Jason Alexander is best known for his portrayal of George Costanza on Seinfeld, garnering multiple awards. Other notable roles were in Pretty Woman, Shallow Hal, Cinderella, The Electric State, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Young Sheldon, and Bye Bye Birdie. He is a Broadway veteran with 8 original casts on his resume and a Tony Award for Best Musical Actor. He is a producer/writer/composer and director, having directed The Cottage on Broadway as well as feature films, episodic television and commercials. He is co-creator and co-host of the popular podcast, Really? No, Really!.
Santino Fontana received the Tony Award, two Drama Desks, an Outer Critics Circle, a Lortel, an Obie, and the Clarence Derwent Award for his work in both plays and musicals. He was most recently seen on Broadway in his virtuosic Tony-winning turn as Michael/Dorsey in Tootsie. The New York Times wrote, “Santino Fontana [is] one of the most promising actors to emerge in the New York theater.” New York Magazine heralded him as an “indispensable stage star.” He’s been in 10 Broadway shows. Additionally, he is widely known for lending his voice to the villainous Prince Hans in Disney’s Academy Award–winning animated feature Frozen. On television, Fontana was recently seen on Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, and the Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. He starred on CW’s comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as fan favorite Greg and NBC’s drama Shades of Blue, opposite Jennifer Lopez, simultaneously. A critically acclaimed narrator of dozens of audiobooks, he was the original voice of Joe in Caroline Kepnes’s cult hit You and all its sequels. He received the Audie award for Stephen King’s The Institute and was chosen to read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes.
Tania James is the author of Atlas of Unknowns and Aerogrammes. Her novel, The Tusk That Did the Damage, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and longlisted for the Financial Times Oppenheimer Fund Emerging Voices Award. Her newest novel, Loot, was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award.
Nicole Kang is an actress, writer, director, and producer who starred as Poison Ivy for three seasons on CW’s Batwoman. Her additional television and film credits include You, Orange Is the New Black, Instinct, The Social Ones, and The Code. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for her performance in Sense and Sensibility.
Simon Rich is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. He has written for Saturday Night Live, Pixar, and The Simpsons and is the creator of the TV shows Man Seeking Woman and Miracle Workers, which he based on his books. His other collections include Ant Farm, Spoiled Brats, New Teeth, Glory Days, and Hits and Misses, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Rich’s play All In: Comedy About Love premiered at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway in December 2024.
Jess Walter’s award-winning and bestselling novels include The Cold Millions, Beautiful Ruins, and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared in Best American Short Stories. Walter’s eighth novel, So Far Gone, was published in June.
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
“Kerosene,” by Simon Rich, from Glory Days (Little, Brown and Company, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Simon Rich. Used by permission of Levine, Greenberg, Rostan Literary Agency.
“The Cage,” by Tania James, from Tin House (Issue 74, Winter 2017). Copyright © 2017 by Tania James. Used by permission of Aragi Inc.
“The Dark” first appeared in Ploughshares. Copyright © 2023 by Jess Walter. Performed by permission of the author.
