D.A. Mindell (Playwright) is a playwright and educator based in Manhattan while pursuing his MFA at Columbia University. His work aims to contribute to a canon for transgender artists to explore the breadth and depth of opportunity that cis artists have been able to pursue for centuries. He is thrilled to be working with Second Stage again after participating in the 2024 Next Stage Reading Series. Recent recognition includes participation in the 2024 //dareCommission for Breaking the Binary Theatre, First Kiss Theatre's Summer 2024 Residency, and the 2023 Fair Play Initiative Commission through Florida Atlantic University. He wants to express his immense gratitude for his ability to share his work with the world, as well as his solidarity with those struggling to do so, including the artists of the Jenin Freedom Theatre.

Jess McLeod (Director)  is a first-generation Korean/Filipina/Scottish director & social justice advocate specializing in risky new work about America. NYCLU/Creatives Rebuild Artist-In-Residence; Roundabout Refocus Project Curator; Woolly Mammoth BOLD Resident Director; Resident Director, Hamilton Chicago. Recent NY credits include Atlantic, Roundabout, MTC, EST and Little Island. Regional credits include Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth, Alliance, Goodman, Lyric Opera of Chicago, IAMA, Victory Gardens, San Diego Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Chicago Shakes, The Gift, A Red Orchid Theatre and developmental work at the O’Neill, NAMT, WTF and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. Jess also works frequently at the intersection of art & activism, and has created operas with community groups (Lyric), the #STOPASIANHATE video campaign for NY Rep. Grace Meng’s 3/26 Day of Action & Healing (co-creator) and curated Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s inaugural Arts In Action Festival. She recently served as Co-Chair, with Michael Korie, of the Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Musical Theatre Fellows and is currently under commission at La Jolla Playhouse. MFA, Northwestern. www.jess-mcleod.com | @mcjessmc  

Ross Golan (Book, Music, Lyrics) is a multi-platinum songwriter, artist, podcast host, and advocate. He studied music at the University of Southern California and has since released songs with artists including Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum, Michael Bublé, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Flo Rida, One Direction, Idina Menzel, Nelly, Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo, Meghan Trainor, Cee Lo Green, 5 Seconds of Summer, Snoop Dogg, Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Andy Grammer, James Blunt, Big Sean, Travis Barker, Lukas Graham and Skylar Grey amongst many others. He was awarded 2016 BMI Songwriter Of The Year. As an artist, his concept album The Wrong Man was released on Interscope Records and opened off-Broadway in 2019. His podcast And The Writer Is… with Ross Golan has approximately 1.5 million downloads and has become the perennial songwriting podcast. Each episode is a conversation between Ross and a venerable songwriter discussing their journey in the music industry. As an advocate, he coauthored the proposal to get songwriters added to the Album of the Year award at The Grammys. He has also been a leading voice in passing the Music Modernization Act alongside NSAI, SONA, NMPA, and RIAA. 

Michael Mayer (Director) has worked in a broad spectrum of media from theatre and opera to television and film. Theatre credits include: the new Broadway musical Swept Away, the long-awaited Broadway revival of Funny Girl, the Neil Diamond bio-musical A Beautiful Noise, the hit revival of Little Shop of Horrors, Adam Driver and Keri Russell in Burn This, Head Over Heels (featuring the songs of The Go-Go’s), Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award, Best Musical revival, also National Tour), Spring Awakening (Tony Award/Best Musical and Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Director; also London, National Tour, Vienna, Tokyo, and Seoul productions), Green Day’s American Idiot (also co-author, Drama Desk Award for Best Director; also US, UK and Asia tours), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award/Best Musical also London and National Tour), Side Man (Tony Award/Best Play also London and Kennedy Center Productions), A View from the Bridge (Tony Award/Best Revival), Michael Moore’s The Terms of My Surrender, Everyday Rapture, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Triumph of Love. Off-Broadway credits include Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street (BAM), Chess (Kennedy Center), Love, Love, Love (Roundabout), Brooklynite (Also co-author, Vineyard), Whorl Inside A Loop (with Dick Scanlan, Second Stage), 10 Million Miles (Atlantic): Angels in America. Film: A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD (Excellence in filmmaking, National Board of Review, GLAAD nomination), FLICKA, THE SEAGULL. He was featured in the documentary Broadway Idiot. Television credits Include: SMASH (Pilot, producing director: Season One), two seasons of ALPHA HOUSE (Amazon), Executive Producer on 27 DRESSES and for the HBO film WIG. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto, followed by world premiere co-production (with the English National Opera) of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, and a new production of La Traviata, which broke box office records. Additional awards and fellowships: the inaugural Daryl Roth Creative Spirit, Drama League, Jefferson, Ovation, Alan Schneider, and Carbonell awards; Fox Foundation Fellowship, Two Drama League Fellowships, TCG/NEA Directing Fellowship. He serves on the Boards of New York Stage and Film and the Arthur Miller Foundation. 

Danielle Koenig (Co-Book Writer) is a queer writer, actor, and comedian based in Brooklyn and Los Angeles who tends to write and perform in gay stuff because of the way they are. Their work has been developed with Second Stage, York Theatre, TheatreNOW, and Syracuse University, and has been seen regionally in Los Angeles, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and Syracuse, NY. They have been commissioned by FUSE Theatre and thrice by the Brooklyn Children’s Theater, and are a proud graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and member of UNTITLED Musical Writers Group. Their standalone songs have been seen at theatrical venues across New York City including Joe’s Pub, Rattlestick Playwright's Theater, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, and more. IG: @danielle_koenig | DanielleKoenig.com 

Keiko Green (Playwright) (she/her) is a playwright, screenwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. Productions include: You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! (Upcoming - South Coast Rep), Empty Ride (Upcoming - Old Globe), Gorgeous (Upcoming - Raven Theatre), Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play (Old Globe; Upcoming - San Francisco Playhouse), Hells Canyon (Theater Mu), Sharon (Cygnet Theatre), Hometown Boy (Actors Express; Seattle Public Theater), and Nadeshiko (Sound Theatre Company). Her plays have been developed by the Old Globe, the Kennedy Center, the National New Play Network, Playwrights Realm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, and twice by the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. She currently holds commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan Foundation and Seattle Children's Theatre/Kennedy Center. Awards/Honors: Kilroys List, San Diego Critics Circle Award (Outstanding New Play), Gregory Award (Outstanding New Play). As a screenwriter, she has worked on multiple projects, including Hulu’s upcoming Interior Chinatown and Apple TV's upcoming Margo's Got Money Troubles. As an actor, she has performed at theaters nationwide and originated the role of Connie in Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap at the Denver Center and Seattle Rep. BFA: NYU Drama - Experimental Theatre Wing, MFA: UCSD Playwriting.

Zhailon Levingston (Director) is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, and Director. He is a board member for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, which received an honorary Tony Award in 2021. Zhailon is also the Artistic Director of Inheritance Theatre Project. Select credits include: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Broadway), Hadestown (Korea), The Wiz (Cincinnati Children’s Theatre), Chicken and Biscuits (Broadway), Patience (Second Stage), Little Miss Perfect (Goodspeed), Cats: The Jellicle Ball (Perelman Performing Arts Center), Table 17 (MCC Theater).

Jay Stull (Playwright) is a theatermaker whose work has been developed or produced by Ars Nova, The Alliance Theater, The Brick, NY City Center Off Center, NYTW, Joe’s Pub, The Gym at Judson, The Jackalope Theater Company, The Mercury Store, PlayCo, Roundabout, and The Tank. He is an alumnus of the Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and The Civilians R&D Group, and is a recipient of a Yaddo Fellowship and a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Grant for Playwriting. He has taught theater at Harvard College, NYU-Tisch, and the American Academy of Dramatic Art. MFA: Columbia. www.jaystull.com

Keenan Tyler Oliphant (Director) is a Theatre-maker and Director from South Africa. Keenan’s work is in the lineage of the communal theatre-making and storytelling traditions of South Africa. As a Theatre-maker Keenan recalls his traditional Southern African storytelling lineage by simultaneously exchanging with histories and futures to create spaces of healing, investigation, mourning and celebration through performance. Selected directing credits include Heather Christian’s TERCE: A Practical Breviary, Will You Come With Me? (PlayCo May 2022), Jeesun Choi’s To the Ends of the Earth (JACK), Jay Stull’s The Singularity Play (Havard TDM; Alliance Theatre Reading) Sam Grabiner’s People on Earth (Columbia University), Vivian Barnes’ Intro To (Ensemble Stage Theatre), Live from Mount Olympus Podcast (The Team), Kyk Hoe Skyn Die Son [Look at How the Sun Shines] (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks) and Self-Combustion of a 30 Something Year Old... (New Ohio Producers Club). Keenan has developed work with Ars Nova, New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard Theatre and more. Keenan is an alumnus of the Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow (2020-2021), the Drama League Directing Fellowship (2021-2022) and Columbia University MFA in Directing for Theatre program. 

Aurora Real de Asua (Playwright) is a playwright, filmmaker, and performer. Her play WIPEOUT received a rolling world premiere through the New Play Network in 2024, with productions at Rivendell Theatre, B Street Theatre, and Gloucester Stage Company, and was awarded NNPN's David Goldman Fund for New American Plays Award. Other productions include Constellations Stage and Screen, Alleyway Theatre, and Studio Theatre (upcoming). Other plays include WET (New Harmony's PlayFest, Playwright's Realm Scratchpad Series), The Pride Before (Beyond the Realm), and Aping Jane (Rivendell's Fresh Produce Series). Her work has been developed at Manhattan Theater Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the New Harmony Project, and the Old Globe. Her short film Heartsong debuted on Short of the Week and screened at various festivals. It is available to stream online. Aurora holds a BA in Theatre from Northwestern University and an MFA in film from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Jesse Thompkins III award for achievement in screenwriting.