ACT I
Jessie Rosen
Jessie Rosen is a Jersey-bred, LA-based writer, producer and storyteller.
She is the creator/producer of the storytelling series SUNDAY NIGHT SEX TALKS, performed monthly at UCB with talent such as Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Nate Corddry (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Phoebe Robinson (2 Dope Queens). Sex Talks was recently featured on ABC’s The Bachelorette.
Rosen is also the creator/writer of the blog 20-NOTHINGS—named a Top 25 Blog by TIME magazine and Top 100 Websites for Women and Top 10 Websites for Millennials by Forbes.
In 2016 Rosen’s YA novel, DEAD RINGER was published by Full Fathom Five. She is currently at work on a ½ hour comedy for Warner Brothers TV with Jim Parson’s That’s Wonderful. In her spare time, she watches hip hop dance videos on YouTube.
Ben Decter
Ben Decter is an Emmy Award-winning composer and songwriter. Current projects include the Fox drama, Lucifer. When not writing, Ben can be found baking, boxing, gardening, or occasionally speaking with drug companies or lobbying congress on the importance of patient access to medicine. He has 2 grown children and a wife, all of whom challenge him in different, unexpected ways.
Laura Silverman
Laura Silverman is a writer and actress, best known for Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Comeback, and Bob’s Burgers. She currently has a pilot in development with Is or Isn’t Entertainment and Sony Television, and can next be seen in the upcoming season of Goliath on Amazon. She was once forced by a judge to say, ‘I want to get out of jury duty’ in a cartoon voice, in front of a full courtroom, and it was so humiliating that she immediately burst into tears (but it was worth it)—check her out as Shonda, Shinda, and Khrysthalle on Disney’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil).
Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell is a southern girl, born and raised in New Orleans. She comes from a long line of dreamers, storytellers, and men who weep. Katie has been an actress for over 30 years in television, stage, and voice-overs. For this career choice she blames Helen Keller. But that is a story for another time.
She has turned her attention to writing, which is what she truly wanted to do all along.
Currently finishing a novel, Big Daddy's Knee, set in 1969 Louisiana. She has 2 essays printed in the book Deliver Me. You can read more of her work on Medium.com .
She lives in Los Angeles with the kid.
Josh Radnor and Ben Lee
Josh Radnor:
Josh Radnor starred as Ted Mosby on the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Josh made his writing and directorial debut in the independent film Happythankyoumoreplease for which he won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. He also wrote, directed and starred in Liberal Arts, which also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Radnor has appeared on Broadway in Disgraced which was nominated for a Tony for best play, as well as portraying Dr. Jedediah Foster on the PBS American Civil War drama series, Mercy Street. Josh is currently on tour with Ben Lee supporting the release of their self-titled album, Radnor/Lee. He is set to star in the upcoming NBC series, Rise.
Ben Lee:
Ben Lee is an Australian singer/songwriter who first came to attention in the early 1990’s when his teenage underground homemade pop songs were championed by the tastemaker heroes of the day, the Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth. Ben has gone on to be a prolific creator of beloved spiritual-indie albums like Awake is the New Sleep, Love is the Great Rebellion, and Freedom, Love & the Recuperation of the Human Mind. He has also been a collaborator with anyone who is anyone in the world of intelligent songwriting: a supergroup with Ben Folds called The Bens, producer on Jill Sobule’s upcoming Nostalgia Kills, songwriter for singers such as Zooey Deschanel and Neil Finn on his Mixtape album, folky duo Radnor & Lee with actor/director Josh Radnor, producer/co-writer for Margaret Cho’s Grammy-nominated ChoDependent, musical director for legendary outsider artist Daniel Johnston, and has even written a quirky cosmic musical called B is for Beer with legendary American author Tom Robbins.
ACT II
Tom Freund
“Tom Freund is indeed one of the great singer- songwriters. He constructs a unique world, defines it, and then burns it to the ground. Truly unique and absolutely brilliant.” —All Music Guide
Kat Evasco
Kat Evasco is a writer, stand up comedian, performance artist, and educator. Evasco is best known for her national touring autobiographical one-woman show, Mommy Queerest, co-written and directed by John Caldon. She has performed at venues including the Haha Cafe, San Jose Improv, the Purple Onion, Napa Valley Opera House, Logan Center for the Arts, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and FringeArts. Evasco’s current projects include the development of Prieto, a solo show written and performed by nationally acclaimed poet and undocumented activist, Yosimar Reyes, in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas.
Kerry Ehrin
Kerry Ehrin executive produced and co-created the well-reviewed and Emmy-nominated Bates Motel, which ran for five seasons on A&E.
A native of Los Angeles, she has worked consistently as a screenwriter in television and film on such shows as Rise, Friday Night Lights, and Parenthood.
Ehrin has received numerous Emmy and WGA nominations, as well as four AFI awards. She studied playwriting at UCLA and was mentored at an early age by the legendary science fiction writer Richard Matheson, and has worked alongside many iconic showrunners such as Jason Katims, Carlton Cuse and David E Kelley.
Al Madrigal
As programs like The Moth Radio Hour and This American Life turn more and more people on to the power of a well-told story, so comedian Al Madrigal becomes more and more popular. With good reason, as The Daily Show‘s “senior Latino correspondent” is perhaps the most hilarious storyteller to hit the stage since David Sedaris. His true-life tales have been featured on The Tonight Show, Conan, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Kimmel. And if that’s not enough for you to come out and see him live, he was named Best Stand-Up Comedian at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and recently taped an hour special for ABC and Univision that won the 2015 “Storyteller Award” at the Mixed Remixed Festival in Los Angeles. Now Madrigal, the man who “will make you howl until you spit expensive mineral water from your nose” (New York Post), headlines a venue near you.
LARRY JOHN MCNALLY
Larry John McNally is a veteran singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his memorable songwriting. His debut album was released in 1981. His songs have been recorded by some of the greatest artists of all time, including The Eagles (I Love to Watch a Woman Dance), Aaron Neville, Bonnie Raitt (Nobody's Girl), Mavis Staples, Rod Stewart (The Motown Song) and more. His lyrics are literary yet conversational and his guitar playing has been described as "folk-Hendrix." He is currently touring the world with his new project, McNally Waters, which is Larry with partner Harry Waters, son of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
Lucy Schwartz
When Lucy Schwartz was a senior in high school, she wrote the opening and closing songs for the Meg Ryan film, The Women. Now at 28, she has released 3 albums, 2 EPs, and has hand-tailored original songs for many films and TV shows including Twilight, Shrek, What Maisie Knew, Mother & Child, The Good Wife, Nashville and the international theme song for Parenthood. Lucy expresses her artistry through many different mediums. She takes polaroids with her late grandfather’s Polaroid camera, she writes poems and short stories on her blog “Golden Rabbit And The Horseman”, and she also likes to act (you might have spotted her as a singing bumble bee Waitress on House of Lies).
David Schwartz
Composer David Schwartz is currently scoring the NBC hit series The Good Place and the Netlix/ Fox series Arrested Development. He recently finished season 2 of the Netflix's Lady Dynamite, starring Maria Bamford. David has been nominated for 3 Emmy’s including the main title music for the lauded HBO drama Deadwood. His music for the beloved CBS series Northern Exposure set the tone of the show for all seven seasons and his theme song was nominated for a Grammy. David's film work includes Alex Gibney’s Sundance hit Gonzo; The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
As a bassist & producer he has worked with Larry John McNally, Louise Goffin, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Lucy Schwartz, John Doe, Landon Pig, John Hall, Manhattan Transfer & John Sebastian.
Mona Tavakoli
Mona Tavakoli is a Los Angeles-based touring drummer, singer and performer who believes in making music that unites, elevates and connects.
While Mona is equally comfortable performing as a drummer and a percussionist, she is especially known for adapting the cajón to unexpected genres such as rock and pop. She has designed a signature instrument called The MT Box produced by Latin Percussion.
Mona is co-founder and co-director of the Rock n’ Roll Camp For Girls Los Angeles, a nonprofit that encourages girls to find their voices through music during an intensive, weeklong summer day camp.