With a career that has spanned nearly forty Broadway seasons, LaChanze consistently brings women of complexity and triumph into the cultural lexicon.
In 2022, LaChanze made her debut as producer on two shows, the 20th anniversary revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’ acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-Winning play, Topdog/Underdog, as well as Kimberly Akimbo, a new musical by Tony-Winning Composer Jeanine Tesori and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, earning a combined 11 Tony Award nominations and 6 Tony Award wins, including Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical, respectively. In Spring 2023, she produced Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Whitney White, earning a combined 9 Tony Award nominations. The following Spring 2024, she joined the producing team of The Outsiders, a new musical based on S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. This season, she made her New York City directorial debut with Alice Childress’ Wine in the Wilderness at Classic Stage Company, while also serving as a producer on Buena Vista Social Club and the Pulitzer Prize winning play Purpose. They earned a combined 16 nominations and 7 Tony Awards wins, with Buena Vista Social Club receiving a special award acknowledging the band and Purpose winning Best Play. She was also honored as a 2025 TIME’S Closer.
LaChanze won a Tony Award for her performance as Celie in The Color Purple, originated the role of Ti Moune in Once on This Island (Tony Award nomination), and upheld her commitment to artistic excellence as Wiletta in Alice Childress’ historic play, Trouble In Mind (Tony Award nomination). Other notable stage performances include roles in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Tony Award nomination), A Christmas Carol, The Secret Life of Bees, If/Then, The Wiz, Ragtime, Uptown… It’s Hot! and Dreamgirls.
On screen, she has delivered memorable roles in both TV and film including: East New York, The Blacklist, Handel’s Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise (Emmy Award), Melinda, The Help, HBO’s The Night Of, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Fight, Sex And The City, and Disney animated feature film Hercules, among other titles. Upcoming films include Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest which will be shown at Cannes Film Festival and By Any Means directed by Elegance Bratton, and starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
In June of 2024, LaChanze launched LaChanze Productions, a production company that is “Making Broadway Cool.” LaChanze Productions discovers, develops and delivers groundbreaking Broadway and commercial entertainment projects. Their mission is to nurture untapped talent both on and off stage, as we usher in a new era of entertainment. You can learn more about her company at www.lachanzeproductions.com.
She is the President of Black Theatre United, recipient of a honoree Made in NY Award for Theatre and Live Performance, a community of creatives dedicated to awareness, accountability, and advocacy. Proud mother of Celia Rose and Zaya LaChanze. She resides in Westchester, New York with her three cats and gardening hats.
Nicole Ansari Cox is a tri-lingual, internationally working actor, director, writer, and producer of TV, film, and theatre – and also uses her platform to raise awareness about climate change and human rights abuses. She has won several awards, including best director for the web series Messy at the British Web Awards and the Socially Relevant Film Festival; AFI Best Ensemble for the Civil Rights movie Son of the South; The Vanya Exerjian Award for empowering women; and Person of the Year by My New York Magazine for raising awareness for the woman, life, and freedom movement. She is currently working on the NY version of a show she created a few years ago in upstate NY and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival titled She/her.
Dani Barlow co-leads Producer Hub as Programming Director, a non-profit serving independent producers and artists. She previously served as Foundation Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. She has also worked at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as the Interim Associate Producer and Executive Assistant to the Managing Director and Artistic Director and has held positions at Studio Theatre and Round House Theatre. Dani holds an MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in Theater and Business Administration from Muhlenberg College. Dani currently serves on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee.
Julie is an entrepreneur and 3-time Tony Award-winning producer.
She is lead producing the upcoming revisal of Damn Yankees with Haley Swindal, and is currently a co-producer on the Broadway revival of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Tony nomination) and Buena Vista Social Club (Tony nomination). Other Broadway credits include: An American in Paris (Tony nomination), A Doll's House (Tony nomination), Carousel (Tony nomination), Company (Tony Award), Dames at Sea, Funny Girl, Head Over Heels, Hughie, Indecent (Tony nomination), Once Upon a One More Time, Romeo+Juliet (Tony nomination), Smash, Sunset Blvd (Tony Award) and The Inheritance (Tony Award). Tours: An American in Paris, Dreamgirls, Funny Girl, Peter and the Starcatcher. West End: An American in Paris (Olivier nomination), Academy Award winner Florian Zeller's The Son. Upcoming projects: Sinatra. Julie is a Tony voter and member of The Broadway League. She is on the Theatre Committee at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the advisory board for the Broadway Green Alliance, the Leadership Council for the Costume Industry Coalition, the Musical Theatre Advisory Board for the University of Southern California, and an arts advocacy coalition of arts leaders in NYC.
During COVID-19, she conceived and produced I'm Still Here, a 90th anniversary celebration for the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, featuring archival materials from the Theatre on Film and Tape archive, interviews with Broadway legends and emerging creatives and reimagined musical numbers with a cast of over 100 artists. In fall 2020 she produced In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation and Artists for Change.
Through her company Boardman Productions she has worked with some of the world's leading brands including Nike, Maybelline, Evian, Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, Microsoft, Diet Coke, VitaminWater, Samsung, HBO's Game of Thrones, Disney’s The Lion King and many more on their activations and fan experiences. With over 14 years working in experiential and promotional marketing, she is thrilled to combine all of her talents to create The Museum of Broadway.
Leon Addison Brown began acting at the University of South Carolina, then transferred to the UNC School of the Arts where he received a BFA in theatre. After graduation he moved to New York to pursue his acting career.
He has appeared in leading roles on Broadway in Misery and The Trip to Bountiful, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, On the Waterfront and Prelude To A Kiss. Off-Broadway; Soft, Transfers at MCC, Painted Rocks of Revolver Creek, The Train Driver, Master Harold… Two Trains Running, The Signature and at regional theaters across the country.
He played recurring roles on Chicago Med, Evil, Law & Order and series regular on The Breaks and The Knick. His film credits include Paris is in Harlem; 40 Winks; The Whirly Girl; A Walk Amongst the Tombstones; The Surrogate; Ben Is Back and the upcoming Atrabilious, Boss (HBO) and American Rust Season 2 (Prime).
He has a Drama Desk Award; he is a three time recipient of the Connecticut Critic Circle Award and has been nominated for ADELCO Awards and Drama League Awards. Leon lives in Bloomfield NJ with his wife Jennifer and their daughter Isla and teaches 2nd year acting at SUNY Purchase.
An acclaimed veteran of a dozen Broadway shows, Kerry Butler is one of theatre’s best-known performers. She has originated roles in Broadway productions of Beetlejuice, Mean Girls (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Xanadu (Tony and Drama League nominations), Little Shop of Horrors (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Catch Me If You Can (Drama Desk nomination), and Hairspray (Clarence Derwent Award for most promising female performance, Drama Desk and Outer Critics nominations). She also starred in Rock of Ages, Disaster!, The Best Man, and Les Misérables on Broadway.
Notable Off-Broadway credits include the cult hit Bat Boy and Clinton: The Musical, in which she portrayed Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Television: 30 Rock, The Mindy Project, Rescue Me, Law & Order, The Mysteries of Laura, White Collar, Blue Bloods, Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, American Sports Story - Aaron Hernandez, Law and Order SVU.
Film: Honor Society, The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
Album: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.
Best credit: mom to Segi and Sumi.
Kristin Caskey is Executive Vice President, Content and Creative at Ambassador Theatre Group, where she oversees the producing department and theatrical programming for ATG’s North American venues. Together with her producing partner Mike Isaacson, Kristin has produced a number of Broadway and award-winning shows including The Last Five Years, The Wiz, Gutenberg! The Musical, Parade (Tony Award), Appropriate (Tony Award), Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite; David Byrne’s American Utopia (Special Tony Award); Fun Home (Tony Award); The Humans (Tony Award); Red (Tony Award); Legally Blonde (Olivier Award).
She is also developing Bring It On: The Musical for Universal Studios and Beacon Pictures. Kristin chairs the marketing committee, serves on the governance committee and is on the Board of Governors for the Broadway League, the national trade organization for the Broadway industry.
Brian Cox is an Emmy and two-time Olivier Award-winning actor, known for his film roles in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, RED, The Bourne Supremacy, Troy, X-Men 2, The Bourne Identity, Super Troopers, and Braveheart.
Cox attended St. Mary's Forebank Primary School and St. Michael's Junior Secondary School in Dundee and would join the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of 14. After working there a few years, he auditioned successfully for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, began his training at the age of 17, and graduated in 1965.
He continued to work in theatre for such organisations as the Lyceum in Edinburgh and the Birmingham Rep, and he finally made his West End debut as Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It in June 1967. He has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the UK; in the 1980s, he won two Olivier Awards for his performances in Rat in the Skull (1984) and Titus Andronicus (1988). He also received two additional Olivier nominations that decade for Misalliance (1984) and Fashion (1988). Other acclaimed UK stage roles of Cox's include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, the titular role in King Lear, and the role of Jack in The Weir.
Cox made his Broadway debut in February 1985, starring as Edmund Darrell in Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude at the Nederlander Theatre. His other Broadway credits include Art, in which he assumed the role of Marc in September 1998; the 2007 premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll; and the role of Coach in the 2011 revival of That Championship Season. He first appeared off Broadway in May 1985, reprising his performance as Inspector Nelson at The Public Theater. He would return to the Off-Broadway theatre scene for Primary Stages in 1998, winning a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance in Conor McPherson’s St. Nicholas.
Cox has appeared regularly in film and television since 1965. His feature film debut was in 1971’s Nicholas and Alexandra, and he would go on to play Dr. Hannibal Lecktor in 1986’s Manhunter. He shot to superstardom in the mid-1990s thanks to roles in Rob Roy and Braveheart in 1995, and his most notable film credits since then include Super Troopers (2001), L.I.E. (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Ring (2002), X-Men 2 (2003), Troy (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Red Eye (2005), Zodiac (2007), The Escapist (2008), RED (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), RED 2 (2013), and Churchill (2017). In television, Cox won an Emmy Award (and received a Golden Globe nomination) in 2001 for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, and he received a further Emmy nomination in 2002 for his guest role on Frasier. His many TV credits also include HBO’s Succession, the BBC’s War & Peace, NBC’s The Slap, and HBO’s Deadwood.
Cox returned to the Broadway stage from September 6 through November 30, 2019, to star as Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Shenkkan’s The Great Society, a sequel to All The Way, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Charles Flateman is Executive Vice President at the Shubert Organization, America’s oldest professional theatre company and the largest theatre owner on Broadway. Mr. Flateman is also CEO of Audience Rewards, The Official Loyalty Program of Broadway and the Arts; and is a board member at Entertainment Benefits Group, which provides travel, consumer goods, and entertainment e-commerce solutions for brands and consumers in the United States.
Mr. Flateman is Chairman of the Board of NYC Tourism and Conventions, the official destination management and marketing organization of New York City. Additionally Mr. Flateman serves on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of The Broadway League and is an appointee to the New York City Live Performance Industry Council.
Before coming to Shubert, Mr. Flateman was co-founder of Broadway Inbound, which provides the marketing and technical bridge between Broadway's primary ticketing entities and global online wholesale distribution partners. Earlier in his career, he was President of Gray Line New York, and was a producer of Broadway’s Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Harlem Song at the Apollo and other theatrical productions. Mr. Flateman is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University and a graduate of Brown University with a degree in Classics.
Andrew Flatt is the Managing Director of Disney Theatrical Group, where he has served in a variety of roles across the production, marketing and licensing of Disney’s stage and arena shows for the past 25 years. He now drives the strategy and business operations for the organization’s broad slate of production activity, including such iconic musicals as The Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast, and is leading the division’s expansion into emerging forms of live entertainment through immersive and location-based events.
Catherine Coleman Flowers is an internationally recognized environmental activist, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient and author. She has dedicated her life’s work to advocating for environmental justice, primarily equal access to clean water and functional sanitation for communities across the United States.
Founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), Flowers has spent her career promoting equal access to clean water, air, sanitation and soil to reduce health and economic disparities in marginalized, rural communities. Flowers sits on the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project, the Natural Resources Defense Council and RMI, as well as serving as a Practitioner in Residence position at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.
In 2021, her leadership and fervor in fighting for solutions to these issues led her to one of her most notable appointments yet — Vice Chair of the Biden Administration’s inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In 2023, she was recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the world and was featured on Forbes’ 50 Over 50 list. In 2025, she was awarded the prestigious TIME Earth Award.
Flowers is the author of the newly-released Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope and Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret. Holy Ground is an inspiring collection of unflinching essays, personal and political, that frames the challenges we face as a society and — with grace, generosity, and hope — charts the way toward equity, respect, and a brighter future. In Waste, Flowers shares her inspiring story of advocacy, from childhood to environmental justice champion, and discusses sanitation and its correlation with systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that affects people across the United States.
Flowers and her work have been profiled by CBS’s 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, PBS Newshour and more.
Learn more at www.catherinecolemanflowers.com
Sue Frost is a founding member of Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning Junkyard Dog Productions, which is dedicated to developing and producing new musicals. New musicals in development: 3 Summers of Lincoln (Executive Producers), The Heart and Freak the Mighty. Previous Broadway productions include Come From Away; Memphis; First Date; Doctor Zhivago (Executive Producers).
Sue is a member of adjunct faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts, and serves on The Broadway League’s Board of Governors, the Executive, Tony Administration, Audience Engagement, Intra-Industry, EDI, and Business Development Committees.
Jenn Gambatese is proud to be a member of the Broadway Green Alliance Advisory Council. Having performed for many BGA events and participated in their planning processes, she is more aware than ever of how theater makers can make a measurable difference in creating environmentally friendlier practices both on Broadway and beyond! Jenn has starred in 8 Broadway shows, guest-starred on television, appeared in films, and performed with world-class orchestras and intimate cabaret combos. She teaches private voice lessons and performing arts masterclasses globally. More info at www.jenngambatese.com
Montego Glover is a Tony Award Nominee, Two-time Drama Desk Award Winner, Outer Critics’ Circle Award Winner & Honoree, and Drama League Nominee. Glover's talent extends to television, film, concerts, commercials, gaming, animation, narration and scripted audio. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Glover is actively involved in arts advocacy, earth preservation and conservation, as well as artist committees at leading theatre institutions around the country. Ms. Glover is based in New York City.
Miranda Gohh is a producer and the Founder of Theatre Producers of Color (TPOC). She currently serves as Associate Producer at Mike Bosner Production (Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Proof, 10 Things I Hate About You). Miranda is the 2025 Prince/TTLP Fellow and a member of the Shubert Artistic Circle.
Sarah G. Harris is a Broadway stage manager, educator, and mentor dedicated to creating sustainable, inclusive practices in the theater industry. She is currently the Stage Manager of Maybe Happy Ending, the six-time Tony Award-winning musical, and has previously worked on Broadway productions including The Heart of Rock & Roll, Parade, A Christmas Carol, Come From Away, and Once On This Island. Sarah serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s MFA Stage Management Program and is an Advisory Board Member for Open Stage Project. She is proud to support the Broadway Green Alliance’s mission of environmental stewardship and community engagement.
Terry Kinney is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His directing credits there include The Violet Hour, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Clockwork Orange, Of Mice and Men and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. NYC directing credits include the world premiere of Checkers by Doug McGrath, reasons to be pretty for MCC and Broadway, After Ashley and Beautiful Child at the Vineyard Theatre, The Money Shot by Neil LaBute for MCC and others. Upcoming projects include Sins of the Mother by Israel Horowitz and Rear Window, adapted by Keith Reddin. Mr. Kinney’s film directing credits include the short film Kubuku Rides (This Is It) for Steppenwolf Films and Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda. Film appearances include Save the Last Dance, Sleepers, Fly Away Home, Last of the Mohicans, The Firm, Devil in a Blue Dress and Turn The River. TV credits include Tim McManus in HBO’s prison drama Oz, The Black List, The Mentalist, The Unusuals, The Laramie Project, 30something, Kidnapped, George Wallace and The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies.
Tom Kirdahy is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning theatre and film producer whose projects have spanned Broadway, off-Broadway, the West End, national and international tours. His current projects include the upcoming revival of the iconic musical GYPSY starring six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as Rose, and directed by five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe at the legendary, newly renovated Majestic Theatre; the new musical JUST IN TIME, starring Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin, directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers and featuring iconic hits like “Splash Splash,” “Beyond the Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” and many more; the film adaptation of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally’s hit musical KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, written and directed by Bill Condon and starring Jennifer Lopez; the Broadway smash-hit HADESTOWN (8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical), as well as the current Olivier Award-nominated West End production and the first American national tour; the off-Broadway revival of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Drama Desk Award, Best Revival); and the NYTimes Critic’s Pick HERE WE ARE, Stephen Sondheim’s final musical with a book by David Ives and directed by Joe Mantello. He recently produced Matthew López’s epic, two-part play THE INHERITANCE (4 Tony Awards, including Best Play; 4 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play) directed by Stephen Daldry; the first Broadway revival of August Wilson’s THE PIANO LESSON (Drama Desk, Best Revival), starring Samuel L. Jackson with direction by LaTanya Richardson Jackson, which became the highest-grossing August Wilson play in Broadway history; and the new play GREY HOUSE by Levi Holloway, starring Laurie Metcalf, Tatiana Maslany and Paul Sparks, with direction by Joe Mantello.
Select Broadway credits: NEW YORK, NEW YORK (9 Tony nominations, including Best Musical) from legendary songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb, with additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and direction/choreography by Susan Stroman; Terrence McNally’s FRANKIE & JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon (2 Tony nominations, including Best Revival); the global smash hit 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 JUNGLE, Edward Albee’s THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? Select off-Broadway credits: the world premiere of THE WHITE CHIP, THE JUNGLE, WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (all of which were NYTimes Critic's Picks). Additional Tony nominations: MOTHERS AND SONS, AFTER MIDNIGHT, RAGTIME, MASTER CLASS.
Recipient, Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theater Producing. Recipient, Miss Lilly Award, a prize in recognition of his advocacy for women in a male-dominated industry. Recipient, 2023 Medal of Honor, Entertainment Community Fund. Recipient, NYU Distinguished Alumni Award. Kirdahy serves on the Executive Board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Broadway League Board of Governors, and is a member of the Harry Ransom Center Advisory Council at the University of Texas. 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. Graduate, New York University School of Law, NYU CAS.
First elected to the New York State Senate in a Special Election in February 2002, Liz Krueger is currently the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. She is also a member of five other committees: Elections; Higher Education; Housing, Construction and Community Development; Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities; and Rules.
Senator Krueger is a strong advocate for tenants’ rights, affordable housing, improved access to health care and prescription drug coverage, social services, more equitable funding for public education, and animal welfare. She has made reforming and modernizing New York State’s governmental processes, electoral system, and tax policy central goals of her legislative agenda.
Sen. Krueger is a founding co-chair of the New York State Bipartisan Legislative Pro-Choice Caucus, and has led on women’s health and reproductive choice since her first term in the Senate, when she was a leader in the successful fight to pass the Women’s Health and Wellness Act.
Sen. Krueger’s legislative initiatives include protecting and expanding affordable housing for New Yorkers, protecting New York’s environment and public health from threats such as hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (“hydrofracking”), and expanding access to food stamps and safety net assistance for needy families and individuals.
Sen. Krueger has dedicated her career to issues relating to poverty, and she is a nationally recognized expert on the problems of hunger, homelessness, and the lack of affordable housing, healthcare, and job training.
Sen. Krueger has served as Chair of the New York City Food Stamp Task Force; Co-Facilitator of the New York City Welfare Reform Network; on the board of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court; and as a board member of the NYC Federal Emergency Management Agency Emergency Food and Shelter Program administered by the United Way of Greater New York.
Prior to her election to the Senate, Sen. Krueger worked for 15 years as Associate Director of the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC), where she was responsible for directing its efforts to expand access to government programs for low-income New Yorkers. She helped monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of federal and state programs in New York City, identifying barriers to participation, and fighting for improvements in the effectiveness of these programs.
Prior to her work with CFRC, Sen. Krueger was the founding Director of the New York City Food Bank, building that organization into one that now serves over 1,100 emergency food programs, senior centers, day-care centers, and other community-based programs serving an estimated 5.4 million meals each year.
A graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelors degree in Social Policy and Human Development, Senator Krueger also holds a Masters degree from the University of Chicago’s Harris Graduate School of Public Policy. Senator Krueger lives on the East Side of Manhattan with her husband, Dr. John E. Seley, a professor of Urban Planning and Geography at the CUNY Graduate Center and Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs.
Kenny Leon is a Tony Award and Obie Award-winning and Emmy-nominated Broadway and television director. Most recently, he directed the Broadway premiere of Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece, A Soldier’s Play, starring Blair Underwood and David Alan Grier at Roundabout Theatre Company. He also directed this past summer’s acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park. His Broadway credits include the recent production of A Soldier’s Play, American Son starring Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale which was also adapted for Netflix, the revival of Children of a Lesser God, the Tupac musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington (Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Best Revival of a Play), The Mountaintop starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, Stick Fly produced by Alicia Keys, August Wilson’s Fences (which garnered ten Tony nominations and won three Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play), Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, as well as A Raisin in the Sun starring Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Audra McDonald. He also directed Smart People and The Underlying Chris for Second Stage. Leon’s television work includes “Hairspray Live!”, and “The Wiz Live!” on NBC. He recently released his memoir Take You Wherever You Go. He is the recipient of the 2016 Mr. Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing and the 2010 Award for Excellence in Directing from the Drama League. Mr. Leon serves on the board of New York’s Public Theater and is Artistic Director Emeritus of Atlanta’s Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company.
Prior to co-founding True Colors Theatre Company, he served 11 years as Artistic Director of The Alliance Theatre, where he produced the premieres of Disney’s Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida, Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky and Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Other directorial credits include Alicia Keys World Tour, Toni Morrison’s opera Margaret Garner, the world premiere of Flashdance The Musical, and the complete August Wilson Century Cycle at the Kennedy Center. Leon is a sought after motivational speaker that has done acting and theatre workshops at universities and corporate offices around the country, South Africa and Ireland. He has directed in the UK, and extensively throughout the US, including Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Boston’s Huntington Theatre, Baltimore’s Center Stage, Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group and New York’s Public Theatre. Leon is a graduate of Clark Atlanta and is an honorary Ph.D. recipient of Clark Atlanta and Roosevelt Universities and has served as the Denzel Washington Chair at Fordham University.
Juliette Maners is an actor and stage manager based in NYC who seeks to use her art to inspire positive change. She recently attained her BFA in Musical Theatre with a minor in Arts and Entertainment Industries Management from Rider University, where she developed and led the Rider chapter of the Broadway Green Alliance College Green Captain program. Juliette thanks Molly and Austin for their unwavering support over the years, and is thrilled to continue her involvement with the BGA in her career post-grad!
@juliettemaners // www.juliettemaners.com
Dr. Michael E. Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He also serves as Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action and Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM).
Dr. Mann received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Applied Math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. degree in Physics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from Yale University. His research interests include the study of Earth's climate system and the science, impacts and policy implications of human-caused climate change.
Dr. Mann was a Lead Author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001 and was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003. He has received a number of honors and awards including NOAA's outstanding publication award in 2002 and selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2012 and was awarded the National Conservation Achievement Award for science by the National Wildlife Federation in 2013. He made Bloomberg News' list of fifty most influential people in 2013. In 2014, he was named Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and received the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. He received the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication from Climate One in 2017, the Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018 and the Climate Communication Prize from the American Geophysical Union in 2018. In 2019 he received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and in 2020 he received the World Sustainability Award of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2020. He received the Leo Szilard Award of the American Physical Society in 2021 and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 2023. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2024. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, the Geological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is also a co-founder of the award-winning science website RealClimate.org.
Dr. Mann is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications, numerous op-eds and commentaries, and six books including Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy, The Tantrum that Saved the World and The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet and Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis.
Idina has won a Tony, Obie, and Drama League Award for her work in the theater. Broadway: If/Then, Wicked, Aida, Rent. Off-Broadway: Skintight (Roundabout), See What I Wanna See (Public Theatre), The Vagina Monologues (West Side Theatre), The Wild Party (MTC), Hair (Encores). Regional: Wicked (San Francisco), If/Then (Washington, DC). Menzel also premiered Wicked in the West End, receiving the Theatregoers Choice Award. Film: You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Which Way to the Stage? (Documentary), Enchanted 2: Disenchanted, Frozen 2, Uncut Gems, American Murderer, Cinderella, Frozen, Enchanted, Ask the Dust, Rent. TV: “Beaches,” “Glee,” PBS special, “Barefoot at the Symphony,” (accompanying live album). Idina prides herself on the importance of new musicals, creating original roles, and promoting young composers. Thanks to the two amazing men in her life, her son Walker and husband Aaron, for their love and support. Thank you to the redwoods for teaching us about resilience, patience, and nature’s ability to help us heal.
Abbey Rayburn Hirons is proud to be a member of the inaugural BGA Advisory Council. She has been working in the Wardrobe departments of various professional theater organizations for over 25 years. With a career spanning national and international touring, supervising numerous Broadway musicals and plays, working with full-body costume characters, keeping magicians’ secrets, and filming Diana in the fall of 2020, she loves all aspects of bringing the live theater experience to audiences. Abbey is excited to work and communicate with others within and outside the theater community to practice our craft in a more sustainable and efficient manner.
Luis Salgado is an award-winning director, choreographer, performer, and educator from Puerto Rico whose work bridges Broadway, film, Cirque du Soleil, international stages, and community empowerment. He has directed concerts for Viva Broadway and serves on its advisory board. An original cast member of In the Heights, his directing and choreographic credits include Aida, Ragtime, Matilda, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, On Your Feet!, and In the Heights, among others. Most recently, he has helped developed new works such as ¡Americano!, Barba: El Musical, This Is Not a Drill, Aguardiente, and a Latin Rhythms re-imagining of Jesus Christ Superstar. Through Salgado Productions and his nonprofit R.Evolución Latina, he champions “Art with a Purpose,” creating spaces that empower artists, celebrate Latin culture, and build community worldwide.
Stasia Savage has been a member of the IATSE since 1997 and became an International Representative in 2015. Stasia is originally from Local 26, West Michigan, where she served as the locals Business Agent for twelve years and the President for three. She is also currently the Business Representative for Local 757, Detroit Treasurers and Ticket Sellers. Since 1997 Stasia has worked both on the road and in the theater in a variety of crafts such as carpentry, properties, wardrobe and hair and make-up.
Stasia also sits on the Executive Committee of the IATSE Women’s Committee and is the Chair of the IATSE Green Committee.
She holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Rutgers University and a cosmetology license from the State of Michigan.
Marc Shaiman, award-winning composer, lyricist, orchestrator and musician, has successfully created music for TV, film and theater since entering show business at the age of 16 in 1976.
Recently, Marc co-wrote the song “Save the City” for the fictional Rogers the Musical on the Disney Plus show Hawkeye.
He is currently co-writing the score for a new musical version of Some Like It Hot, and writing music for the upcoming Broadway production of Plaza Suite.
Marc has been Oscar nominated seven times (for Mary Poppins Returns (2), Sleepless In Seattle, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President and South Park-Bigger, Longer & Uncut). He has received two Tony Award nominations (winning one for co-writing the score to Hairspray with co-lyricist Scott Wittman), five Grammy Awards nominations (winning one for The Original Cast Recording of Hairspray), twelve Emmy Awards (winning one for his work on Billy Crystal’s Academy Award hosting), four Golden Globe nominations (including The Star, song co-written with Mariah Carey), and two BAFTA nominations (Sleepless In Seattle and Mary Poppins Returns).
Shaiman's other film work includes Beaches, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, City Slickers, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, A Few Good Men, Sister Act (1 & 2), George of the Jungle, In and Out, Hocus Pocus, The Bucket List and Parental Guidance. He served as an Executive Producer of the successful film adaptation of his Broadway musical Hairspray.
In addition to Hairspray, his other original Broadway musical credits are the Tony-nominated Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, the Tony-winning Catch Me If You Can, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Broadway concert credits are Peter Allen-Up In One, Bette Midler's Divine Madness, Ellie Greenwich's Leader Of The Pack and Patti LuPone On Broadway. After a tremendously successful concert for The Actor's Fund, his musical Bombshell, created as part of the television show Smash, is now being developed into a future show.
Shaiman has co-produced and arranged Grammy winning recordings for music icons such as Bette Midler, Harry Connick Jr. and Mariah Carey, including the Grammy-winning recordings The Wind Beneath My Wings and From A Distance.
His television ventures include The Sweeney Sisters on SNL, countless award and talk show appearances with Billy Crystal, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Martin Short, Jenifer Lewis’s Jackie’s Back, the Emmy-winning SNL 40th, the aforementioned Smash, and his proudest achievement for television, his collaboration with Bette Midler for her Emmy-winning appearance as his final guest on Johnny Carson’s penultimate Tonight Show.
Other performers with whom he has collaborated in concert, cabaret, film and television include Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Kristen Chenoweth, Eric Clapton. Christine Ebersole Kathy Griffin, Allison Janney, Jennifer Holiday, Jennifer Hudson, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, John Mayer, Audra McDonald, Barbra Streisand, Queen Latifah and Robin Williams. At the legendary after-party for SNL 40th, he jammed on stage with Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Prince, and completely lost his shit.
He is quite fond of Prop 8 - The Musical, the online opus he wrote for the website Funny or Die that earned him a Webby Award.
In 2014 Shaiman & Wittman were celebrated by the New York Pops with a spectacular concert at Carnegie Hall. Marc was recently honored with the Ambassador Award by the Society of Composers and Lyricists in December 2018, and with the Icon Award at the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards in February 2019.
Shaiman is currently married to retired Navy Lieutenant Commander, Louis Mirabal, and currently resides in New York City and upstate New York.
David Stone is a theatre producer. He had his first contact with the theatre business through an internship at Jujamcyn Theaters. Later he worked with Broadway producers Fran and Barry Weisler, before he had his first own production with the 1993 off-Broadway hit Family Secrets. Since 2003, he has produced the musical Wicked together with Marc E. Platt. As of 2012 the show had grossed 250 million USD. He is a member of the Board of Governors of The Broadway League and also the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Other shows he has produced include The Vagina Monologues, Next to Normal, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Shaina Taub is a songwriter/performer whose honors include two Tony Awards, an Obie Award, and nominations for a Grammy and an Emmy. An artist-in-residence at the Public Theater, she created and performed in Broadway’s Suffs (now touring nationally) and Public Works’ Twelfth Night and As You Like It. She was included on the 2024 Time100 Next list, and has been recognized with the Workers Circle Activism Award; the League of Women Voters’ Tribute Award; and the Michael Friedman Freedom Award from the NYCLU Artist Ambassadors program which she co-chairs. www.shainataub.com
At age 13, Alexandria Villaseñor co-founded the US Youth Climate Strike movement while organizing for Fridays for Future International and has since gone on to found the climate education non-profit Earth Uprising. Now, at age 18, Alexandria is an internationally recognized activist, author, and speaker at three UN Conference of Parties, NATO, the World Economic Forum, and the 2020 Democratic National Convention. She was a child petitioner for the ground-breaking international complaint to the United Nations, Children vs. Climate Crisis, and has sat on the youth advisory boards for the American Lung Association and IKEA. She's looking forward to graduating from high school in May and is excited to be attending Harvard University this fall.
TJ Witham has been with the Times Square Alliance since 2014 and is currently the Vice President of Communications. Prior to this, he made a tour of the New York City nonprofit arts community having worked for Robert Wilson and The Watermill Center as the Director of Programs and Communications, as well as making previous stops at the New York Foundation for the Arts, The Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York, and Roundabout Theater Company. He is an alumnus of the New York City Coro Neighborhood Leadership program.