Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, "Bring Me Some Water", garnered Etheridge her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female in 1989. Her second album, Brave and Crazy, appeared that same year and earned Etheridge two more Grammy nominations. In 1992, Etheridge released her third album, Never Enough, and its lead single, "Ain't It Heavy", won Etheridge her first Grammy Award.
Anthony Robert Kushner is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage, he is most known for his seminal work Angels in America, which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaimed HBO miniseries of the same name. At the turn of the 21st century, he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner is among the few playwrights in history nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards also recognize achievements in other branches of the media and arts, including theatre, music, journalism and advertising.
The Last Session is a musical with the book by Jim Brochu and the music and lyrics by Steve Schalchlin, with additional lyrics by John Bettis and Marie Cain. The musical is about a singer/songwriter who has decided to commit suicide to end his battle with AIDS, but only after one last recording session in the studio. The musical was presented Off-Broadway in 1997.
Miss Coco Peru is the drag persona of American actor, comedian and drag performer Clinton Leupp, known for her role in the 1999 independent film Trick and for her series of live theater performances. Recognizable by her "trademark copper-toned flip hairdo", Peru also starred in Richard Day's Girls Will Be Girls (2003) and was one of six performers featured in the Logo original stand-up comedy series Wisecrack (2005). She has also appeared in a number of other supporting and guest-starring roles in film and television.
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American actor and singer. Considered one of Broadway's most prominent leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company and for his television role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he had a recurring role in Season 14 and was promoted to a series regular in Seasons 15 to 19.
John Glines was an American playwright and theater producer. He won a Tony Award and multiple Drama Desk Awards during his producing career.
Jeff Calhoun is an American director, choreographer, producer and dancer.
Stephen Sachs is an American stage director and playwright. He is the co-artistic director of the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, which he co-founded in 1990.
Jim Brochu is an American actor, writer, director, and playwright. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. Brochu studied at Carnegie-Mellon University and received his B.A. from St. Francis College. His stage debut was in a production of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. As a friend of Lucille Ball, he is the author of the unauthorized biography of Lucille Ball, titled Lucy in the Afternoon, and in this capacity, appeared on an episode of MythBusters.
Matt Shakman is an American director and former child actor. He produced and directed WandaVision and has directed episodes of The Great, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fargo and Game of Thrones. He is also directing the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He is the artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, California.
The Celebration Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre company in Los Angeles, founded in 1982. The company is located in West Hollywood, on the west end of Theatre Row, and specializes in works representing the LGBTQ+ experience.
David Noroña, usually simplified as David Norona, is a Cuban American actor and director who has appeared in films including Though None Go with Me, TV series including The Mentalist and Jack Ryan, and various theatre works. He is co-creator and co-lyricist for Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings and has directed two short films.
Michael Kearns is an American actor, writer, director, teacher, producer, and activist. He is noted for being one of the first openly gay actors, and after an announcement on Entertainment Tonight in 1991, the first openly HIV-positive actor in Hollywood. Kearns attended the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles in 1972, where he has maintained a successful mainstream film and television career alongside an extensive theatrical involvement for over 25 years. He has been actively engaged in the Los Angeles art and political communities, incorporating activism into his theater works. Kearns co-founded Artists Confronting AIDS in 1984 and is a current commissioner of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
Judy's Scary Little Christmas is an original musical written by James Webber and David Church, with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward. It is a spoof on television variety shows of the 1950s, satirizing celebrities’ public images and private lives. The fictional story employs a metaphysical plot twist and spiritual redemption through a ghost The show contains campy humor based on the sensationalized personal lives of the celebrities, with satirical references to pop culture and politics of the 1950s
Michael Alden produces feature films, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Alden served as studio executive at Cannon Films, Pathe International and MGM before moving to New York City in 1991.
Cody Lassen is an American Tony Award-winning and Grammy nominated theater producer and consultant. He is best known for producing the revival of Spring Awakening, which won him an Ovation Award and a Tony nomination.
Joe Patrick Ward is an American playwright, composer and lyricist. Ward has scored music for film and television, and has written songs for several stage plays and musicals. He is a recipient of the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best World Premiere Musical, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and NAACP Theatre Award for Best Production.
