additionally, Sater works as a poet, screenwriter, and a pop lyricist. He has created television projects for HBO, Showtime, FX, NBC, and is currently creating a musical TV series for Amazon.

Michael Benjamin Washington is currently filming the new NBC comedy, American Auto. Broadway: The Boys in the Band (also the Netflix adaptation); La Cage Aux Folles; Mamma Mia! (original company). Off Broadway: 2019 revival of Anna Deavere Smith's Fires In the Mirror at Signature Theatre (NY Outer Critics Circle Award; NY Drama League Award; Inaugural Antonyo Award for Best Solo Performance); and, Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night at Second Stage. Television: Ratched and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix); 30 Rock; Glee; Law and Order; 100 Questions to name a few. He is an alumnus of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the National Young Arts Foundation. He is also a Presidential Scholars in the Arts. Mr. Washington currently serves on the 2020-2023 Tony Awards and Screen Actors Guild Nominating Committees.

Cody Renard Richard is an advocate, educator and professional Stage Manager with a career that spans many genres including Broadway, Television, Cirque Du Soleil and Opera. On Broadway, he has worked as a full time and substitute Stage Manager on 12 productions, most recently serving as the Production Stage Manager for Freestyle Love Supreme. Other Broadway: Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Lion King, Cirque du Soleil's Paramour, Kinky Boots, If/Then, After Midnight, Motown the Musical, Ghost the Musical, Cyrano de Bergerac and Lysistrata Jones. TV: 2019 Tony Awards, 2020 & 2019 MTV VMAs, Jesus Christ Superstar Live!, Hairspray Live!, The Wiz Live!. Cirque du Soleil: OVO, Wintuk. Off Broadway/NY: Porgy and Bess (Metropolitan Opera – Assistant Stage Director), Candide at Carnegie Hall, 5 productions with NY City Center Encores!, The Public Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company, 2nd Stage, Transport Group, Pearl Theatre Company. Selected Regional: Lempicka at Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Muny, TUTS, Stages STL, Kansas City Rep, Alley Theatre, Repertory Theatre of STL. In addition to his production credits, he has served as adjunct faculty at New York University, Columbia University and Fordham University. As an advocate for change and equity, Cody has appeared live on CNN and has been interviewed on WNBC. Cody has been featured by Variety Magazine as one of their 2020 Broadway Players to Watch, Out Magazine as a 2020 OUT100 honoree and in Forbes. He launched The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program in partnership with Broadway Advocacy Coalition in Sept of 2020 and holds a BFA in Stage Management from Webster Conservatory. He is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and the Directors Guild of America. www.codyrenard.com @codyrenard

Pre-pandemic, Alison was in back-to-back show bliss with David Staller's adaptation of Heartbreak House (for which she received the Callaway Award for best actress in a classical play), Enter Laughing at the York, and a divine trifecta under the aegis of Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Steel Magnolias at the Jupiter Maltz, Cinderella at the MUNY, and Deathtrap at the Cape Playhouse. Just prior to theatre shut down she was, oddly enough, in a show (co-starring Robbie Simpson) called Paradise Lost which (actually happened a week after we closed-paradise was indeed lost... )She originated the role of Sharon in Aaron Mark's “Squeamish” (Off Broadway, Outer Critic's Circle Awards nominee). She was Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford in MichaelJohn LaChiusa's First Daughter Suite (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk nominee) at the Public Theater, Mommy in The Sandbox and The Landlady in Funnyhouse of a Negro at The Signature Theatre (director Lilia Neugebauer). She is a two- time Tony Award nominee for The Secret Garden (Drama Desk nominee also) and Romance/Romance. Other Broadway roles includes Dorine in Tartuffe; Born Again, Helena in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Tessie Tura in Arthur Laurents' production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. Roles she has created Off-Broadway include Arsinoé in David Ives' The School For Lies, Charles Busch's The Divine Sister, Jessie in Terrence McNally's Dedication, or the Stuff of Dreams (opposite Marion Seldes and Nathan Lane),Trina in March of the Falsettos and In Trousers ( vocal arrangement credits) Miss Drumgoole in Todd Rundgren's Up Against It, Connie, Brenda and Petula in Beehive, and The Matron in the world premiere of Tennessee Williams' In Masks Outrageous and Austere (opposite Shirley Knight). Film and TV credits include Gotham, Happy! High Maintenance, Law & Order: SVU,Happyish, Smash, It Could Be Worse, Blowtorch, Socks and Bonds,Understudies, Jack in A Box, The Thing About My Folks (opposite Peter Falk and Paul Reiser) and the upcoming The Sound of Silence (opposite Peter Saarsgard). She has be heard on thousands of radio and television commercials, Grand Theft Auto 3 and 5, innumerable audiobooks, and many albums, including three solo efforts A New York Romance, Men In My Life, and Tennessee Williams:Words and Music. She recently received the Earphones Award from Audiophile for her narration of “Fierce Poise” for Penguin Random House, and soon will be heard on the podcast “The Laundronauts” starring Ed Asner and John Cameron Mitchell.

MICHAEL GODDARD is one of the named partners of CGF TALENT, a ten year old boutique agency in New York. They handle all legit (theatre, television and film) projects being cast out of New York, and nation wide. Michael has been an agent for fifteen years representing actors who are series regulars, guest stars and co-stars on television shows, featured cast in movies and many principals on Broadway as well as tours and regional theatre. Prior to becoming an agent, Michael was an actor for 16 years, working on Broadway, off-Broadway, Tours, and regionally across the country.Click HERE to check out Robbie's recent interview on Someone's Thunder Podcast.Click HERE to check out Robbie's recent interview on Backstage with B.

Calleri Jensen Davis casting, formally Calleri casting until very recently, have a casting partnership that spans over twenty years. Television credits include Dickinson, The Path, Army Wives, Lipstick Jungle, Hope and Faith, Ed, Monk, and numerous pilots for Netflix, Fox the CW NBC ABC among many others, Films they have cast have been screened at Sundance, The Cannes Film Festival, and have won dozens of awards.Broadway credits include the upcoming productions of Thoughts of a Colored Man, For Colored Girls who have considered suiside when the rainbow is enough, and Blue all opening on Broadway this year. Past Broadway credits include Burn This, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Elephant Man, Of Mice and Men, Fool For Love, Venus In Fur, 33 Variations, Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun, Hughie, James Joyce’s The Dead, and the Bright Star National TourAdditional New York and Regional credits include Playwrights Horizons, Classic Stage Company, Rattlestick, The Flea, Keen Company, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Long Warf, The Cleveland Playhouse, The Actors Theater of Louisville, Hartford Stage, The Alliance, Center Theater Group, Humana, The Old Globe, Syracuse Stage, OSF, Alley Theater, Berkley Rep, McCarter Theater and dozens more.

Michael is an actor and two-time Tony-nominated director for his Broadway revivals of Spring Awakening and Once On This Island. Additional directing credits include A Christmas Carol starring Jefferson Mayes at the Geffen, Maybe Happy Ending at The Alliance Theater, The Pride and Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Anenberg, Joseph at Lincoln Center, The Connors on ABC, the upcoming film, the book of Ruth, starring Ruth Wilson, among others. Michael is also company member of The Forest of Arden, an immersive theater company— premiering a new work, Alien/ Nation at Williamstown Theater Festival this summer. As an actor, Michaels Broadway credits include Big River, The Times They Are A’Changin, and King Lear. Additional theater credits include Bare A pop Opera off Broadway, Swimming in the Shallows at Second Stage, The Hunchback of Notre Dam at the La Jolla Playhouse and Papermill Playhouse, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love at the MErnier Choclate Factory in London among others. TV credits include Numbers, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, The Closer, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, Unforgettable, GCB, Royal Pains, every episode of Anger Management among many others. Michael is on Variety’s “Broadway Impact List” and has been awarded NAACP, Ovation, NAD, Outer Critic Circle, and Tony Honor Awards.

BRIAN HUTCHISON has appeared on Broadway in The Boys in the Band (Tony Award- Best Revival), Man and Boy (with Frank Langella and Adam Driver)), Looped (opposite Valerie Harper), Exit the King (with Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon), Proof, andThe Invention of Love. Off-Broadway credits include How To Transcend a Happy Marriage ( opposite Marisa Tomei-Lincoln Center) Smokefall (opposite Zachary Quinto) Pocatello (with TR Knight) Regrets, Spirit Control, From Up Here, and Go Back to Where You Are among others, at such theaters as Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, and Manhattan Class Company. In addition to performing major roles all over the country, Brian’s film and television credits include the upcoming Apple TV series from Stephen King, Lisey’s Story, The Boys in the Band, Blue Bloods, The Sinner, FBI- Most Wanted, Jessica Jones, Godfather of Harlem, Instinct, Madam Secretary, Elementary,Vinyl, Show Me a Hero, Killing Kennedy,Vino Veritas, Winter's Tale, Love and Other Drugs, Do No Harm, Person of Interest ( recurring as FBI agent Moss), The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU, and Criminal Intent. Brian has recorded hundreds of audiobooks, and is producing, writing and recording an original serial podcast I Still Think About You, available in 2021. He holds a BA from Lafayette College, and an MFA in Dramatic Arts from the Old Globe Theater/University of San Diego.

ERICA A. HART, CSA (Casting Professional / Producer) graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied film and television. She has been casting for over 10 years on many high profile projects. She started off in network and studio casting moving her way up to Casting Coordinator in the New York Office of ABC Primetime Casting. In 2014, Erica appeared in The Hollywood Reporter as a featured rising artist. She has cast projects that have screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, Outfest, Cinequest, and the Cannes Film Festival and are streaming on Netflix and Amazon. THE SURROGATE (a film she cast as well as associate produced) was in INDIEWIRE's Best Movies Eligible for a 2021 Oscar and was a VARIETY CRITICS PICK. She has cast commercials for high-end brands such as Maybelline, Gillette, Hasbro, and Delta, to name a few. She has also collaborated with The National Black Theatre and has cast a handful of their productions. Erica has been the Casting Associate for shows like “Ray Donovan”, “The Bold Type”, “Defending Jacob", and “Godfather of Harlem” (Epix). She has recently cast the UNT. MICHAEL CHE SKETCH SHOW for HBO MAX, BLACK DON'T CRACK for ABC and currently co casting LOVE LIFE Season 2 for HBO MAX. Outside of casting, she has received grants and awards from the Puffin Foundation, New York Television Festival and The Digital Bolex, in addition to developing new serieses for BET and WeTV.

JONATHAN BANK (Producing Artistic Director) has been the artistic director of Mint Theater Company since 1995, where he has unearthed and produced dozens of lost or neglected plays, many of which he has also directed. As Variety put it in 2007, “Bank is one of the few artistic directors for whom taking an old, obscure book off the shelf is an enterprise exciting enough to be addictive.”Under Bank’s leadership the Mint has earned an international reputation as the source for high-quality revivals of forgotten works and has become, in the words of The New York Times’ Jason Zinoman, “the leading New York entrepreneur” of the neglected play business. In his review of Mint’s 2018 production of Conflict by Miles Malleson, Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal described Jonathan Bank as “one of a handful of theater artists in America whose name is an absolute guarantee of quality.” Recently for the Mint, Bank directed The Suitcase Under the Bed, Katie Roche, Temporal Powers and Wife to James Whelan—three plays by the neglected Irish playwright, Teresa Deevy. Bank spearheaded Mint’s ambitious three-year, three-play Teresa Deevy Project, dedicated to reclaiming the lost voice of “one of the most undeservedly neglected and significant Irish playwrights of the 20th century” (The Irish Times). In a feature article about the project in America Magazine, Andrew Garavel writes, “Thanks are due to Jonathan Bank and the Mint Theater for bringing such a distinctive voice from the past so satisfyingly into the present.”Also for the Mint, Bank directed Yours Unfaithfully by Miles Malleson, The New Morality by Harold Chapin, Mary Broome by Allan Monkhouse, and Maurine Dallas Watkins’ So Help Me God! starring Emmy Award-winner Kristen Johnston. The production received four Drama Desk nominations, including Outstanding Revival and Outstanding Director. Other productions at the Mint include Lennox Robinson’s Is Life Worth Living?, the American Professional Premiere of The Fifth Column by Ernest Hemingway, The Return of the Prodigal by St. John Hankin and Susan and God by Rachel Crothers. Jonathan both adapted and directed Arthur Schnitzler’s Far and Wide and The Lonely Way which he also co-translated (with Margaret Schaefer). These two plays were published in a volume entitled Arthur Schnitzler Reclaimed which Bank edited. He is also the editor of four additional volumes in the “Reclaimed” series (Teresa Deevy vols. 1 & 2, Harley Granville Barker, and St. John Hankin) as well as Worthy But Neglected: Plays of the Mint Theater Company which includes his adaptations of Thomas Wolfe's Welcome to Our City and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, both of which he directed, along with five other Mint rediscoveries. Other directing credits include critically acclaimed productions of Ivanov and Othello for the National Asian American Theater Company, John Brown's Body, The Double Bass and Three Days of Rain for the Miniature Theater of Chester and The Heiress, Hobson’s Choice, Candida and Mr. Pim Passes By for the Peterborough Players. He earned his M.F.A. from Case Western Reserve University in his hometown of Cleveland, OH. This episode is brought to you in part by TSMA Consulting, the entertainment industry’s leading social media firm. Use offer code BREAKDOWN20 for $20 off any growth package from TSMA at TSMAgrowth.com

Erika Henningsen was most recently seen as Cady Heron in the original Broadway Cast of MEAN GIRLS, for which she was nominated for an Outer Critics' Circle Award. She made her Broadway debut as Fantine in the recent revival of LES MISERABLES and can be seen as Kim Ravenal in the PBS Special of SHOW BOAT: Live from Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. She is slated to appear in Peacock's upcoming series GIRLS5EVA and Amazon's original comedy HARLEM. Graduate of the University Of Michigan BFA Musical Theater Program, Broadway.com Star of the Year 2019, founder of the First Time Voters' Club and proud dog mom to Lennox. Erika will be reopening Green Room 42 with her solo show late April, check out greenfignyc.com for tickets!

CHUKWUDI IWUJI can currently be seen in Ava DuVernay’s limited award winning Netflix series WHEN THEY SEE US, and also plays a pivotal recurring role in Netflix series DESIGNATED SURVIVOR. He has recently finished filming the second season of the SundanceTV & BBC series THE SPLIT. He will next be seen in the highly anticipated Amazon limited series THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, directed by Barry Jenkins, and in upcoming feature MOTHER, directed by Michael Morrissey. An accomplished theater veteran, Chuk recently starred in OTHELLO for The Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park. Chuk’s performance in THE LOW ROAD, directed by Michael Greif, earned him an Obie Award, as well as 2018 Lucille Lortel and Drama League nominations. An Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company for his numerous Shakespearean performances, he has also received two Olivier awards for his titular role as HENRY VI in the RSC’s 2009 productions of parts I, II, and III. Other stage credits include: the titular role in the Public Theatre’s HAMLET directed by Patricia McGregor; Ivo van Hove’s OBSESSION opposite Jude Law, and HEDDA GABLER opposite Ruth Wilson, both for The National Theatre; The Public Theatre’s productions of KING LEAR and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA; Theatre for a New Audience’s TAMBURLAINE directed by Michael Boyd; and the Old Vic’s RICHARD III directed by Sam Mendes. In addition to his extensive stage work, Chuk has made numerous television appearances including: QUANTICO, DYNASTY, BLINDSPOT, MADAM SECRETARY, and DOCTOR WHO. Chuk’s film credits include: Netflix’s BARRY, Chad Stahelski’s JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 opposite Keanu Reeves, DANIEL ISN’T REAL, A WOMAN A PART, NOW: IN THE WINGS OF A WORLD STAGE, the multi-award winning EXAM, and FALL TO RISE.

Stephanie Klapper is a New York based Casting Director who has been in the business for 25 plus years. Her work is frequently seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television, and film. Projects she has cast have won numerous awards including the Tony, OBIES, Drama Desk, Pulitzer Prize, Sundance Audience Award, Cannes Prize Du Publique, Comic Con and Artios. Stephanie, along with her incredible casting team, comprise Stephanie Klapper Casting, an Independent Casting Group who is known for their limitless imagination and creativity and for their work on a wide range of projects all over the country and the world.Frequent and longtime collaborators include Primary Stages, Mint Theater Company, NY Classical Theatre, american vicarious, The Peccadillo, Voyage Theatre, Masterworks, Resonance Ensemble, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Ford’s Theatre, Kansas City Rep, The New Theatre, The Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as many more in New York, the regions, and internationally. Recent projects include: The Night of the Iguana (La Femme Theatre Productions); Chekhov/Tolstoy Love Stories (Mint); Sideways, the Experience (Peccadillo); A Sign of the Times (Off-Broadway); The 24-Hour Plays on Broadway Gala Celebrating Kathy Bates; Paradise Lost (FPA/Directors Company); Miss America’s Ugly Daughter (Off-Broadway); Grace, a song cycle (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville); Once on this Island (Cincinnati Playhouse/Actor’s Theatre); The Hope Hypothesis (Voyage Theatre Co.); The Importance of Being Earnest (NY Classical); Hamlet (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Daniel’s Husband (Penguin Rep/Primary Stages); Actually We’re F**ked (Cherry Lane Theatre); A Letter to Harvey Milk (Off-Broadway); Pride and Prejudice (Kate Hamill)(Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival/Primary Stages); Candide, Westside Story and Bernstein’s Mass (Philadelphia Orchestra). Select Recent Broadway includes: Bronx Bombers; A Christmas Story, the Musical; Dividing the Estate; It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues.Select Film/TV credits: Netuser (with Denis O’Hare); Epiphany V; Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior; Stag; Alice Jacobs is Dead (Adrienne Barbeau); The Feast of the Goat (Isabella Rossellini); Uncertain Terms; Altamont Now!; Sidewalk Stories; Roberta; Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising, the video; webisode: Battery Park; Parking Lot Chronicles; Highlights of a Mom’s Life. Television: Lazytown.Ms. Klapper is a graduate of Manhattan’s famed Music and Art High School and SUNY College at Purchase. She is a frequent guest teacher and lecturer at many colleges and universities including: New York University (The New Studio on Broadway), Drew, UNCSA, USC, Oklahoma University, Ohio University, Kenyon College, University of Michigan, UMKC, Florida State University (Asolo), Skidmore College, Penn State, SUNY Purchase, SUNY New Paltz, Indiana University, UNC Chapel Hill, New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts, and the Tepper Semester through Syracuse University, where she is also a mentor to students interested in pursuing work in the casting profession. Ms. Klapper is passionate about working with creative teams to develop new work and expand the scope of established work. In addition to casting and teaching, Ms. Klapper is a member of the New York Board of the Casting Society of America, Casting Society Cares, and New York Women in Film. She is passionate about continuing to expand and champion diversity, equity, equality and inclusion in the business. She loves working with emerging artists to help them develop their careers.

Joe Mantello (Director). A two-time Tony Award-winning director, recent credits include The Boys in the Band (Netflix and Broadway) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hillary and Clinton, Three Tall Women (Tony nomination), The Humans (Tony nomination), Blackbird, An Act of God, Airline Highway, The Last Ship, Casa Valentina, I’ll Eat You Last..., The Other Place, Dogfight, Other Desert Cities, The Pride, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, November, Three Days of Rain, The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross (Tony nomination), Laugh Whore, Assassins (Tony Award), Wicked, Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Man of No Importance, The Vagina Monologues, Bash, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Tony nomination), and Corpus Christi. Acting credits: Hollywood (Netflix) and the Broadway productions of The Normal Heart (Tony nomination) and Angels in America (Tony nomination). Mantello was nominated for Emmy and Critics’ Choice Awards for his performance in HBO’s “The Normal Heart.” He has received Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie, and Joe A. Callaway Awards and is a member of The Theatre Hall of Fame.

Steven won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, as well as the Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Spring Awakening. His other musicals include Alice by Heart produced at the National Theatre of London, MCC in New York and is also a novel from Penguin Random House, The Nightingale produced at La Jolla Playhouse; Prometheus Bound at A.R.T; and Some Lovers with music by Burt Bacharach at the Old Globe and the Adirondack Theatre Festival. His plays include Arms on Fire, New York Animals, and a reconceived musical version of Shakespeare’s Tempest. Additionally, Sater works as a poet, screenwriter, and a pop lyricist. He has created television projects for HBO, Showtime, FX, NBC, and is currently creating a musical TV series for Amazon.

JEFF CALHOUN: Broadway: Disney’s Newsies (Tony Award Nomination for Best Director), Bonnie & Clyde, Jekyll & Hyde, Grey Gardens, Deaf West’s Big River (Tony Award Nomination for Best Revival of a Musical), Brooklyn, Annie Get Your Gun, Grease (Tony Award Nomination for Best Choreography), Tommy Tune Tonite, and The Will Rogers Follies. Tour and Internationally: Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 and Disney’s High School Musical 1 & 2. Mr. Calhoun is an associate artist at The Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Covenant House International, a non-for-profit helping homeless youth in thirty cities across six countries. He recently directed and became an Emmy Award contender for A Night of Covenant House Stars on Amazon Prime. Twitter and Instagram: @thejeffcalhoun

DOUGLAS LYONS is an actor, TV writer, director, composer-lyricist, and playwright. Writing - Theater: Polkadots (Off Broadway Alliance Winner Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company), Beau (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Chicken and Biscuits (Queens Theatre), Sunshine (Long Wharf Theatre) and more. Acting - Broadway: Beautiful (Original Cast) and The Book of Mormon. Tours: Rent, Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon 1st National. @DouglasSings. IG: @Chocolatehipster

Dan is an actor, director and producer. On TV, Dan is known for his work as twins Thad & Chad on Darren Star’s “Younger,” NBC’s “The Blacklist: Redemption,” CW’s “Tell Me A Story,” and for playing Prince William in William & Catherine: A Royal Romance, in addition to guest starring on various episodic shows like “Hawaii Five-0,” “Blue Bloods,” “Inside Amy a Schumer,” etc. Film credits include Overlook, Love The Coopers, Batman vs. Superman, among others. On stage, he has lead world premiere productions by such playwrights as A.R. Gurney and David Ives, from NYC to regional theaters like The Old Globe, The Shakespeare Theater, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He recently directed the award-winning premiere of Whirlwind for The Wild Project, Off-Broadway. He is currently in post-production for the film Egg Party, which he is producing. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dan and two classmates from Carnegie Mellon founded the organization The Clear Day Project, which provides healing theatrical art to the 42,000 medical first responders in the Mount Sinai Health Care System, with contributions from everyday New York artists to award-winning celebrities alike, and was subsequently profiled on CNN. Dan lives in Brooklyn with his husband, son Theodore, two cats, and a parrot. @danamboyer

MATT LENZ (Director) is a New York City based, free-lance theatre director. RECENT credits include: The East and West coast premieres of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, the US national tours of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Venus in Fur. BROADWAY: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, The Velocity of Autumn (Associate Director on original productions), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Original Resident Director). OFF-BROADWAY: Pageant: The Musical (Drama Desk nomination), The Irish Curse, Idaho! The Comedy Musical, The Great Daisy Theory, Fingers and Toes, and Alan Ball’s Tense Guy. NATIONAL TOURS: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Story: The Musical (2014 -’19), Cheers: Live Onstage, Catch Me If You Can, The Who’s Tommy and Hairspray. INTERNATIONAL: Charlie in Australia and productions of Hairspray in South Africa, the UK, Toronto, and Germany. REGIONAL: (Representative plays and musicals); Paper Mill Playhouse (Hairspray), George Street Playhouse ([title of show]), the MUNY (Beauty, Aida Hairspray, Grease, etc), Ogunquit Playhouse (Victor/Victoria, Grumpy Old Men), Cape Playhouse (Art, Sylvia, Earnest), The Alliance Theatre (Elaborate Lives), La Mirada (Grumpy Old Men), North Carolina Theatre (Full Monty, Beauty, South Pacific), Maltz Jupiter Theater (Billy Elliot, The Foreigner), Zach Theatre (Les Miserables, Love! Valor! Compassion!, God of Carnage), Gulfshore Playhouse (Fox in the Fairway), Casa Manana (South Pacific), Gateway Playhouse (Aida), Short North Stage (The Irish Curse), Forestburgh Playhouse (Idaho, Venus in Fur). www.mattlenzdirector.com

Kyle Bass is the author of Possessing Harriet, which received its world premiere at Syracuse Stage, was also produced at Franklin Stage Company, and has upcoming productions at East Lynn Theater Company (NJ) and Hartbeat Ensemble (CT). His new play salt/city/blues will premiere at Syracuse Stage in 2021. Kyle is the co-author of the original screenplay for the film Day of Days (Broad Green Pictures, 2017), which stars award-winning veteran actor Tom Skerritt, and is a two-time recipient of the NYFA Fellowship (for fiction in 1998 and playwriting in 2010), a finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Award, and Pushcart Prize nominee. His other full-length plays include Tender Rain, Bleecker Street, and Separated, a piece of documentary theatre about the student military veterans at Syracuse University, which was presented at Syracuse Stage and at the Paley Center in New York. Kyle is the co-author (with Ping Chong) of Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo, which had its world premiere at Syracuse Stage and was subsequently produced at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Current projects include the libretto for an opera based on the life and music of legendary folk singer and guitarist Libba Cotten, commissioned by the Society for New Music, and the screenplay adaptation of the novel Milk by Darcy Steinke. Kyle is Associate Artistic Director at Syracuse Stage and Assistant Professor in the Department of Theater at Colgate University where he previously served as the Burke Endowed Chair for Regional Studies, and he is the current Susan P. Stroman Visiting Playwright at the University of Delaware. Kyle holds an M.F.A. in playwriting from Goddard College, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Kyle is represented by The Barbara Hogenson Agency.

Mary Kate or MK is currently playing Janis in the First National Tour of Mean Girls the musical. Other National Touring credits include Elphaba in Wicked and Sheila in Hair. Additional work include Joan of Arc: Into The Fire at The Public, Elmer Gantry at The Signature, Lizzie the musical at Portland Center Stage, Little Women at Syracuse Stage, and the workshops of Fun Home, Moulin Rouge, and Home Street Home among many others. Mary Kate has a BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University.@maryspacekateFor Classes:www.DoubleNameWitches.com@DoubleNameWitches

Alan is highly regarded for his vital, re-imagined versions of classic plays and musicals. His work tends to mine the present-day relevance of a story, challenging people’s memories and expectations, so that they hear and experience the words and ideas anew. His style invites audiences to lean forward and participate rather than just observe, breaking down boundaries between audience and actors, encouraging hearts to flutter and conversation to ensue.His 10-person Oliver! was solicited by Stage Entertainment and had its inaugural production at the Human Race Theatre Company, with choreography by Spencer Liff. He worked in conjunction with the Lerner Estate on his post-modern and highly celebrated Camelot for the Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago, where he also mounted a provocative, madcap, Vegas-themed Joseph…Dreamcoat and a rather progressive and highly stylized take on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.Alan has directed plays and musicals for Laguna Playhouse, Olney Theatre, Arkansas Repertory, Walnut Street Theatre, The New Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Virginia Musical Theatre, 3D Theatricals, Texas Shakespeare Festival, and the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport, among others.He has also directed many world-premieres, including The Little Hours (based on the short stories of Dorothy Parker), Exposure Time, and Multiple Family Dwelling for NJ Repertory, Mourning the Living at the Abingdon Theatre in NYC, and Death Valley: A Love Story for the Springfield Contemporary Theatre.He has been nominated for both the Joseph Jefferson Award and Carbonell Award, has received multiple Edgerton Foundation Grants for New Works, and has had his work recorded for the National Theatre Archive.Alan has directed original benefit performances on Broadway, for both the Actors Fund of America and the Christopher Reeve Foundation. He is a frequent Guest Artist at University Drama Programs throughout the country and is a Director and Teaching Artist for the Broadway Dreams Foundation.Based in NYC, Alan is a member of SDC and a Taurus.

A writer, director and actor, Hunter is currently the Artistic Director for the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY where he most recently directed Rent, God of Carnage and A Syracuse Christmas Carol. He has directed over 50 productions of plays and musicals across the country as well as the hit musical The Other Josh Cohen off-Broadway. He was named the 2018 “Director of the year” by the Wall Street Journal for his productions of 42nd Street at the Bucks County Playhouse and The Drowsy Chaperone for the Goodspeed Opera House. He has written the books for 6 musicals including the off-broadway shows, Summer of 42 and Jasper in Deadland; and was nominated for a Tony Award for leading actor in the Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors

Jonathan Burke, originally from Baltimore, MD, began his acting training in high school at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and ultimately received a BFA from Ithaca College. He was most recently seen on Broadway as Young Man 5/Toby’s Agent/Charles Wilcox in The Inheritance. He also appeared as the leading role, Pharus Jonathan Young, in the Broadway premiere of Choir Boy and was a member of the Original Broadway Cast of Tuck Everlasting. Jonathan was seen Off-Broadway as Elzie in Toni Stone at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre, as Priest/Judge in Joan of Arc: Into the Fire at the Public Theater, and as Junior Addict in Langston in Harlem at Urban Stages. His tour credits include Mary Poppins, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Joseph..., and Cats, in which he played Mungojerrie. Regionally, he has appeared as Crier in Head of Passes at Berkeley Rep, Tyler in Amazing Grace at Goodspeed, Bert in Mary Poppins at Syracuse Stage, for which he won a SALT Award for Leading Actor in a Musical, Lon Smith in Meet Me In St. Louis at The Muny, David Heard in Choir Boy at the Studio Theatre, Angel in Rent at the Hangar Theatre, Seaweed in Hairspray at the MGR Playhouse, Michael Winans/Howard McCrary in Born For This at the Broad Stage, Granby in I Sing the Rising Sea at the Virginia Stage Company, and Lord High Underling in The Wiz at Baltimore Center Stage. He has also been seen on television in NBC’s medical drama, "New Amsterdam.” Instagram/Twitter: @jondbeee

Christopher D. Silveri takes great pride in his career in the entertainment industry that has spanned the last two decades since his graduation from the New York University Theater program. Christopher is the President and CEO of Center Stage Management, LLC, a talent management company with headquarters in New York City.After a brief stint in acting, Christopher began his entertainment management career casting commercials with Liz Lewis Casting Partners, moved on to head up the Legit Department (Theater, TV, and Film) at Gilla Roos, Ltd. and most recently was Vice President of Talent Management at Prestige Management Group. Christopher started his own talent management company in 2017, serving clients on both coasts and in all mediums of the entertainment business.Christopher’s clients have recurring roles on FBI, Bull, Blue Bloods, God Friended Me (CBS), Gotham (FCB), Manifest, New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Law and Order SVU, Chicago PD (NBC), Ozark, Orange Is The New Black, Jessica Jones, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards (NETFLIX), Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Mozart In the Jungle (AMAZON), The Undoing, The Deuce (HBO), City on a Hill, Billions, Homeland, HAPPYish (SHOWTIME), Power (STARZ), Outsiders (WGN) - And those are just the recurrings!His theatrical clients have been in nearly every Broadway show you can think of: Moulin Rouge, Bandstand, Escape to Margaritaville, The Color Purple, The Lion King, Jersey Boys, Book of Mormon, Million Dollar Quartet, Beautiful, Hamilton, Clueless – The Musical, Heathers—The Musical, etc.And lest we forget the always special film medium: Big Time Adolescence, The King of Staten Island, The Report, The First Purge, The Post, The Wolf of Wall Street, Ocean’s 8, The Only Living Boy in New York, What Happened Last Night, Going in Style, etc.Many of his clients have national ad campaigns and/or major print advertisements running as well!Finally, Christopher is an active presenter to those just starting out in the entertainment industry, teaching and participating in workshops in New York (New York University, Pace University) and Washington D.C..

Shuford’s Broadway credits include Wicked, Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour, Amazing Grace, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. Other N.Y. credits include Actors Fund Benefit performances of A Wonderful Life, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, On the Twentieth Century, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Shuford’s credits outside of New York City include the National Tour of Lincoln Center’s South Pacific and Dr. Fine/Dr. Madden in Next to Normal at the Adirondack Theatre Festival. He originated the role of Vernon Castle in Castlewalk, a new musical presented as part of the New York Music Theatre Festival. He has sung with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and the Fort Worth Symphony. Shuford also has been seen on TV and Web series including Law and Order SVU, Alpha House, Submissions Only, and My Dirty Little Secret. His film credits include Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, Bedfellows, and Uncle Melvin’s Apartment.

Stephanie is a casting director and co-founder of tbd casting co., a New York-based, female owned casting office. Recent New York credits include work with Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience, Page 73 Productions and Atlantic Theater Company. Recent regional work includes La Jolla Playhouse, Indiana Repertory Theatre and Arena Stage. Recent theatrical highlights include the Broadway production of Frankie and Johnny at The Clair De Lune starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon and the Pulitzer Prize winning Fairview. Film credits includes work with Lexicon Films, 4th & 1 Films, and Satyr Entertainment. tbd casting co. Casts regularly with the Independent Film Project, Culture House, Playwrights Center, and Tectonic Theater Project.

Marcia Milgrom Dodge “MMD” received Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for the Broadway revival of RAGTIME. National Tours include Theater Works’s Curious George & Seussical, the South Korean musical Cookin’ and, Ragtime for Phoenix Entertainment. Regional directing credits include The Kennedy Center, The Muny, The Repertory Theater of St Louis, TUTS, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The drury Lane Theater, The Cape Playhouse, The Cleveland Playhouse, The Maltz Jupiter Theater, The Denver Center, The Olney Theater, Sacramento Music Circus, Bay Street Theater, Riverside Theater, Pittsburg public Theater, among many others. She appears in two episodes of Encore! on Disney Plus as the director for Annie and Ragtime. MMD is also a wife, mother, teacher, Edgar Award Nominated Playwright and proud member of SDC. www.marciamilgromdodge.com

Cindi has her own office, Cindi Rush Casting in New York. Broadway credits include Urinetown, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks and Say Goodnight Gracie – Other New York Credits include Home Street Home, Disenchated, Jacques Brel, Friends, Shame of Thrones, Ruthless among many others. Regionally, Cindi frequently casts for Triad Stage, 5th Avenue, Hudson Stage, Penguin Rep, Pittsburg Public Theater, Charleston Stage Company, Virginia Stage Company, Cape Fear, and The Actors Theater of Louisville Humanafest. Apart from theatre, Cindi has also cast numerous well-known films including: Offspring, Made For Each Other, Home Movie, Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, Funny Valentine, Master Class and Headspace. Cindi is a consultant for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre or NAMT as well as for the NYU Graduate Program for Musical Theatre Writing.

Geoff Josselson is a Casting Director and Partner at JZ Casting in New York City. In his 15 years as a casting director, his work includes a wide variety of plays and musicals, ranging from Broadway, off-Broadway and major New York and Regional Theatre companies. He is responsible for casting the Broadway production of The Velocity of Autumn starring Estelle Parsons (2014 Tony Nominee) and many other acclaimed New York productions, including Southern Comfort (Public Theatre), Yank! (York Theatre), Pretty Filthy (The Civilians), John and Jen (Keen Company), Enter Laughing (York Theatre), Himself and Nora (Minetta Lane), Altar Boyz (off-Broadway and tour), The Originalist (59E59) and National Tours for Disney, Nickelodeon and Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He regularly works with many award-winning companies including Arena Stage, Arizona Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Bucks County Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, City Springs Theatre Company, The Civilians, Cleveland Play House, Denver Center, Marriott Theatre, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Round House Theatre, San Francisco Symphony, and the York Theatre Company, among others. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and member of the Casting Society of America. For more information, please follow @jz.casting and visit: www.jz-casting.com.

Michael Rader is the Producing Artistic Director of The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. His diverse career in the arts has afforded him positions such as Artistic Director for Cirque du Soleil, a Broadway Liaison and Arts Education Consultant to the New York City Department of Education and Director of Entertainment of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Rader’s select highlights as a director, associate or resident director include: A Christmas Story (National Tour), Stalking The Bogeyman (NYTimes Critics Pick, Outer Critics Circle Nomination), Varekai (Cirque Du Soleil), The Testament of Mary, Scrooge: The Musical (National Tour), Mandela! with Norm Lewis, You are Not Alone with Betty Buckley and Lea DeLaria, and productions with Sacramento Music Circus, ACT, The ZACH Theatre, The York Theatre Company, The Actors Studio Repertory Theatre, The Human Race Theatre, The Dramatist Guild, The Huron Playhouse, The Forestburgh Playhouse, Joe’s Pub and the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway benefit production of William Finn’s Elegies: A Song Cycle. MichaelRader.com & @MrMichaelRader

Lauren Port has spent the last 11 years casting in NYC, the last 10 years at Caparelliotis Casting where she worked on a number of Goodman productions over the years, including Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts 1, 2 and 3, Uncle Vanya, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Disgraced, Sweet Bird of Youth and Soups, Stews, and Casseroles, 1976. Also In that time, she worked on the casting of countless Broadway/Off Broadway and other regional theatre productions. Some Broadway highlights include: Junk, Meteor Shower, A Doll’s House Part 2, The Front Page, It’s Only a Play, Disgraced, Fish in the Dark, Holler If Ya Hear Me, The Trip to Bountiful, Grace, Death of a Salesman, Seminar, Stick Fly, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Lend Me a Tenor, and Fences. Lauren is a proud member of the Casting Society of America. @strawbryportcake

Benton Whitley is a Casting Director and Partner at Stewart/Whitley. He co-founded the award winning New York City based casting office of Stewart/Whitley in 2011 with Duncan Stewart. Since then, his team has been responsible for casting the Tony Award winning Broadway productions of CHICAGO THE MUSICAL, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, PIPPIN, ON THE TOWN, THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, THE LIGHTNING THIEF and last season’s HADESTOWN. In addition to theatre, Whitley’s office has cast tv & film for Netflix, NBC, Lionsgate, and The Disney Channel. His office also works on Broadway national and international tours, regional theatres, and the Broadway-branded entertainment for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines worldwide. Benton is a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program. @ben_ley @stewartwhitley & stewartwhitley.com

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