After receiving his BS Degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1964, Bob Buchen spent his next 40 years in the Financial Services Industry.  Starting as a retail Broker in Milwaukee, he later moved to Chicago to pursue a career in Institutional Sales covering accounts in the Midwest and Canada. He then spent 2 years as the head of Institutional Sales for a Chicago based brokerage firm responsible for 20 Midwestern states.   Bob spent his last last 17 years as the Head of Domestic and International Marketing for Chicago based Driehaus Capital Management, a small cap aggressive growth manager.  Bob has traveled extensively in over 60 countries, with business trips focused on ten Europen and Asian countries.  

Bob has also been an avid theater-goer throughout his life. His first theatrical experience was seeing the original cast of My Fair Lady in London after paying $0.75 for a standing room only balcony ticket. Business and pleasure have brought him to New York six to seven times a year for the past 35 years, and theatre has always been an important part of the each trip.

Joseph A. Bierman has been a marketing and sales executive for 20 years with experience across a broad scope of product categories and distribution channels in the beauty industry. Joe has extensive background in product development, global strategy and branding, PR, advertising, licensing, sales and distribution and customer insight. He has launched complete portfolios of fragrance, skin care, color cosmetics and personal care lines and supported these launches with strategic growth plans and customer research.

Most recently, Joe has worked as a marketing and sales management consultant with a focus on start-up businesses and new business development, as well as established companies. Consulting focus includes sales and marketing, traditional and independent retail, direct selling and television/electronic selling.

Joe has a BA in English Literature and American Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and an MBA from Columbia University in New York City. He has been an avid theater lover for many years, and cares deeply about investing in the future of the performing arts.

Kirsten Childs is the writer of The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Playwrights) Obie, Kleban, Audelco, Richard Rodgers and Gilman Gonzalez-Falla awards; Rockefeller and Jonathan Larson Grants; Lucille Lortel, NAACP nominations, Drama Desk nominations. Fly, a musical with playwright Rajiv Joseph and composer Bill Sherman (Dallas Theatre Center). Miracle Brothers (Vineyard) NEA, Larson grants, Meet The Composer and Kitty Carlisle Hart Musical Theatre awards, Sundance Ucross. Funked Up Fairy Tales (Barrington, Sundance, MTC, NAMT, Depot Theatre). Wishes – book, and Believe – book, original song (Disney Theatricals/Disney Cruise Lines). American Songbook series (Lincoln Center). New Electric Company (songwriter). House Of Flowers (adaptation) City Center Encores! The Princess And The Black Eyed Pea (San Diego Rep). Wasted (George Street). If You Give A Mouse A Cookie [Amazing Grace] (Theatreworks/USA).Guggenheim Museum Works & Process classical compositions (poet Paul Muldoon and NEA chairman/poet Dana Gioia). Music design, Doris to Darlene(Playwrights). Playwrights Horizons commission with playwright Lynn Nottage& Steve Cosson (The Civilians). Dramatists Guild Council, Dramatists Guild Fund. Professor, Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, Tisch School Of The Arts, NYU. Theatre Development Fund Open Doors Mentor

Gretchen Cryer is most well-known for writing the book and lyrics and starring in I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road (with music by Nancy Ford) which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Musical and a Grammy nomination for the album Gretchen has written numerous other shows with Nancy Ford - Now Is the Time for All Good Men (off-Broadway), The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, (Obie Award - Best Musical, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award) Shelter(Broadway – Golden Theater), Hang On to the Good Times (Manhattan Theater Club), The Fabulous Party (Williamstown Theater Festival), The American Girls Revue - (American Girl Place - Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles), and Circle of Friends - (American Girl Place - Chicago and New York) and Anne of Green Gables (Theatreworks, Lortel Theater.) Cryer and Ford have just finished a new show - Still Getting My Act Together.

Joan D. Firestone currently serves as Executive Director of The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization that promotes and crafts the art of storytelling, delivering true personal stories told live on stages; on 260 public radio stations across the country, on podcasts that are downloaded 15 million times a year, and trains and captures the voices of high school students and marginalized adults in underserved schools and community centers across New York and beyond. She served as Chairman of the Board of the Cherry Lane Theatre from 2005-2010. Firestone isn the former Vice-President of Government Affairs at the New York Women's Agenda and a former Co-President of The League of Professional Theatre Women and served as Special Advisor on the Arts to the NYC Schools Chancellor. An independent theater producer, she has many -Off–Broadway credits.

She received a BA degree from Queens College, credits towards a MA degree in Comparative Literature from University of Kansas at Lawrence and a MA in Political Science from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Michael Gordon is a Litigation Partner at KattenMuchinRosenman LLP. Michael has general experience in virtually all types of business disputes, including contract; partnership and corporate shareholder disputes; fraudulent conveyance and clawback litigation; commercial real estate disputes; entertainment, publishing and intellectual property disputes; insurance coverage disputes; and matters involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and common law fraud. In addition, he regularly provides strategic counseling to his clients, assisting them in devising creative solutions either to avoid litigation or to facilitate the settlement of protracted lawsuits. When not practicing law, Michael is an ardent theater-goer, and is a Patron of Manhattan Theater Club and City Center, as well as a subscriber to numerous not-for-profit theater companies in New York City. Michael also serves on the Board of Directors of Housing Works Thrift Shops, Inc., and recently was nominated Co-Chair of that Board.

Mary Rodgers credits as a composer began with the Broadway production of Once Upon a Mattress in 1959 and continued with Hot Spot The Mad Show, Working, The Griffin and the Minor Canon, and scores for the Bil Baird Marionettes and Theatreworks/ USA. Her musicals have also been celebrated in a revue, Hey, Love. She is a popular author of fiction for young people, most notably the 1972 novel Freaky Friday, which was made into a Disney Studios motion picture (with a screenplay by Rodgers), a Theatre Works/USA musical (composed by Rodgers) and an ABC TV remake. Mary Rodgers is Chairman of the Board of the Juilliard School, on the Board of ASCAP, and on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.

Kevin Hager is the director of development and communications for the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), where he oversees all fundraising, communications, and online strategy and engagement.

While at NCLD, Kevin has led successful efforts to significantly increase fundraising for the organization while at the same time diversifying funding streams and increasing unrestricted revenue. Working with several of the top website, social media, PR, and strategic planning experts in the country, he led the process of creating a comprehensive, forward-thinking plan to scale the organization’s brand and more effectively engage key audiences. This resulted in the creation of a new, fully-funded, online strategy and engagement department overseen by Kevin.

Prior to his work at NCLD, Kevin managed the creation of the Center for Service Learning at the University of Kansas. He then moved into political campaigns, serving as the press secretary for a DCCC “Top 10 Race” and ultimately as campaign manager for a large municipal campaign before moving to New York to serve as the development director of DoSomething.org. Kevin also serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Dramatists Guild Fund.

Carol Hall wrote both music and lyrics for the TONY-winningThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and contributed to Sesame Street, A...My Name is Alice, and the landmark children’s classic Free to Be You and Me. For that project, she wrote both music and lyrics for “It’s All Right To Cry,” “Parents Are People,” and “Glad To Have A Friend Like You.” She also wrote the Off-Broadway musical To Whom It May Concern. Her most recent project has been contributing lyrics for a musical based on Truman Capote’s classic story A Christmas Memory (book: Duane Poole, music: Larry Grossman), which premiered at Theatreworks in Palo Alto, CA, where it received rave reviews and broke attendance records. Ms. Hall is a Lifetime Member of the Dramatists Guild Council and Vice-President of the Dramatists Guild Fund. Her first non-musical work,The Days are As Grass, consists of eight short plays and has just been acquired by Samuel French for publication.www.carolhall.net

Susan Laubach is the author of The Whole Kitt& Caboodle: A Painless Journey to Investment Enlightenment, called the best basic book on investing available by the National Association of Investment Clubs. Before writing the book, she worked from 1978 to 1992 in one of the country's premier brokerage houses, Alex Brown & Sons, where she rose to become one of the firm's consistently outstanding revenue earners.

Prior to her career in investing, Laubach worked in theatre. During this time, she wrote nine plays for young people that have been produced professionally. She is also the author of four children's books, and holds a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.Since returning to New York in 2007, Susan has written and performed eight one-woman shows and 2 two-character plays at off-off Broadway venues and festivals.

The Radiant, NY premiere, winter, ‘13. World Premiere, ‘11 in FLA; TCG/Edgerton Foundation Award, Sloan Science Foundation commission and  their “Production Enhancement Grant.”

All Through the Night, NY premiere ‘10, “Joseph Jefferson” nomination: “Best New Chicago Play” in World Premiere. 

A Piece of My Heart: NY premiere--Manhattan Theater Club;  listed 43rd among Goodreads’ “Best 150 Plays by American Authors.”  Named by Vietnam Vets, Inc., “Most enduring play in America on Vietnam.” Barbara Deming Award , Kittriedge Foundation Award, “ Susan Blackburn Prize(finalist).”

Open Admissions, Broadway:  1 Tony nomination, 2 Drama Desk nominations, a Theater World Award.  NY Times pick: among “10 Best Plays of the Year”, The Dramatists Guild’s Hull-Warriner Award.  TV adaptation starred Estelle Parsons and Jane Alexander.  

Clarence Darrow’s Last Trial: Carbonell nomination, “Best New Play of the Year in Florida.”

Co-editor ‘09 : Political Plays by American Women -- honoree  “NY Coalition of Professional Women Arts and Media”.
 

Major grants: The Guggenheim, 3 NEA’S, NY Found. for the Arts. 

Major affiliations: Dramatists Guild Fund Board; Ensemble Studio Theater; League of Professional Theater Women; Playwright’s Unit, Actors Studio; PEN; Writers Guild East, The Author’s Guild.
 

Deuceat the Music Box Theatre, Some Men at Second Stage. Last season saw Chita Rivera: The  Dancer's Life on Broadway and Dedication  or The Stuff of Dreams at  Primary Stages, where his The Stendhal Syndrome premiered the season before. He has won four Tony Awards  for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion! and his  books for the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. His other plays include Corpus Christi; A  Perfect Ganesh; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon  Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; and It's Only a Play, all of which began at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Earlier  stage works include Bad Habits, The Ritz, Where Has Tommy Flowers  Gone?, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, Next and the  book for the musicals The Full Monty, A Man of No Importance and The  Rink. For San Francisco Opera he wrote  the libretto for an opera based on Sister Helen Prejean's Dead  Man Walking, with music by Jake Heggie. Mr.  McNally has written a number of TV scripts, including Andre's  Mother, for which he won an Emmy.

Patrick Morrow is an Associate Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, specializing in divorce planning and human resources retirement planning. Patrick also founded United Visionaries, LCC, a small business image consulting firm in Fairfield, CT. He is co-founder and President of the Board for Young Benefactors of Americans for the Arts, and also serves on the board for the Cultural Alliance of Farfield County and the Junior Board of New York City Center. Patrick was a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch for 5 years prior to working for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Farfield University, where he founded a Finance Club.

Peter Ratray, actor, director and teacher.  Former faculty of The New York Academy of Dramatic Arts; former associate director of  The Mint Theater Company and School.  As an actor:  Broadway – The Country Girl(standby for Morgan Freeman), Tony winning Torch Song Trilogy.  Off Bwy. – Stuff Happens – Public Theater; Waiting for Lefty – New Group; lead roles in new works at La Mama ETC, St Clements, New Dramatists. Ovation Award nomination for Nicholas Nickelby (Los Angeles), The Mind with the Dirty Man – Mark Taper Forum, West Coast premier of Boys in the Band; Kennedy Center – The Magnificent Yankee.  Film: The Abyss, Stonewall.  Television: guest roles on Sex and the City, Law and Order, ER, Third Watch, NY Undercover, Law and Order Criminal Intent. Many years on daytime TV – Another World, Ryan’s Hope, Search for Tomorrow, All My Children. Director: New works at  MCC, Mint Theater, New Group, Westbeth Theater Center, EST, world tour – To the Death of My Own Family. Mr. Ratray has so far produced six episodes of the acclaimed DGF filmed interview series The Legacy Project - Dramatists Talk About Their Work

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and  lyrics for Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way  to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, The Frogs, Pacific  Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Assassins, Passion and Road Show as well as lyrics for West Side Story,  Gypsy and Do I Hear a  Waltz? andadditional lyricsfor Candide. Anthologies of his work include Side  by Side by Sondheim, Marry Me a Little, You're Gonna Love Tomorrow and Putting It Together. For films, he composed the scores  of Stavisky,  co-composed Reds and wrote songs for Dick Tracy and the television production Evening  Primrose. He co-authored the film The  Last of Sheila and the play Getting  Away With Murder. Mr. Sondheim is on the council of  the Dramatists Guild, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981.