About the author:
“Terror” shouldn’t be in the vocabulary of a writer who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, after having been a Pulitzer finalist twice in the past five years. We’re referring to Quiara Alegria Hudes, whose award-winning play, Water By the Spoonful, is currently in previews at Second Stage. It’s the second in a ...

About the author:
Chuck Cooper’s soulful singing voice has delighted Broadway audiences since 1983, when he made his debut in Amen Corner. He went on to appear in Chicago, Caroline, or Change, Lennon, Finian’s Rainbow, Passion and The Life (winning a Tony Award) and has taught master classes at Yale, NYU and other colleges. Now, Cooper is making ...

About the author:
Sometimes an actress seems destined to play a particular role. In the case of Kirsten Holly Smith, that role is 1960s “blue-eyed soul” singer Dusty Springfield, and Smith has spent the last six years developing the biographical musical that became Forever Dusty. In addition to writing the script with Jonathan Vankin, Smith sings hits such as “Son ...

About the author:
Canadian-born director Stafford Arima first made a splash across the pond, helming the Olivier-winning West End production of Ragtime. Arima headed to New York to direct the hilarious off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz before going west to helm Allegiance at San Francisco’s Old Globe. Last season, Arima brought a revamped version of the infamous Broadway flop Carrie ...

About the author:
Aaron Posner has built a thriving career as a theater administrator and director of award-winning productions in the Washington DC area, with an emphasis on Shakespeare. But this busy stage pro has also found time to adapt two beloved works of fiction by Chaim Potok, The Chosen (co-written with Potok) and the coming-of-age drama My Name is ...

About the author:
Playwright David Henry Hwang first made Broadway waves in 1988 with his Tony-winning tour-de-force M. Butterfly, based on Puccini’s classic opera. Eight years later, Golden Child, a play based on Hwang’s own Chinese family, premiered at the Public Theater and later opened on Broadway starring Julyana Soelistyo and Randall Duk Kim. Now, the prolific playwright ...

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Ron Kunene has been part of The Lion King family since he provided background vocals in Disney's 1994 Oscar-winning motion picture, and today, he remains one of only two actors to have been in the ensemble of the Broadway production since it opened in 1997. A South African transplant and a graduate of UCLA, Kunene praises ...

About the author:
In the past decade, Theresa Rebeck has emerged as one of America's most prolific and successful playwrights, shifting with ease from thrillers (The Water's Edge; Mauritius) to comedies set in the worlds of theater (The Understudy) and literature (Seminar). She also found time to write a novel (Three Girls and Their Brother) and create NBC ...

About the author:
When it comes to tough guy roles, Anthony LaPaglia is in his comfort zone, with a 1998 Tony Award for his performance as dock worker Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge and a seven-season run as FBI agent Jack Malone in TV’s Without a Trace. The Australian-born actor might seem like a surprising choice ...

About the author:
Ayad Akhtar digs deeply into questions of identity, exploring the inner life of young Muslim-Americans and presenting his findings—warts and all—in an impressive variety of artistic forms. Akhtar co-wrote and starred in the 2005 feature film The War Within, which earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Screenplay. His recent novel, American Dervish, received ...