JIM DALE | Creator and Performer
Jim Dale became Britain’s youngest professional comedian at the age of seventeen. In the 1960’s he became a pop-star under the wing of legendary recording manager Sir George Martin. In 1970 Laurence Olivier invited him to join the British National Theatre calling Jim, God’s gift to Shakespeare's comedies.
​
His On/Off Broadway successes include, Scapino, Taming of the Shrew, Barnum, Me and My Girl, Candide, Privates on Parade, Address Unknown, Comedians, Joe Egg, Road to Mecca, The Music Man, Travels With My Aunt, The Three-Penny Opera and his one-man show, Just Jim Dale. In the Best Actor category he has won a Tony Award, (Barnum), five Tony Nominations and five Drama Desk Awards. As a lyricist he won an Academy Award Nomination for writing the title song for the film, Georgy Girl. He has thirty films to his credit including Disney’s, Pete’s Dragon, and eleven of the iconic British Carry On comedy series.
​
Jim recorded all seven books in the Harry Potter series, winning a record ten Audie awards, (the Oscars of the narrating world), two Grammy Awards, seven Grammy nominations, four Narrator of the Year awards and two Guinness World Records.
​
He has been inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, Audio Hall of Fame and Audible’s Hall of Fame.
MARGARET CHO | Creator and Performer
Comedian. Actor. Musician. Advocate. Entrepreneur. Five-time Grammy and Emmy nominee. Margaret Cho’s strong voice has been lighting the path for other women, other members of underrepresented groups, other performers, to follow. Her recent television appearances – guest star on Season 2 of The Flight Attendant (HBO Max), guest star on Season 2 of Hacks (HBO Max) and two Netflix is a Joke comedy specials: Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration and Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin: Ladies Night Live – have expanded an already wide-ranging career, and her role as the ‘mother hen’ in the well-reviewed movie Fire Island solidifies why we all love Margaret in the first place.
​
As a comedian Margaret has been named one of Rolling Stone magazine's 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time, one of Vogue magazine’s Top 9 Female Comedians of all time, while CNN chose her as one of the 50 People Who Changed American Comedy. Thankfully, Margaret has more stories to tell, and her production company, Animal Family Productions, has multiple scripted shows in development for 2022 and beyond.
LEAH NANAKO WINKLER | Additional Material
Leah Nanako Winkler is an award-winning playwright and TV Writer from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington Kentucky. Her plays include God Said This , Two Mile Hollow , Kentucky, Hot Asian Doctor Husband and The Brightest Thing in the World as well as many short plays all produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Accolades and fellowships: Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O’Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible's Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, and a 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award . She is published by American Theater Magazine, Nanjing University’s Stage and Screen Reviews, Yale University Press, Backstage, Smith and Krauss, Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service. TV credits include A24's Ramy, where she along with the other writers won a Peabody Award, Love Life on HBO MAX, Schmigadoon!, among others. She is currently a co-executive producer and writer on Elsbeth. Upcoming: Crazy Rich Asians the musical.
SEONJAE KIM | Director
Seonjae Kim (sun in the sky + letter j) is a NYC-based director from Seoul, South Korea. Favorite credits include KPOP (Associate, Broadway), Bald Sisters (Salt Lake Acting Company), Wild Goose Dreams (SpeakEasy Stage Company), The Wolves (Atlantic Acting School), Jar of Fat (Ma-Yi), Shrek: The Musical (Associate, National Tour), and Hot Asian Doctor Husband (Theater Mu). Seonjae created Riot Antigone, a Riot Grrl musical adaptation of Antigone, produced at La MaMa and Ars Nova and published in Reclaiming Greek Drama for Diverse Audiences (Routledge). Seonjae has also worked with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Joe's Pub, Bushwick Starr, Rattlestick Theater, and The New Group, and has received fellowships from New York Theatre Workshop, Drama League, Asian American Arts Alliance, Van Lier Foundation, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, and Playwrights Horizons. Seonjae's short film Good Taste premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival before embarking on a national festival tour. Recently, Seonjae was named one of Broadway Women Fund’s 2024 list of “Women to Watch.” NYTW Usual Suspect. Graduate of Northwestern University. Find her at @sunintheskyletterj or seonjaekim.com.
BRANT RUSSELL | Playwright
Brant Russell chairs the Acting department at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he is Drama Editor of the Cincinnati Review. Recent highlights include a site-specific commission and production for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, directing a world premiere musical adaptation of As You Like It for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, the premiere of his play Bankers at Know Theatre, directing the world premiere of Gracie Gardner’s Malvolios for Drama Studio London, and leading a series of workshops at Stary Teatr Krakow in Poland. In January 2025, he will direct Kareem Fahmy’s A Distinct Society at Human Race Theatre. BA: Kenyon College. MFA: Northwestern University. Proud member, AAUP, SDC, and Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab. www.brantrussell.com
JAKI BRADLEY | Director
Jaki is a director for screen and stage. Recent theater projects include DiscOasis, an immersive roller disco in Central Park, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (IRT), How to Load a Musket (LTR), White Noise (Berkeley Rep); Radio Island and Good Men Wanted (NYSAF); House Plant (NYTW); and Playing Hot (Ars Nova). She has been a member of the Civilians R&D, an artist-in-residence at Ars Nova, a Drama League TV/Film Fellow, the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. Her feature directorial debut, The One, is scheduled to shoot this year with Paramount. www.jakibradley.com
DELTA RAE | Creators
Ian, Eric, and Brittany Hölljes are siblings best known as founding members of the dynamic folk-rock band Delta Rae. Delta Rae has toured worldwide as a band, playing major festivals, The Tonight Show, and even making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Having been signed to two major record labels, the band went independent in 2019, launching a record-breaking Kickstarter Campaign that made them the most-funded indie band in Kickstarter's history. As part of that campaign, Ian, Eric, and Brittany promised fans that they would write a Southern Gothic Musical based on their cult hit "Bottom of the River." That musical is called The Ninth Woman and will be workshopped at the New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), marking a pivotal moment in the trio's career.
LOGAN VAUGHN | Director
Logan Vaughn is a New York-based Director and Writer who blends her talents in both film and theatre to create intimate, magical and spiritually resonate theatrical experiences that explore radical ideas and expose humanity’s deepest truths. Most recently, her short film, Benny & James, was awarded Best SAG Indie at the 19th Annual Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. Benny & James premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival where it received the Jury Award for Best LGBTQ+ Short Film at The American Pavilion, and Logan was also awarded Best Director in the Cannes Short Film showcase, along with Best Cinematography and Best Cast. As a theater director, Logan has worked with The Public Theater, MCC Theater, Kansas City Rep Theater, South Coast Rep, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, Playwrights' Center, The Playwrights Realm, Mosaic Theatre and National Black Theatre. She has helmed World Premieres at: Kansas City Rep, Village Theatre, Geva Theatre and Barrington Stage. Logan was a Director in Residence at Playwrights Horizon, a Sundance Institute Fellow, Goodman Theatre’s Joyce Arts Fellow and Director's Lab at Lincoln Center Fellow. Logan was nominated for Best Direction of a Play by the Outer Critics Circle (The Light, MCC Theater) and won Broadway World's 2019 Outstanding Play Production for the World Premiere of AMERICA V. 2.1: The Sad Demise and Eventual Extinction of the American Negro (Barrington Stage).
AMBER RUFFIN | Book, Lyrics, and Director
Amber Ruffin is an Emmy, Tony and WGA Award nominated writer and performer for NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” She has written and performed on many TV shows including “The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Detroiters,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and “Drunk History.” Ruffin has written for the Emmys, Golden Globes and Tonys. Ruffin is a New York Times bestselling author of “You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories of Racism.” She co-wrote the most Tony nominated musical of 2023, “Some Like it Hot.” Ruffin wrote the revival of “The Wiz” which is currently on Broadway.
KEVIN SCIRETTA | Book
Kevin Sciretta is a performer and writer based out of Chicago, IL. He’s been an improviser and sketch comedian at The Second City Chicago as a member of their National Touring Company and Theatricals Department. He has also performed at iO Chicago and The Annoyance in both improvisation and sketch. He's currently a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and previously wrote for The Onion News Network. You can see him perform at The iO Theater in Chicago every week as a member of The Improvised Shakespeare Company, you can hear him as "Dripfang" on the podcasts Hello From The Magic Tavern as well as it's spin-off Masters of Mayhem, and you can read and hear his work every week at his Substack, The Secret Ward of Chicago (thesecretward.substack.com).
.png)
DAVID SCHMOLL | Music
David Schmoll, an accomplished pianist, guitarist and composer, is the creative force behind music featured on The Amber Ruffin Show, Late Night With Seth Meyers, and FOX ADHD. Beyond the small screen, Schmoll has served as Musical Director for comedy institutions Boom Chicago and The Second City, using his ability to seamlessly blend music with humor. His extensive improv experience has allowed him to navigate through many different styles and genres, showcasing his adaptability and creativity. A musical chameleon with the spirit of a collaborator, Schmoll continues his journey, working with Amber Ruffin and Kevin Sciretta, as composer for the new musical comedy, Bigfoot.
The cast of BIGFOOT will include Justin Guarini.
KATE WALBERT | Playwright
Kate Walbert is the author of seven works of fiction, among them A Short History of Women, one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of the year; Our Kind, a finalist for the National Book Award; and His Favorites, an Atlantic Magazine best book of 2018. Her latest collection, She Was Like That, includes stories published in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, and The Paris Review. Her plays include Genius (Profiles Theatre), First (Aspen Theatre Festival), and Elsewhere (Ars Nova workshop, Marin Theatre workshop). Her adaptation of A Short History of Women had workshops at New York Stage and Film and Roundabout Theatre, and she is currently collaborating with performer/composer Grace McLean (SUFFS, IN THE GREEN) on a musical adaptation. She’s received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library, among others. Walbert taught writing at Yale University for many years, and lives in New York City with her family.
SHERYL KALLER | Director
Some of Sheryl Kaller’s recent productions include The White Chip by Sean Daniels at MCC, A Walk on the Moon by AnnMarie Milazzo and Pamela Gray at George Street Playhouse, and Bliss by Tyler Beattie and Emma Lively at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue. She directed Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-nominated play on Broadway, Mothers and Sons, with Tyne Daly. Sheryl received a Tony Award nomination for Best Director for the Broadway production of Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. Other projects include Frozen for Disney Cruise Lines, Our Town with Deaf West Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse, Sacred Valley by Josh Radnor at New York Stage and Film, Billy Porter’s play While I Yet Live at Primary Stages, Nick Blaemire’s A Little More Alive for Barrington Stage Company and Kansas City Rep, Roundabout Theatre Company’s Underground production of Too Much Too Much Too Many by Meghan Kennedy, and the LCT3 production of Mr. Joy by Daniel Beaty. She is currently in collaboration with playwrights Marilyn Ness, Francine Wheeler, and Josh Radnor, among others.
The cast of GENIUS will include Mark-Linn Baker (THE MUSIC MAN)
_jpg.png)
SHANESSA SWEENEY | Co-Creator and Book
Shanessa Sweeney is a performing artist whose professional work has spanned over twenty-five years as a trained actor, published writer, award-winning spoken word artist and credible acting coach. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Shanessa cultivated her talents at Alabama State University and earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts where subsequently her professional acting career started. She then went on to hone her craft at Brandeis University and received an MFA in Acting. Shanessa’s writing path started as soon as she learned her alphabet and was lauded for her natural skills early on in life. She has been commissioned on several occasions to write prolific think pieces and poetry for several platforms. Most notable, as a featured artist/poet for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green Show; Ritualista’s and most recently, winning the coveted “Best Performance” category in the Broadway Cares Easter Bonnet Competition where she collaborated with choreographer Ray Mercer of The Lion King. Shanessa is the proud mother to her “Pooh” and “Sun-Son” and fur baby Music Mamabear. Follow on IG at shanessa_sweeney.
BONGI DUMA | Composer
Singer, Recording artist, composer, Vocal arranger, Sound Engineer and Music Producer. Drama Desk award nominee composer for best music in a play “ Generations “ 2014/2015. Ensemble cast member on broadway disney’s “ The Lion King “ 2001- current. Worked in numerous theaters in the UK, Italy, France and Ireland as composer and performer ( Mighty Zulu Nation , Africa Africa ) 2008 - 2001. Worked as a music director at Lincoln centre for “ Sheila’s Day “. Performing artist and composer for Carnegie hall’s “ Musical Explorers”. Special guest composer for “ Princeton Glee choir “. Worked and performed with the likes of Miriam Makeba, Siphokazi, Michael Frenti and many more. Composer for films such as “Dressed Like Kings” 2018, “Stop” 2019. Also documentaries like “Bad Friday” and Four Days in May: Kingston 2010. Works as a composer for numerous dance companies such as Alvin Ailey II, Philadanco, Giordano Dance company and many more. 2013 IAR graduate ( Audio Engineer ). Additional music, lyrics and vocal arrangements for “MANDELA” the musical 2022/2023
RAY MERCER | Co-Creator and Choreographer
Ray Mercer is a 21 year veteran cast member of the Lion King on Broadway. He is also an award-winning choreographer who has choreographed works around the world. Ray has won Broadway Cares Best Presentation a record number 14 times. He has works on various companies including Philadanco, Dayton Contemporary, Dallas Black, New Jersey Ballet, and Pensacola Ballet. His choreographic work is also archived in the Smithsonian Museum. He has taught master classes around the world. Ray was recently acknowledged in the New York Times, The Chicago Sun Times, and Movement Magazine. He has choreographed regional productions of Rent, Jersey Boys, Aint MisBehavin, and Dreamgirls.
RUFUS BONDS JR. | Director
Rufus Bonds Jr. is the Resident Director for The Lion King on Broadway and an Assistant Professor for musical theater performance in the Syracuse University Department of Drama. Professionally he continues his national and international work as a director, actor, and writer. Mr. Bonds performed in London the title role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theater. Carnegie Hall welcomed Mr. Bonds as the Baritone-Soloist for Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music. Broadway; Rent, Once On This Island, and Parade winning the Drama Desk Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. National tours include The Color Purple as Mister, winning the NAACP award for Best Supporting Actor, Lion King as Mufasa, Miss Saigon as John. Directing projects include Lysistrata, Shakespeare R&J, Once On This Island, Mama Mia, Tarzan, The Wiz, Into The Woods, The Wizard of Oz and Children of Eden. Mr. Bonds is a Eugene O’Neill Semi-finalist for his play The Sisters of Rosewall High. Other awards include Winner of the Drama Ovation Award and The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award/Barack Obama. “FAITH”. MFA in Directing, California State University, Fullerton.
NGOZI ANYANWU | Playwright, Director
Ngozi Anyanwu is a playwright, storyteller, and most recently a 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award winner. Anyanwu will have a world premiereof her newest play LEROY and LUCY this coming fall of 2024 at The Steppenwolfe Theatre. Previous productions include LAST OF THE LOVE LETTERS (Atlantic Theater Company) GOOD GRIEF (Vineyard Theatre in NYC / Center Theatre Group in LA) and THE HOMECOMING QUEEN (sold-out world premiere run at the Atlantic Theatre). GOOD GRIEF was on the Kilroys List 2016 and a semi finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and won the Humanitas Award. THE HOMECOMING QUEEN was on the Kilroys List 2017 and was a Leah Ryan Finalist. Her play NIKE… (Kilroys List 2017) was workshopped at The New Black Fest in conjunction with The Lark and The Strand Festival in conjunction with A.C.T and Space on Ryder Farm. Ngozi also has commissions with NYU, The Old Globe, Two Rivers Theatre, The Atlantic Theatre, and Steppenwolf. Anyanwu has also received residencies from LCT3, Space on Ryder Farm, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, The New Harmony Project, New York Stage and Film and Page 73. She attended Point Park University (BA) and received her MFA in Acting from University of California, San Diego.
The cast of the monsters will also include Okieriete Onaodowan (A DOLL'S HOUSE).
STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR | Playwright
Stacy Osei-Kuffour is a TV writer and playwright. Credits include Marvel’s BLADE which hits theaters in 2026, the critically-acclaimed Hulu series THE BEAR, for which she won the WGA award for best comedy series, THE MORNING SHOW for Apple, HBO’s series RUN from Vicky Jones and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, THE POWER for Amazon based on the book by Naomi Alderman with Reed Morano directing, WATCHMEN (HBO) based on the acclaimed comic book series adapted by Damon Lindelof which she received a WGA award for, for best drama series, and HUNTERS (Amazon) produced by Jordan Peele, created by David Weil and starring Al Pacino. She also wrote the Emmy nominated episode of PEN15 for Hulu. Stacy grew up in Chicago and received her BFA from NYU for acting and MFA in playwriting from Hunter College. Her critically acclaimed play “Hang Man” had its world premiere at the Gift Theatre in Chicago in 2018.
STEVIE WALKER-WEBB | Director
Stevie Walker-Webb is a Tony Award-nominated, Obie Award-winning director, playwright, and cultural worker who believes in the transformational power of art. He is the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage and his work has been produced on and off-Broadway, including AIN’T NO MO’ (The Public Theatre/ Broadway), ONE IN TWO (The New Group), BLACK ODYSSEY (Classic Stage), FAIRVIEW (Woolly Mammoth), and OUR TOWN (Baltimore Center Stage). Upcoming productions include GUN & POWDER (Broadway). He is the founder of HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS, an arts and advocacy organization that makes visual the suffering and inhumane treatment of incarcerated mentally ill people. He has received the Princess Grace Award for Theatre, The Lily Award from the Dramatists Guild of America, and is a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop. He is a contributing writer for BET’s Emmy Nominated hit comedy THE MS. PAT SHOW , a visiting artist and lecturer at Harvard University, and is the Founding Artistic Director of the Jubilee Theatre in Waco, Texas. Stevie has created art and theatre in Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico, and across America. steviewalkerwebb.com
KATE DOUGLAS | Playwright
Kate Douglas is a writer, composer, and performer. Recent work includes The Apiary (Second Stage, New York Times Critic's Pick), Hag with Grace McLean (Vivace Award),The Ninth Hour starring opposite her co-writer Shayfer James (The Met Cloisters), and The Lucky Few starring opposite her co-writer Todd Almond (Ancram Opera House). She has been awarded residencies at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Swale House on Governors Island, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Millay Arts, and Goodspeed Musicals, among others. Alum of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, Colt Coeur, The Civilians R&D Group, and The Orchard Project Greenhouse. Performance credits include Punchdrunk's Sleep No More (where she also held the title of Associate Artist), featured performer in Liz Phair's 30th Anniversary Tour of her seminal album Exile in Guyville, Fernando Rubio's Everything by my side, Third Rail's The Grand Paradise, and Kansas City Choir Boy starring Todd Almond and Courtney Love. Upcoming: Centuries starring opposite her co-writers Matthew Dean Marsh and Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez (Ancram Opera House). BFA: New York University. Certificate in Sustainable Garden Design, New York Botanical Garden. www.katedouglasprojects.com
KATE WHORISKEY | Director
Kate Whoriskey On Broadway, she directed Clyde’s and the Pulitzer Prize winning play, Sweat, by her frequent collaborator, Lynn Nottage as well as the revival of Miracle Worker. Off Broadway credits include The Apiary at Second Stage, Letters from Max at the Signature, All the Natalie Portmans at MCC, Songs for a New World at Encores Off Center, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive at Second Stage, Ruined at Manhattan Theatre Club (Pulitzer Prize Winner) Aubergine, Fabulation and Inked Baby at Playwrights Horizons among others. She has directed acclaimed productions at theaters across the country including the Goodman (Ruined, Vigils, Heartbreak House, The Rose Tattoo and Drowning Crow), the Geffen, South Coast Rep (Intimate Apparel, The Piano Teacher, Life is a Dream, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Antigone, and The Clean House), Sundance Theatre Lab, Shakespeare Theatre, the American Repertory Theatre, the Huntington, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Arena among others. Her opera direction has been seen at the Chatelet in Paris and Teatro Municipal in Brazil. She has also taught at Princeton, NYU and UC Davis.
JESSICA HECHT | ANNE
Jessica Hecht is an accomplished stage actress and appeared most recently in SUMMER, 1976 opposite Laura Linney (Tony Nomination). Hecht's Broadway credits include THE PRICE opposite Mark Ruffalo, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF opposite Danny Burstein, THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES opposite Judith Light, HARVEY opposite Jim Parsons, AFTER THE FALL opposite Carla Gugino, THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO opposite Dana Ivey and Paul Rudd, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS opposite Laurie Metcalf, JULIUS CAESAR opposite Denzel Washington, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE opposite Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson (Tony Nomination) Off-Broadway, she has appeared in KING LEAR opposite Annette Bening, STAGE KISS opposite Sandra Oh, THREE SISTERS opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal and at Lincoln Center Theater in ADMISSIONS for which she received an Obie Award.
She received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the Netflix series SPECIAL. She was seen on television in the limited series SUPER PUMPED and THE LOUDEST VOICE and in recurring roles in THE SINNER, DICKINSON, THE BOYS, and SUCCESSION. She is also recognizable to television audiences from FRIENDS and BREAKING BAD.
She has just completed filming Eleanor The Great opposite June Squibb (Scarlett Johnasson's directorial debut !)
The cast of TULIPA will also include Stephanie Crousillat (THE APIARY).
KAIT KERRIGAN | Book and Additional Lyrics
Kait Kerrigan is an award-winning book writer, lyricist, and playwright. BROADWAY: The Great Gatsby (book); WEST END: The Time Traveller’s Wife (add’l lyrics with a score by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart); OFF-BROADWAY: The Mad Ones (book and lyrics), Henry and Mudge (book and lyrics). Additional regional credits include musicals Indigo (book), Justice (lyrics), Earthrise (lyrics); plays Father/Daughter, Imaginary Love, and Disaster Relief. Her immersive house party The Bad Years (book and lyrics) had two sold-out pop-up productions in Brooklyn. DIGITAL: A Killer Party (screenplay with co-writer Rachel Axler). Albums include The Mad Ones Kerrigan-Lowdermilk Live, and Our First Mistake, which hit #1 on the digital charts. Her songs including viral hits “Run Away with Me” and “Go Tonight”. Awards: Kleban Award for libretto, Jonathan Larson Award for lyric-writing, Most Promising Lyricist Award from the Theatre Hall of Fame, Edgerton Award for FATHER/DAUGHTER; residencies at Page 73, Dramatists Guild Fellows, Rhinebeck, Goodspeed’s Johnnie Mercer Project, and MacDowell. She is an alumna of Barnard College and the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and a member of the Dramatists Guild. @kaitkerrigan on social media.
ANNE EISENDRATH | Music and Lyrics
Anne Eisendrath is an electronic music producer and singer/songwriter. A classically trained musician, Anne attended the University of Michigan where she completed a degree in vocal performance. Anne spent a decade as a musical theatre performer and professional singer in Seattle, and after the birth of her third child, Anne turned her artistic attentions to songwriting and music production. As a composer/lyricist, Anne combines her intense love of electronica with her obsession with poetry, story and classical music. In addition to her musical theatre composition, she writes, records, produces and performs her own brand of theatrical synth-pop as the artist “Anniee.” She will release her first LP album in fall of 2024.
IAN EISENDRATH | Music and Lyrics
Ian Eisendrath is an Olivier Award-winning, Grammy-nominated music supervisor, music producer arranger and music director for theatre, film and television. Film & Television: Executive Music Producer for Disney's Snow White; K-POP: Demon Hunters (Sony Pictures Animation); Only Murders In The Building Season 3 (Hulu); Spirited (Apple); Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony); Diana (Netflix); Fox TV’s A Christmas Story Live; and Come From Away (Apple TV+). Selected Theatre: Music Supervisor and Arranger for the Broadway, Toronto, North American, Australian and UK companies of Come From Away, Diana (Broadway), A Christmas Story (Broadway & National Tour), and multiple projects at La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Symphony, ACT, TUTS, Ordway, Casa Mañana, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Ian was the Director of New Work Development and the Music Supervisor at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle from 2003-2016. University of Michigan Music graduate.
CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY | Director
Christopher Ashley, The Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Recipient of 2017 Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Helen Hayes awards; Drama Desk and Dora Award nominations for Come From Away (Tony Award, Best Director). Other Broadway credits include Diana, The Musical (current), Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis, (Tony Award nomination), Xanadu, Leap of Faith, All Shook Up, The Rocky Horror Show (Tony award nomination). West End: Come From Away, Memphis. New York: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died, Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award). Kennedy Center: Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, The Lisbon Traviata. La Jolla Playhouse selected Credits: As You Like It, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, Babbitt, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Darrell Hammond Project, Hollywood, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, Restoration. TV/Film: Come From Away, Diana, Lucky Stiff, Jeffrey; American Playhouse, PBS: Blown Sideways Through Life.
The cast of THE HEART will include Heidi Blickenstaff (JAGGED LITTLE PILL), Miguel Cervantes (HAMILTON), Drew Gehling (ALMOST FAMOUS), Gizel Jimenez (CORNELIA STREET), Jay Armstrong Johnson (PARADE), Taylor Iman Jones (SIX: THE MUSICAL), Zachary Noah Piser (KPOP), Wren Rivera (TEETH), and more.
ADAM CHANLER-BERAT | Co-Creator, Playwright
Adam Chanler-Berat (he/him) is known for his performances in the original companies of Broadway’s Next to Normal, Peter and the Starcatcher, Saint Joan, and Amelie as well as Off-Broadway in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Assassins, Rent, Fly By Night and Fortress of Solitude (Lortel Nom.) among others. As a writer, he was a member of the Civilian's 2022-23 R&D group. Adam’s play with music, Contra, has been workshopped at Ars Nova, was a finalist for Space on Ryder Farm 2018, and a semi-finalist for the 2020 O’Neill Festival New Music Theater Conference. His piece After Peter, to be featured this summer at New York Stage and Film, was workshopped with Barrington Stage in 2021 and was developed in residence at NYSaF in 2022. His project Assisted was developed with Rhinebeck Writers Retreat in 2023, Barrington Stage this past summer, was a finalist for the 2023 Ground Floor cohort at Berkeley Rep and was awarded the Rhinebeck Writers RRR residency this upcoming summer.
GRACE McLEAN | Co-Creator, Music & Lyrics
Grace McLean (she/her) is a performer, writer, composer. In addition to performing on Broadway (Suffs; Bad Cinderella; Natasha, Pierre....), Off-Broadway and Regionally (MCC, LCT3, The Public, Vineyard, La MaMa, BAM, Weston Playhouse, ART, WTF) and TV (The First Lady [Showtime], The Other Two [HBOMax]) she also writes and composes for theater (The Apiary; In The Green, Richard Rodgers, Lortel Awards) and film (MARINA; THE PHOTOGRAPHER; OUR MINE, Best Score Brooklyn Film Festival, Black Bear Award for Best Score Athens International Film Festival). She toured Pakistan and Russia as an artistic ambassador with the US State Department and looks forward to releasing her first full length album in May 2024. Lincoln Center Writer-in-residence, Vivace Award ('23), Larson Grant ('21), Broadway Women’s Fund’s Woman to Watch (‘21), Civilians R&D Group (‘19-’20), MacDowell Fellow (‘18), Lincoln Center Emerging Artist (‘17). www.gracemclean.com
TYLER THOMAS | Director
Tyler Thomas is a New York-based theater director and Susan Stroman Directing Award recipient. Most recently, she has developed and directed new work at Pasadena Playhouse, Vineyard Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights, Geva Theatre, Northern Stage, and The Flea. Tyler is a former 2050 Fellow with New York Theater Workshop, Foeller Fellow at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab. She has been a Visiting Artist at the Athens Conservatoire in Greece and Guest Artist at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. Tyler holds a BFA in Drama and MA in Arts Politics from the Tisch School of Drama. She is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the national arts and health initiative, Arts for EveryBody, inspired by the Federal Theatre Project.
The cast of AFTER PETER will include Kyle Beltran (AMERICAN RUST) and Marin Ireland (SPAIN), as well as Erica Swindell.
ZACK FINE | Co-Creator, Director
Zack Fine is an actor, director, playwright, and teacher originally from Chicago. He helmed the world premiere production of the first ever Spanish translation of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good (El Bien Del Pais) which ran for two years in Mexico City at the Teatro Helenico and Foro Shakespeare and was nominated for numerous Premios (awards) in Best Production and Best Direction. His work as a director and writer has been developed by Long Wharf Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Public, MCC, Playmakers Rep, The Acting Company, Wheelhouse, Bedlam, Fiasco, Spymonkey, The Guthrie, and Space On Ryder Farm. As an actor, he has worked on and off Broadway and in many regional theatres nationwide. He teaches at NYU and is a founding member of the Fiasco Conservatory.
.png)
BRYCE PINKHAM | Co-Creator, Performer
An American stage, screen and voiceover actor, Bryce is most widely known for originating the role of Monty Navarro in the Tony Award Winning production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, for which he was nominated for a Tony, Grammy and Drama Desk Award. He also notably appeared opposite Elisabeth Moss in the Broadway revival of The Heidi Chronicles as Peter Patrone, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. His other Broadway credits include originating roles in Ohio State Murders, The Great Society, Holiday Inn, Ghost, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. As a singer Bryce has performed in concert venues across the country, most notably Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago Lyric Opera, Caramoor, and The Library of Congress. Bryce is currently the voice of Stolas on the hit animated series Helluva Boss by Vivienne Medrano. Bryce's on camera appearances include as a series regular on the Civil War Drama Mercy Street, as well as appearances on Julia, Evil, The Blacklist, Instinct, Proven Innocent, The Get Down, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, and Blindspot as well as Robert DeNiro's feature film The Comedian. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Bryce was awarded the Leonore Annenberg Foundation Early Career Fellowship in 2012. As a writer, Bryce has published articles on acting, performing, and education in American Theater Magazine, Yale Alumni Magazine and others. In 2012 Bryce helped found Zara Aina, an NGO that uses the power of theatrical storytelling to empower at-risk youth. In May 2013, Bryce led a team of American artists on Zara Aina’s pilot program to Madagascar. Bryce is also a frequent collaborator with Outside the Wire, a social impact theater company that serves many communities but particularly focuses on military audiences. His most notable international tours include Guantanamo Bay, Japan, Kuwait, and Qatar. Bryce holds a BA from Boston College and an MA from the Yale School of Drama, chronicles his latest adventures for social media @theBrycecapades and writes all his bios in the third person, which he always finds a little weird, but does anyway.
KIRYA TRABER | Co-Creator
Kirya Traber is a writer, performer, and cultural organizer. She is a 2024 New Harmony Project Fellow, a 2021 Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow, a 2021 Djerassi Artist Residency Fellow, the Curator in Residence with Hi-ARTS from 2020-2023, New York Stage and Film’s 2020 Founders Award recipient, and Lincoln Center’s lead Community Artist in Residence from 2015-2020. Her collaborative work with Ping Chong + Company, Undesirable Elements: Generation NYZ, was a NYTimes Critics Pick in 2018. Her work with First Person PBS received a NY Emmy Nomination in 2019. Her plays include: Both My Grandfathers (workshop, Lincoln Center in 2015), Ready or Not(formerly Lucky, development, NYSAF 2020), the musical If This Be Sin (development, Kennedy Center 2021), and Beyond Punishment: Stories of Justice and Healing (commissioned by Columbia Center for Justice 2023). Her debut novel, Ready or Not, will be published by Dutton Books. Kirya has received a Robert Redford’s Sundance Foundation award for Activism in the Arts.
.png)
RONA SIDDIQUI | Co-Creator, Music
Grammy-nominated artist Rona Siddiqui is a composer/lyricist based in NYC. She is a recipient of the prestigious Kleban Prize for lyric writing, Jonathan Larson Grant and Billie Burke Ziegfeld award. Her show Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan, an autobiographical comedy about growing up bi-ethnic in America, has had a concert at 54 Below and development at Playwrights Horizons (dir. by Raja Feather Kelly). Other musicals include One Good Day, Hip Hop Cinderella, and The Tin. She is the recipient of the ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award and ASCAP Foundation/Max Dreyfus Scholarship. She has performed on NPR's Tiny Desk, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Residencies: Musical Theatre Factory's Makers Residency, Ars Nova's Vision Residency. Music Direction: Broadway: A Strange Loop (Obie Winner and Grammy nominee). Off Broadway:Bella: An American Tall Tale, Who's Your Baghdaddy. Orchestration: Monsoon Wedding, An Untitled New Play by Justin Timberlake, numerous albums - Broadway Records, Broadway Backwards. Faculty member: BerkleeNYC, New York University. Masters from NYU's GMTWP.