KELLEN BLAIR is the Drama Desk-nominated co-creator of Murder for Two, the murder mystery musical comedy that ran for a year off-Broadway and has been touring internationally since 2014. The show earned Kellen (and co-writer Joe Kinosian) the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical Work in Chicago and the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers / Lorenz Hart Award for their contribution to musical theater. Their current projects include It Came From Outer Space (world premiere production: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2022) and Todd vs the Titanic. Kellen’s other work includes Scrooge in Love (written with legendary composer Larry Grossman) and the Reva Shiner Comedy Award-winning Just Between the All of Us (world premiere: Bloomington Playwrights Project, 2021). www.kellenblair.com
JOE KINOSIAN – Writer/composer/frequent performer, Murder for Two (Chicago – Jeff Award for Best New Musical with co-writer Kellen Blair, Jeff Award nomination for Best Leading Actor; Off-Broadway – Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle award nominations; International productions in Japan, Korea, China, England, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Mexico). Writer/composer, It Came From Outer Space (World Premiere, Chicago Shakespeare Theater – Jeff Award nomination for Best New Musical). Solo performer/composer, Todd vs the Titanic. Writer/composer/voice actor, Let’s Start a Coup! and Very Special Episodes (iHeartMedia podcasts). Regional acting: Two Pianos, Four Hands, An Act of God, The Nerd. joekinosian.com
Scott directed Murder for Two Off-Broadway at New World Stages and Second Stage Uptown. On Broadway, he directed Golda’s Balcony and Jane Eyre (co-directed with John Caird). His other Off-Broadway work includes Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), tick, tick…BOOM! (Outer Critics Circle, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical); Rooms: A Rock Romance; The Foreigner starring Matthew Broderick (Roundabout Theatre Company), Kafka’s The Castle (Outer Critics Circle nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play), and No Way to Treat a Lady.
He also directed Golda’s Balcony on tour, in London, in Los Angeles at the Wadsworth Theatre and in San Francisco at American Conservatory Theater. He directed the world premiere of Séance on a Wet Afternoon at Opera Santa Barbara and subsequently at New York City Opera. Schwartz’s other recent credits include the US premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), the world premiere of Secondhand Lions (5th Avenue Theatre), the world premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s What We’re Up Against (Alley Theatre), Arsenic and Old Lace starring Tovah Feldshuh and Betty Buckley (Dallas Theater Center), and a re-envisioning of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Paper Mill Playhouse, Theatre Under The Stars, Theatre on the Square and North Shore Music Theatre; 2008 IRNE Award, Outstanding Director of a Musical). He is the Artistic Director of Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY and is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an Associate Artist at the Alley Theatre, and a graduate of Harvard University.
RAINFOREST BENEFIT CONCERT (Carnegie Hall/Sting, Kevin Spacey, James Taylor, Renee Fleming), THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW (Broadway/HBO). Off-Broadway: CLICK CLACK MOO (Lortel nomination), THE TOXIC AVENGER MUSICAL (Lortel, Dora, Callaway nominations), MURDER FOR TWO. Director/Choreographer: HOW YOU LOOK AT IT (The Sacramento Ballet), BIRTHDAY SAX (Ars Nova), THAT REMINDS ME (Web Series). Shows with Disney, Cartoon Network, Richard Frankel Productions, and Nickelodeon. Narrative Dance Comedies created for short films, spec commercials, music videos, and at esteemed NYC venues including Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. www.wendyseyb.com
Beowulf designed the Off-Broadway production of Murder for Two. Broadway: Act One (Tony Award), The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Hand To God, On The Town, Sondheim On Sondheim, …Spelling Bee , LoveMusik, Rock Of Ages, Chaplin, Bronx Bombers, Grace, The Two And Only. Off- Broadway: More than 50 shows, including Toxic Avenger, Last Five Years, Miss Julie, Roundabout, MTC, Public, 2nd Stage, Vineyard, MCC, Primary Stages, and the New Group. Other Designs: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Ballet) and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He received a 2007 OBIE Award for sustained excellence.
Broadway: American Idiot, Bring It On, the Musical. Selected Off Broadway: Brooklynite, What’s it all About (NYTW), Title and Deed (Signature Theatre), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Classic Stage), RX (Primary Stages), Unnatural Acts (Classic Stage), ’Or (Women’s Project). Regional: Guthrie, Arts Emerson, Alliance, Berkeley Rep, Bay Street, Alley Theatre. Dance: Trey McIntyre, STREB, Sean Curran, Diane McIntyre and the new world premiere for Pilobolus in Summer 2016. Working as a stylist for fashion and musicians, credits include: American Vogue, OUT Magazine, the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and Rolling Stone. Founder of Risen from the Thread, an experiential multimedia company. Recent clients include: Whitney Museum, The Jamaican National Soccer team, and NYU Langone. NYU, 2011 NYSCA Grant as a STREB innovative collaborator.
Broadway: On The Town, Bronx Bombers, Let It Be, Bring It On, Rock of Ages (Vegas, Toronto, Australia, London and Nat. Tours), The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot In the Park, Good Vibrations. Recent: Heathers, Hand To God (MCC), The Commons of Pensacola (MTC), Murder For Two, Nerds (PTC), Venice (Public), Hello Dolly (Goodspeed), All in the Timing (Primary), Medieval Play (Signature), Uncle Vanya (CSC), White Noise (Chicago), Broke-ology, Clay (LCT), Happy Hour, 2 by Pinter, Scarcity(Atlantic), 10 years with The New Group including The Good Mother, Marie & Bruce, Abigail’s Party, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Hurlyburly. Faculty: Purchase College. www.jasonlyonsdesign.com
Broadway: The Heidi Chronicles, Hand to God, Disgraced, Picnic, Wit, Other Desert Cities, Good People, The Constant Wife, The Good Body, Bill Maher: Victory… Off-Broadway includes Lincoln Center, MTC, Atlantic, Vineyard, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, Second Stage, NYTW, WP, New Georges, Flea, Cherry Lane, Signature, Clubbed Thumb (Affiliate Artist), Penguin Rep. Regional: Bay Street, La Jolla, Cincinnati Playhouse, Westport Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Portland Stage, Long Wharf, The Alley, NYS&F, Humana, Williamstown, ATF. Radio: New Yorker Out Loud (Executive Producer), Studio 360, Naked Radio, RadioLab. Drama Desk and Henry Hewes nominations. Awards: Ruth Morley Design Award, OBIE for Sustained Excellence, Lilly Award. Audio Producer for The New Yorker, Adjunct Professor; Sarah Lawrence College. Love to Adam
Music Director of Forbidden Broadway since 2004. He composed music and lyrics for All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas, both based on the writing of Robert Fulghum. He conducted the American premiere of Stephen Schwartz’ Children of Eden. He arranged and orchestrated Marvin Hamlisch’s song “I’m Really Dancing” for Career Transitions for Dancers’ 25th Anniversary Gala, featuring Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera and Bebe Neuwirth. He is interviewed at length in Oliver Sacks’ book about music and the brain, Musicophilia. His new show, Gotta Getta Girl, will open off-Broadway in spring 2016.
J. Scott Lapp (Assistant Director) is thrilled to be back on Murder for Two after working on the initial runs at Second Stage Uptown and New World Stages! Associate/Assistant Directing credits include Broadway: Bonnie & Clyde; Off-Broadway: Murder for Two (New World & Second Stage); Regional: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse/Paper Mill Playhouse), Into the Woods (Fiasco/Old Globe), Secondhand Lions (5th Ave), Somewhere in Time (PCS), Good People (Old Globe), A Room With A View (Old Globe), Somewhere (Old Globe), Bonnie & Clyde (La Jolla, Asolo Rep), Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin (La Jolla), Xanadu (La Jolla/Nat’l Tour). Upcoming Projects: Spring Awakening (The Barn Stage Company), The Untitled John Mayer Project (NY workshop) and Gloria (Busch Gardens). He also works as the Artistic Director of The Barn Stage Company and is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Love and thanks to God, Scott, Parents and Chelsea. Live blessed. www.jscottlapp.com
Broadway: Fool For Love (upcoming), The Visit, The Elephant Man, Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Of Mice & Men, Venus in Fur, 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun. Some past Off Bway includes: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, Buyer & Cellar, The Hill Town Plays, The Revisionist, All in the Timing, Passion, My Name is Asher Lev, Fuerza Bruta, Silence! The Musical. Also Rattlestick, CSC, Williamstown Theater Festival (4 seasons), The Flea, Long Wharf, McCarter, Berkeley Rep, Playwrights Horizons (10 seasons). Lots of TV and Film including the upcoming Hulu series The Way and Mike Cahill’s I Origins, Sundance 2014. Awarded 12 Artios Awards for Outstanding Casting Achievement. Member CSA.
Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Kat is thrilled to bring Murder For Two across the country! Select credits include; Off Broadway: Murder For Two (Snug Harbor Productions), Altar Boyz, My Big Gay Italian Wedding (Davenport Productions), President Harding is A Rock Star, Boozy, Heddatron (Les Freres Corbusier), Little Flower of East Orange, TOAST (The Public Theater), The Witch of Edmonton, Edward the Second (Red Bull Theatre), Unlock’d, Iron Curtain, The Flood, Illyria, Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge (Prospect Theater Company). Opera: La Boheme, Cavaleria Rusticana New York City Opera. Proud graduate of Penn State University and member of Actors Equity. In addition to her stage management work, Kat is also a ICF certified life and time management coach. www.katwestcoaching.com. Thanks to her husband, Jaime, and family.
Production Core lends support and guidance to theatre companies that produce high quality theatrical performances and need direction/support on the collaboration, planning and execution of the production process. The Production Core team is James E. Cleveland, Jared Goldstein, David Upton, Chasmin Hallyburton, Julie Shelton, Amber Mathis, S.M. Payson, Leah Vogel, Felicia Hall, Aston Jacbos, Grace Richardson, and Julie Gunner. Current projects include: Delicate Ship at The Playwrights Realm, Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man at the 777 Theatre, Trip of Love at the Little Shubert Theatre, Laugh It Up, Stare It Down at the Cherry Lane Theatre, and Diner at the Delaware Theatre Company. www.productioncore.net
Credits include: Broadway: Ring of Fire; Elaine Stritch at Liberty (Tony Award); George Gershwin Alone; Death of a Salesman (Tony Award, starring Brian Dennehy); The Price and Fool Moon (Tony Award); Off-Broadway: Murder for Two; Piece of My Heart; Martin Moran’s All the Rage (Lortel Award); Eve Ensler’s Emotional Creature; Elective Affinities (starring Zoe Caldwell); Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn; Evil Dead The Musical; Almost, Maine; The Tricky Part (Obie Award); Peter Brook’s Tierno Bokar.
Jayson is an independent producer with extensive background in producing and developing new musical theatre. He was a producer of Rock of Ages on Broadway (5 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical). Recent producing credits include: Sting and Patti LuPone in Uprising of Love; Mann… and Wife; Love Makes the World Go ‘Round, a new musical featuring the songs of Bob Merrill (Funny Girl, Carnival, “How Much is that Doggie in the Window”, “Mambo Italiano”); a musical adaptation of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory; live television appearances by Christina Aguilera and dancers from the movie Burlesque on “Dancing with the Stars,” “The American Music Award” and the UK’s “X Factor”; Vanities, A New Musical; concerts in Poland and Israel which were the backdrop for the documentary film 100 Voices: A Journey Home; Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn Off-Broadway and in London; appearances by the cast of the movie Hairspray on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Today Show” and the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade”; and Being Alive, an all-BlackStephen Sondheim revue created by Billy Porter. Through his company Quantum Theatricals, Jayson produces shows and entertainment for clients like Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, and Nickelodeon Universe/Mall of America. Jayson spent seven years on the producing team at Pasadena Playhouse. Education: University of Michigan, UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television’s Producers Program.
Current productions include Fun Home (Tony Award, Best Musical). Other credits include, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival), If/Then starring Idina Menzel, Hands on a Hardbody, Red (Tony Award, Best Play), Next to Normal (Pulitzer), Hamlet starring Jude Law, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda, Mary Stuart, Legally Blonde – The Musical, … Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and A Raisin in the Sun. A native New Yorker, Barbara attended NYU’s Gallatin School and received an MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University. She’s on the Board of the Tectonic Theater Project and the Leadership Council of Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights Aids. Her proudest productions are her sons, Daniel and Will.
Steven is a professor in the Columbia University School of the Arts, where he runs the MFA Theatre Management & Producing Program and serves as advisor to the T Fellowship, founded by Harold Prince. He is a co-author of Theatre Law: Cases and Materials, the first and only law school textbook devoted to theatre law, and a regular contributor to the theatre volumes of Entertainment Industry Contracts, published by LexisNexis. Through his company, Snug Harbor Productions, Steven general manages productions on and off Broadway, around the United States and internationally. Producing credits include Private Jokes, Public Places in NYC and London, the Off-Broadway premiere of Murder for Two, Criss Angel Mindfreak, and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.
Second Stage Theatre, founded in 1979 under the leadership of artistic director Carole Rothman, produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theatre including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Peter Duchan; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; and Bachelorette by Leslye Headland. The company’s more than 130 citations include the Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony Awards and the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. www.2ST.com.
Latitude Link is led by three-time Tony Award-winning producers, Ralph & Gail Bryan. They are currently represented on Broadway by Jersey Boys, Matilda, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Current National/international hits include Jersey Boys and Memphis. Past Broadway productions include Rocky, Of Mice and Men, Hands on a Hardbody, Memphis, American Idiot, Jesus Christ Superstar, 33 Variations and The Farnsworth Invention. www.latitudelink.com
Richard’s been involved with numerous film and television projects through his tenure with Columbia, CBS, Savoy and Sundance. Theatre investments include, among others, The Producers, Hairspray and The Immigrant, Spider-Man, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Richard and his partner Tommye Giacchino are United States pro/am ballroom champions. Thanks to wife, Diane, parents, children and family.
London: Lead Producer of The Scottsboro Boys – Seven Olivier Award® Nominations/Winner Evening Standard Award for Best Musical/Winner Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, Made in Dagenham Broadway: Fun Home Winner Tony Award® for Best Musical currently running Circle in the Square Theatre, Tony Award® Nomination for On the Town, Winner Tony Award® Best Musical Revival for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Of Mice and Men, Tony Award® Nomination for Twelfth Night/Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Tony Award Nomination® for The Trip to Bountiful, Hands on a Hardbody. Off-Broadway: Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812; Little Miss Sunshine, Murder for Two. “My producing efforts honor the works of women directors and playwrights. I honor those who have not had a voice; I dedicate my support of the Art of Theatre to you.”
Owner: Gem Financial Services, PKDManagement, Epkam Ventures, Drama League Board Member. Producer: Rock of Ages Assoc. Producer: Becoming Dr. Ruth, Ann, Peter and the Starcatcher on tour, Tail!Spin!. Investor: Vanya…, Cinderella, Nice Work…, The Trip to Bountiful, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 54 Below and others. Avid photographer and theatre lover.
Recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, CST is one of America’ s largest, most celebrated theaters, producing a year-round season encompassing more than 600 performances at its home on Chicago’s Navy Pier. CST’s work is regularly represented on stages around the world including the Donmar Warehouse, Sydney Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company and Market Theatre of Johannesburg. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, CST produces extraordinary classics from the past and present, contemporary dramas, musical theater and premieres of new works–including Murder for Two, which CST developed in 2011. www.chicagoshakes.com