Better With You?

A multiple Emmy and Tony nominee, Lauren Ambrose is currently in the third season of the critically lauded series Yellowjackets. She can also be seen on the fourth season of M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant for Apple TV+. Previously, Lauren starred to much acclaim as Eliza Doolittle in Lincoln Center’s production of My Fair Lady at the Vivian Beaumont Theater for director Bartlett Sher. Her performance earned her nominations for a Tony Award for Lead Actress and a Drama League Award. She also won the Outer Critics Circle Award in the category of Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Lauren’s past theater credits include Exit the King on Broadway, Lincoln Center Theater’s Awake and Sing!, and as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia in Hamlet at The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. On the feature side, Lauren can be seen in the MAX original mystery-thriller Caddo Lake alongside Dylan O’Brien and Eliza Scanlen. She can also be seen in Stephan Gyllenhaal's comedy Grassroots. Lauren played Mindy in the Nataile Portman drama The Other Woman and opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor in Michael Almereyda’s unreleased Tonight at Noon. On the small screen, Ambrose is well known for her role of Claire Fisher throughout all five seasons on HBO’s iconic series Six Feet Under, for which she earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. The series was nominated for five SAG Awards, of which the ensemble won twice.

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.

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.

Kristen Iskandrian is the author of the novel Motherest, named a Best Book of 2017 by Publishers Weekly, a defining book of 2017 by TheWall Street Journal, and long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her short fiction can be found in publications including The Best American Short Stories, Joyland, McSweeney’s, Ploughshares, and The O. Henry Prize Short Stories. Iskandrian is the co-owner of Thank You Books, a women-owned independent bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama.

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion, The Interestings, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife, among other novels. The Interestings is currently being adapted as a musical, with a book by Sarah Ruhl and music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles. Wolitzer was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017 and also writes books for young readers. She is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program at Stony Brook University, where she co-founded and co-directs BookEnds, a yearlong intensive for emerging novelists.

CREDITS

“Fair,” by Kim Fu. Commissioned by Symphony Space. Copyright © 2023 by Kim Fu and Symphony Space.

“Quantum Voicemail,” by Kristen Iskandrian. By arrangement with the author, first published in Electric Literature (Issue No. 549, November 22, 2022). Copyright © 2022 by Kristen Iskandrian. Used by permission of the author and Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc. All rights reserved.