Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history" according to music critic Donal Henahan. Bernstein's honors and accolades include seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981.
George Takei is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise.
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell (1971), Pippin (1972), and Wicked (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Prince of Egypt, and Enchanted (2007).
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 the Grammy Award. 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.
Hugh Leonard was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiographies, three novels, numerous screenplays and teleplays, and a regular newspaper column.
Theodore Raymond Knight is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on the ABC medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2007.
The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where confidential assistance is provided by trained counselors. The stated goals of the project are to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for youth, as well as to offer guidance and resources to parents and educators in order to foster safe, accepting, and inclusive environments for all youth, at home, schools and colleges.
Zachary John Quinto is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010); Spock in the film Star Trek (2009) and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016); Charlie Manx in the AMC series NOS4A2, and Dr. Oliver Thredson in American Horror Story: Asylum, for which he received a nomination for an Emmy award. His other starring film roles include Margin Call (2011), Hitman: Agent 47 (2015), Snowden (2016), and Hotel Artemis (2018). He also appeared in smaller roles on television series, such as So Notorious, The Slap, and 24, and on stage in Angels in America, The Glass Menagerie, and Smokefall.
The Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is a theater company located Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1974 as The Philadelphia Company by Robert Hedley and Jean Harrison. Since October 2007, PTC's has been based out of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts. Prior to that, PTC was housed at the historic Plays and Players Theatre for 25 years.
Broadway Damage is a 1997 gay-themed romantic comedy-drama directed by Victor Mignatti and starring Mara Hobel, Michael Lucas, Hugh Panaro and Aaron Williams. The sound editor was Rick Dior, who won an Oscar for Best Sound for the film Apollo 13. It was filmed in Greenwich Village.
Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is an international Nichiren Buddhist organisation run by two vice-presidents including Hiromasa Ikeda. It was founded in 1975 by his father, Daisaku Ikeda, as an umbrella organization of Soka Gakkai. The SGI claims approximately 12 million adherents in 192 countries and territories since the 1990s, more than 1.5 million of whom resided outside of Japan as of 2012. However, the number is controversial and impossible to verify.
David Skinner is a Film and Theatre Producer.
Trevor is a 1994 American short film directed by Peggy Rajski, produced by Randy Stone and Peggy Rajski, and written by Celeste Lecesne. Set in 1981, the film follows what happens to 13-year-old Trevor, a Diana Ross fan, when his crush on a schoolmate named Pinky Faraday gets discovered.
American Blues Theater is a nonprofit, professional Equity theater company in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The ensemble currently has 30 members.
My Big Gay Italian Wedding is a play written by Anthony J. Wilkinson that premiered off-Broadway in 2003, at the Actor's Playhouse in New York City. In September 2009, an updated version co-starring Scott Evans and with choreography by J. Austin Eyer played a benefit performance at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island. The play then opened with a new cast that included Reichen Lehmkuhl in May 2010 at the St. Luke's Theatre on West 46th Street, in Manhattan, for an open-ended run that concluded in August 2015.
National Suicide Prevention Week (NSPW) is an annual week-long campaign in the United States to inform and engage health professionals and the general public about suicide prevention and warning signs of suicide. By drawing attention to the problem of suicide in the United States, the campaign also strives to reduce the stigma surrounding the topic, as well as encourage the pursuit of mental health assistance and support people who have attempted suicide.
Allegiance is a musical with music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and a book by Marc Acito, Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. The story, set during the Japanese American internment of World War II, was inspired by the personal experiences of George Takei, who starred in the musical. It follows the Kimura family in the years following the attack on Pearl Harbor, as they are forced to leave their farm in Salinas, California and are sent to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in the rural plains of Wyoming.
Daryl Roth is an American theatre producer who has produced over 90 productions on and off Broadway. Most often serving as a co-producer or investor, Roth has also been a lead producer of Broadway shows such as Kinky Boots, Indecent, Sylvia, It Shoulda Been You, and The Normal Heart.
Jane Dubin is an American producer of Broadway plays. She won a Tony Award in 2009 for The Norman Conquests, for the Best Broadway Play Revival of 2009. Her productions have won Tony Awards for An American in Paris (2015) as well as Ann and Peter the Starcatcher. She has worked as a board member with the Houses on the Moon theater company. She is president of Double Play Connections. She co-produced The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey which was nominated at the Lucille Lortel Awards in 2016 for best Solo Show. At age 40, she underwent an abrupt career transformation, going from investment management to the "big, shining lights of Broadway"; she started out by helping with the business end of productions, and gradually became a full-fledged Broadway producer. Dubin is a graduate of the University of Rochester and worked for years as an actuary before becoming a Broadway producer.
Peggy M. Rajski is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-producing the 1994 American short film Trevor, which won an Academy Award for "Best Live Action Short Film" at the 67th Annual Academy Awards in 1995. She is also a co-founder of The Trevor Project, a crisis-intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, and an academic who has taught producing and filmmaking. From June 2018 to March 2021, Rajski was dean of the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television in Los Angeles, California. In November 2022 she became Interim CEO of The Trevor Project.
