Shakiem Evans is a stage and screen actor, dancer, and singer. He is best known for his role as Erik O. Jones in Center Stage (2000). He toured the U.S. in Disney's High School Musical as Chad Danforth (2007).
Evans graduated with a B.F.A. with Honors from the prestigious Carnegie Mellon School Of Drama in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His stage work includes Fame on 42nd Street! (2004), Mamma Mia! (2005), and High School Musical (2007). His television work includes appearances on Sabrina The Teenage Witch (2000), That's Life (2000), and Providence (2002). Additionally he appeared as Tito Jackson in the made for television movie The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). He is perhaps best known for the dance centered drama Center Stage in which he plays Erik O. Jones (2000).
Charles Strouse is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as Bye Bye Birdie and Annie.
Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals Ragtime, which was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and won the Tony for Best Original Score; Once On This Island, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival Of A Musical, the Olivier Award for London's Best Musical, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and eight Tony Awards; and Seussical, which was nominated for a Grammy and is now one of the most performed shows in America. Flaherty was also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for his songs and song score for the animated film musical Anastasia.
Adam Gabriel Garcia is an Australian stage, television, and film actor who is best known for lead roles in musicals such as Saturday Night Fever and Kiss Me, Kate. He is also a trained tap dancer and singer. Garcia has been nominated twice at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 1999 and 2013 respectively.
Center Stage is a 2000 American teen drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner about a group of young dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City. The film explores the issues and difficulties in the world of professional dance, and how each individual copes with the stresses. This movie was Zoe Saldana's and Amanda Schull's film debuts.
Cherry Jones is an American actress. A five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, she has twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play: for the 1995 revival of The Heiress and for the 2005 original production of Doubt. She has also won three Emmy Awards, winning the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2009 for her role as Allison Taylor on the FOX television series 24, and twice winning the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performances in The Handmaid's Tale and Succession. She has also won three Drama Desk Awards. Jones made her Broadway debut in the 1987 original Broadway production of Stepping Out. Other stage credits include Pride's Crossing (1997–98) and The Glass Menagerie (2013–14). Her film appearances include The Horse Whisperer (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Amelia (2009), and The Beaver (2011). In 2012, she played Dr. Judith Evans on the NBC drama Awake.
Adriane Lenox is an American actress, best known for her performances in Broadway theatre. Her performance in the play Doubt: A Parable garnered her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2005. She received another Tony Award nomination for After Midnight in 2014.
Michael DeLorenzo is an American actor, director, writer, producer, dancer, and musician. He is known for his work in television and film.
Charles "Chucky" Klapow is an Australian-born American choreographer and dance instructor who has performed and choreographed for various performers and several television and stage productions. He is also known for his teachings of the mental approach to dance. Klapow's mother is Filipino and his father is Russian American.
Fame is a stage musical based on the 1980 musical film of the same name. It has been staged under two titles; The first, Fame – The Musical conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by José Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami, Florida. The second was as Fame on 42nd Street, where it was performed Off-Broadway at the Little Shubert Theatre on 42nd Street from 2003 to 2004.
David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations.
Lucas Stephen Grabeel is an American actor, film producer, film director, screenwriter, singer, songwriter and dancer. He is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008). Grabeel has appeared in films, such as Halloweentown High (2004), Return to Halloweentown (2006), Alice Upside Down (2007), and The Adventures of Food Boy (2008). He appeared as a young Lex Luthor and Conner Kent in the television series Smallville (2006–2011).
Regina Annette Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award. In July 2017, Taylor was announced as the new Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theatre at Fordham University's theatre program.
Jerry Zaks is an American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me a Tenor, and Six Degrees of Separation and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Guys and Dolls.
Donald Edward Saddler was an American choreographer, dancer, and theatre director.
Jeff Calhoun is an American director, choreographer, producer and dancer.
Warren Carlyle is a British director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for the 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow.
Andy Blankenbuehler is an American dancer, choreographer and director primarily for stage and concerts. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography five times, and has won three times: for In the Heights (2008), Hamilton (2016), and Bandstand (2017). Blankenbuehler's other Broadway choreography work includes 9 to 5, Bring it On: The Musical, and the 2016 Cats revival. Blankenbuehler was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018 for his work on Hamilton. He also choreographed the movie adaptation of Cats.
Dennis Grimaldi is an American theatrical producer, director, and choreographer who has worked on Broadway, Off Broadway, television, and on London's West End. His work includes Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Other People’s Money, Harry Townsend’s Last Stand and Annie Warbucks. Grimaldi choreographed the touring companies of Gigi, The Robber Bridegroom, The Red Bluegrass Western Flyer show, and Broadway; among others.
Christopher Neal Jackson is an American actor, singer, musician, and composer. He began his career in 1995 starring in the Off-Broadway musical Time and the Wind by composer Galt MacDermot at the age of 20. He made his Broadway debut in 1997 as an ensemble member in the original Broadway cast of Disney's The Lion King. He remained with the show for several years, ultimately taking over the role of Simba. He went on to perform leading roles in several more Broadway musicals and plays, including After Midnight, Bronx Bombers, Holler If Ya Hear Me, and Memphis. He drew critical acclaim in several projects with Lin-Manuel Miranda: originating the roles of Benny in In the Heights and George Washington in the smash hit Hamilton. For the latter role he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also collaborated with Miranda on the Disney film Moana in which he provides the singing voice of Chief Tui. His other film work includes secondary roles in After.Life and Tracers.
Bernard Gersten was an American theatrical producer. Beginning in the 1960s through the early 2000s, Gersten played a major role in shaping American drama and musical theatre.