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Jason Brett is an American actor, writer and film producer, who produced the 1986 romantic comedy film About Last Night .
Brett attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater. Moving to Chicago in 1975, he began his career as an actor, appearing in several Chicago theater productions including the Stephen Schwartz musical Godspell and Michael Weller's Moonchildren, for which he won Jeff Awards for his acting and production of the play. In 1978, Brett co-founded Chicago's famed Apollo Theater, [1] where he produced over forty-five plays and musicals, including such Jeff Award-winning productions as the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of True West, starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise; Balm in Gilead, featuring Laurie Metcalf; And a Nightingale Sang, with Joan Allen; Appearing Nightly, with Lily Tomlin; and David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, with James Belushi. Brett has produced several plays for the New York stage, including Harry Chapin: Lies and Legends, with Amanda McBroom; and Banjo Dancing, with Stephen Wade.
In 1986, Brett co-produced the romantic comedy About Last Night..., for Columbia/TriStar Pictures. The film, directed by Edward Zwick, holds an 82% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $38.7 million domestically. [2] As a screenwriter, Brett's first original screenplay, The Street Where You Live was a finalist for the Sundance screenwriting program. He went on to write more than a dozen original screenplays, including The Silent Service and Bomb Squad (Columbia/TriStar Pictures); Wildcard (Warner Brothers); Route 66 (Universal Pictures); and The Executive (Trimark Pictures). In 1987, Brett and Stuart Oken established Brett/Oken Productions under a two-year agreement with Weintraub Entertainment Group to develop and produce theatrical feature films. [3]
From 1989-2000, Brett also wrote and or produced more than three dozen series, including "Elvis" (ABC), "Matt Waters" (CBS), and "Forever Knight" (USA Network).
In 2000, Brett founded ByteSize Entertainment, created to deliver one-minute clips of popular comedy shows (Seinfeld, The Chris Rock Show and SCTV) to a subscriber base. In 2001, prior to launch, the company was acquired by Mind Arrow Systems.
In 2002, Brett partnered with Chicago's improvisational comedy theater, The Second City, to develop and produce comedy film and television projects. As head of The Second City Film & Television, Brett oversaw the company's numerous production deals with Sony Pictures Television, Comedy Central, Canada's CBC and Global Television Network. Also during this time, the company released its television series SCTV on DVD.
Following his tenure with The Second City Film & Television, Brett was recruited to be Head of Comedy for Network Live, a partnership of AOL, XM Satellite Radio and AEG. For Network Live, he produced and recorded over twenty-five hours of stand-up and sketch comedy, featuring such then-emerging talents as Zach Galifianakis, David Cross and The Upright Citizens Brigade.
In 2010, Brett founded Big Things, Inc., a digital media company focused on developing on-line brands and live events around passionate, niche communities. In 2011, Big Things launched MashPlant.com, the first website developed exclusively for middle school kids who wish to share their video, music, animation, writing, comedy and performance projects. MashPlant.com connects kids with experienced industry professionals, who help to provide insight and inspiration.
In 2019, Brett collaborated with composer-lyricist Michael Mahler, writing the book for the new musical, 'Miracle'. The show, about a struggling family of die-hard Cub fans, and the Cubs' 2016 world championship season, opened to rave reviews on May 17, 2019 at Chicago's Royal George Theater. For his contribution, his first as a writer of musical theater, Brett and Mahler won the 2019 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical. [4]
In 2020, Brett produced “Sweet Home Chicago”, a music video to raise funds for Chicago’s performing artists and venues, sidelined by the pandemic. The music video, featuring dozens of Chicago celebrities including Julia Louis Dreyfus, Keegan Michael Key, Jim Belushi, Twista, Ramsey Lewis and Jim Peterik, raised more than $100,000 and won two, regional Emmy Awards. [5]
Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is an example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American TV, where it aired for three years on two different networks, simultaneously (1981-1983).
Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One (2009).
Laura Elizabeth Metcalf is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including two Tony Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards.
Andrea Louise Martin is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series SCTV and Great News. She has appeared in films such as Black Christmas (1974), Wag the Dog (1997), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016), and Little Italy (2018). She has also lent her voice to the animated films Anastasia (1997), The Rugrats Movie (1998), and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001).
Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series Saturday Night Live and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to much of the pre-1974 Rankin-Bass library and Lassie from 1988 to 1996 before they sold the rights to Golden Books Family Entertainment.
David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer. He is best known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
Jeffrey Daniel Whitty is an American playwright, actor, and screenwriter.
Glenne Aimee Headly was an American actress. She was widely known for her roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, and Mr. Holland's Opus. Headly received a Theatre World Award and four Joseph Jefferson Awards and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago had long been a popular destination for touring productions, as well as original productions that transfer to Broadway and other cities. According to Variety editor Gordon Cox, beside New York City, Chicago has one of the most lively theater scenes in the United States. As many as 100 shows could be seen any given night from 200 companies as of 2018, some with national reputations and many in creative "storefront" theaters, demonstrating a vibrant theater scene "from the ground up". According to American Theatre magazine, Chicago's theater is "justly legendary".
The Apollo Theater Chicago was built in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1978, by theatre producers Jason Brett and Stuart Oken. Located at 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., the Apollo has 440 seats and a lobby featuring art exhibits and a full bar. The venue is currently temporarily closed due to COVID-19, however it is planning to reopen on June 7 2020 with the musical Be More Chill. The theatre is also the home of the Emerald City Theatre Company. The Apollo Theater Chicago has no relation to the Apollo Theater in New York City.
Sheldon Arthur Patinkin was a chair of the Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago, Artistic Director of the Getz Theater of Columbia College, Artistic Consultant of The Second City and of Steppenwolf Theatre and Co-Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre Summer Ensemble Workshops.
Andrew Alexander is a theater and television producer best known for his previous leadership and co-ownership of The Second City, and co-developing and producing the television show SCTV.
The Factory Theater is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1992. Originally working out of a 50-seat storefront theater in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the northern part of Chicago, the company has produced over 100 shows during its existence. The typical schedule during the first five seasons of the Factory Theater was a Thursday evening show, a Friday/Saturday mainstage show, and a Friday/Saturday late-night show. In 1997, after years of ongoing improvements and renovations to the theater in an unsuccessful attempt to satisfy building-code requirements, the company moved out of its Rogers Park storefront and into the Footsteps Theater's space on Clark Street in the Andersonville neighborhood. They were itinerant from 2000-2003 then took residence at the Prop Thtr in Chicago. As of 2015, they have moved into their new 70-seat space right back in Rogers Park on Howard Street right by the CTA Red Line.
Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble.
Eric Simonson is an American writer and director in theatre, film and opera. He is a member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and the author of plays Lombardi, Fake, Honest, Magic/Bird and Bronx Bombers. He won the 2005 Academy Award for his short documentary A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 1993 for The Song of Jacob Zulu.
Amy Morton is an American actress and director, best known for her work in theatre. Morton was nominated two times for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performances in August: Osage County and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. On screen, she is known for her performances in films Rookie of the Year (1993), Up in the Air (2009), The Dilemma (2011) and Bluebird (2013). In 2014, Morton began starring as Sergeant Trudy Platt in the NBC drama series Chicago P.D.
Jeff Melvoin is an American television writer, producer, and educator. He has written dozens and produced hundreds of one-hour episodes on over a dozen television series.
Laura Eason is an American playwright and screenwriter.
David Ray Campbell is an American television writer, theater producer, and former comedy manager. With his partner, Jim Jinkins, Campbell helped create the Nickelodeon animated television series Doug, which launched the Nicktoons brand. He is also the co-founder of Jumbo Pictures and Cartoon Pizza, and is currently developing the Broadway musical, Holy Fire!
