Julie Benko is an actor, singer, and writer based in New York City. She recently marched her band out on Broadway as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, joining the annals of theatrical lore for her sensational understudy-to-star trajectory in the show. Between her tenure as the standby, alternate, and full-time Fanny, she played the role more than 180 times and received numerous accolades for her interpretation, including Theatre World’s Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theatre. She was also called the 2022 “Breakout Star for Theater” in The New York Times, named among “10 Broadway Stars to Watch for 2023” by Variety, honored as one of “40 Under 40” for Crain’s New York Business, hailed by CBS Mornings as “Broadway’s Breakout Star,” and profiled in numerous national media outlets such as The New York Times and Time. Benko was recently back on Broadway, originating the role of Ruth in the long-gestating Barry Manilow musical Harmony. She has played leading roles in many off-Broadway and regional productions and enjoys a vibrant concert career, having headlined sold-out shows at Birdland, 54 Below, Café Carlyle, and venues around the country. Recordings include Hand in Hand, an award-winning duo effort with her pianist-composer spouse Jason Yeager, Introducing Julie Benko, and Christmas With You. She won first prize and the Johnny Mercer Award in the national American Traditions Vocal Competition. Benko holds a BFA in Drama and an MFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. As a writer, Benko has worked across mediums. In 2020, she wrote, directed, and starred in her first short film, The Newlywed’s Guide to Physical Intimacy, which has won praise in numerous international festivals. Her first full-length play, The District, was named a semifinalist at the 2022 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and will have a workshop performance this spring. For more, follow her on TikTok/Instagram @Jujujuliebee or visit her website at www.JulieBenko.com.

Ana Gasteyer, the iconic comedic actress, has made us laugh for countless years. She was recently seen in Once Upon a Mattress on Broadway as Queen Aggravain, and lit up the small screen as Katherine Hastings in Justin Spitzer’s critically acclaimed NBC workplace comedy American Auto. You can see her on Apple TV+ reuniting with Maya Rudolph in season 2 of Loot. Gasteyer wrote, executive produced, and starred in the hilarious holiday film parody A Clüsterfünke Christmas for Comedy Central with Rachel Dratch. Gasteyer is perhaps best known for her iconic work on Saturday Night Live. Some of her most celebrated characters include Martha Stewart, Celine Dion, Margaret from NPR, and music teacher Bobby Culp. Her additional television credits include Lady Dynamite, People of Earth, The Goldbergs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Good Wife, Suburgatory, and Girls. She also starred in two live musicals for Fox: Grease Live! as Principal McGee and A Christmas Story Live! as Mrs. Schwartz. Gasteyer stunned judges on FOX’s The Masked Singer as The Tree. On the big screen, Gasteyer can be seen in Mean Girls, Robot & Frank, What Women Want, The Women, Happiest Season, and Wine Country. She will next be seen starring opposite Lilly Singh in the indie comedy Doin’ It. On stage, Gasteyer starred in the Encores! Off-Center production of A New Brain, and has stunned on Broadway with celebrated performances in The Rocky Horror Show, The Royal Family, The Three Penny Opera, and as Elphaba in Wicked. She also played Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Fosca in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Ms. Hannigan in the beloved classic Annie at the Hollywood Bowl. Gasteyer regularly tours with her cabaret show, featuring songs from her albums I’m Hip! and sugar & booze.

Tony Award–winning actress Bonnie Milligan is a certified star of stage and screen. After making her Broadway debut originating the role of Pamela in Head Over Heels, she has gone on to win a Theatre World Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Tony for her performances. Milligan’s theater credits include Restoration Comedy with the Flea Theater, the national tour of Kinky Boots, and Other World with the Delaware Theatre Company. On television, Bonnie was recently seen in season 2 of And Just Like That… and has appeared in Happy!, New Amsterdam, Chicago Fire, Escape At Dannemora, and as Katherine Winterbottom on Search Party. Most recently, Milligan appeared in a reading of Locker Room Talk at Madison Wells Live, opposite Sara Bareilles and Cecily Strong; played the role of Alice Beane in New York City Center’s ENCORES: Titanic; and starred as Debra in the critically acclaimed Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway, for which she received the Actors’ Equity Foundation Clarence Derwent Award and Tony for Best Featured Actress.

Javier Muñoz is best known for starring and co-creating the role of Alexander Hamilton as part of the original cast of Hamilton on Broadway. He got his break starring as Usnavi in In the Heights on Broadway. He recently starred in the world premiere adaptation of the Emmy-winning series Schmigadoon! at the Kennedy Center and in Galileo at Berkeley Repertory Theater, opposite Raúl Esparza, and the pre-Broadway run of the musical The Devil Wears Prada, in the role of Nigel Owens, with music by Elton John. Muñoz starred in the dark comedy indie feature Monuments, the indie feature Love Reconsidered, and Three Months on Paramount+. He voices a lead character in the Disney Jr. animated series Eureka! Additional screen credits include recurring on Shadowhunters, Blindspot, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Muñoz is also an outspoken activist for USAID and LGBTQ+ rights.

Jeremy Shamos was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Clybourne Park, for which he also received Lucille Lortel Award and Drama League Award nominations. His additional stage appearances include Broadway productions of Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, Richard Greenberg’s The Assembled Parties, and David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, as well as off-Broadway productions of the original Gutenberg! The Musical, If I Forget (Drama Desk nomination), Animals Out of Paper (Drama Desk nomination), The Qualms, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged), Dinner With Friends (Lucille Lortel Award), Engaged, for which he received the Obie Award, and Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are. His work on film and television has provided the opportunity to collaborate on many acclaimed features, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Bad Education, The Big Sick, Birdman, and many prestigious series including The Handmaid’s Tale, Better Call Saul, Succession, Dead Ringers, Nurse Jackie, and Fosse/Verdon. For his recurring roles as part of the ensembles of both The Gilded Age and Only Murders in the Building, he earned SAG Award nominations. An MFA graduate of New York University, Shamos resides with his family in Brooklyn.

Lyman Frank Baum (1856 – 1919) raised fancy poultry, sold fireworks, managed an opera house, opened a department store, and edited a newspaper before finally turning to writing. In 1900, he published his best-known book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Eventually, he wrote fifty-five novels, including thirteen Oz books, four “lost” novels, eighty-three short stories, more than two hundred poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings.

Emma Brewer is a satire and fiction writer whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, McSweeney's, The Cut, Epiphany Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in Vermont with her family and their very special bulldog-chihuahua-dachshund, Zelda.

Kim Fu is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, as well as a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection have been selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net, featured on LeVar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts, and optioned for television and film. Fu's next novel, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts, is forthcoming from Tin House Books in 2026.

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and the essay collection A Little More About Me. Houston teaches in the Creative Writing MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts Creative Writing MFA program, is a Professor of English at UC Davis, and cofounder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers. Her latest work, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood, and Freedom, was published in 2024.

David Means is the author of several short-story collections, including Two Nurses, Smoking; Instructions for a Funeral; The Spot, a New York Times notable book of the year; Assorted Fire Events, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction; The Secret Goldfish; and the novel Hystopia, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and other publications. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013, Means teaches at Vassar College.