Creativity in Captivity

One of the jazz world's most acclaimed performers, possessing a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing, and powerful emotional resonance. Nicole's passionate, soulful voice and heartfelt charisma have earned her a Soul Train Award for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance," and four Top-10 jazz albums on U.S. Billboard, JazzWeek, HMV Japan and UK Sweet Rhythms charts. Hera...

A DGA-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, producer, and author, known for his signature style and discerning eye for talent. He is the founder of the production company Feigco Entertainment, as well as the content company Powderkeg Media, which aims to champion new voices with a commitment to female, LGBTQIA+ creators, and filmmakers of color. Feig is a visionary filmmaker with a proven...

An award-winning humor writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker Daily Shouts, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, US Weekly Fashion Police, Scary Mommy, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and various other outlets. Wendi is the author of the middle-grade book Ginger Mancino, Kid Comedian and the humorous memoir I’m Wearing Tunics Now, and a contributor to many anthologies. H...

A widely accomplished musical director, conductor, pianist, composer, and arranger, working primarily in the realm of musical theatre. His experience on Broadway includes both conducting and playing keyboards for Cinderella, How to Succeed in Business…, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Phantom of the Opera and Carousel. Larry has also served as Musical Director fo...

A skilled variety artist in the Los Angeles art scene who made history being the only non-magician ever to be nominated for the Magic Castle Awards. Lindsay mixes classic vaudeville tricks with a theatrical, seductive spin that gives her audience a uniquely memorable experience, like the greats of a bygone era. She started out as an actor, training heavily in the very physical Suzuki acting techni...

The Executive Director of New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and the veteran principal bass in the comic operas H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. David produced the all-new critically-acclaimed production of The Mikado, and co-produced I’ve Got a Little Twist, NYGASP’s original cabaret. His other roles for NYGASP include fundraising, marketing, board development and strateg...

Tracy Brigden is the Senior Artistic Producer at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. She has over 20 years of experience in off-Broadway and regional theater as a dynamic artistic leader with an extensive knowledge of the new play development and production process, as well as strong, long term relationships with major American and international playwrights, composers, actors, directors, designers...

Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what's in his brain and make it real, working with every material and in every medium he could fathom — metal, paper, glass, plastic, rubber, foam, plaster, pneumatics, hydraulics, animatronics, neon, glassblowing, mold-making and injection molding to name just a few. In 1993, Adam began concentrating his career on the special-...

Gael Chandler began her career at a drive-in theatre in Santa Rosa, CA as a cashier at the Star-Vue Motor Movies, where she became interested in the projection booth. There she learned base and emulsion, cement and tape splicing and other 35mm basics. Eventually, her union brothers and the town's theatre managers were persuaded to let her in the booth and the union. This meant she got to run Rocky...

A self-taught filmmaker who has directed four feature films, three documentaries and over 1300 national & regional commercials, as well as Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Comedy Special. Jordan directs advertising campaigns for brands and agencies from all over the world. He has directed comedy giants Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Keegan-Michael Key, Rory Scovel and other notable celebrities like Ar...

Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author and curator. Her bestselling book How Creativity Rules The World was released in March of 2022. In 2015 Brito was selected by Complex magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World and in 2020 she was named by ARTnews as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world. A Harvard graduate,...

Matt Goldman is a New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer. He has been nominated for a Writer’s Guild Award, the Shamus Award and the Nero Award. Matt's television writing credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, Love & War, Working, Three Sisters, Level Up, Just Add Magic, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. He s...

The Tony Award winning writing team of the musicals: Ragtime, Anastasia, Seussical, Once on This Island, My Favorite Year, Rocky, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Lucky Stiff, Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones, A Man of No Importance, Knoxville and Little Dancer. These renowned collaborators have received theater, film and music’s highest honors – the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier...

Asi Wind is a recipient of the Close-up Magician of the Year Award from the prestigious Academy of Magical Arts at Los Angeles’s Magic Castle. For the last decade, Wind has served as the chief consultant to magician David Blaine, working on Blaine’s ABC television specials and his first live tour. Asi’s off-Broadway show, Concert of the Mind, received rave reviews, sold out and extended its run. H...

A multi-talented comedic composer, vocalist, actor and the creator of the irrepressible Broadway Barbara, whose showbiz tales and classic show tunes have made her a social media sensation. Leah is an alumni of the renowned Groundling’s Sunday Company and a founding member of the Transcendence Theatre Company, which earned her a Broadway World “Person to Watch” nomination and the opportunity to ope...

Executive producer / magic consultant for David Copperfield for over 30 years from the live Vegas show at the MGM casino to worldwide touring and television events. In 2017 Chris was awarded a Creative Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts for his mastery of both the art and business of magic. He is one of those rare individuals who was not only proficient, but highly influential in card mag...

The 1st Annual Christmas Cluster is a holiday salute to creativity with many special guest showcasing some seasonal treats. Music, poetry and comedy are on tap to make spirits bright for the week of Christmas. Enjoy music from the Jo Ann Daugherty Trio, Maia Sharp, Tony Haselden, Broadway Barbara, Catherine Porter & Seth Barrish, a poem from Alandra Markman, seasonal stand up comedy from your host...

Peoria native Liv Warfield takes cues from musical influences like Nina Simone, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Sade, Tina Turner and Mary J. Blige, but has carved out a style all her own, which can best be described as “alternative soul with a lil bit of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In 2006, she self-released her debut album Embrace Me. By 2009, she caught the eye of music icon Prince and ultimately joined his gro...

An Emmy Award-winning producer, comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian and musician. Wayne is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old...

An award-winning solo show artist and nationally recognized writing coach who is making a big impact everywhere from off-Broadway to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ann’s show Loveland, played for two years in San Francisco where it won the SF Weekly Award for Best Solo Show and garnered the SF Bay Critic’s Award for Best Original Script. In LA it won the LA Weekly award for Best Solo Show. Her sol...

An award-winning musician and published author who is active in the Austin music scene on vocals, cello, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, electric bass, banjo, dobro, human beatbox and drums. John has produced, performed and recorded with Ozomatli, BoomBoxATX, Schrödinger's Cat, Woodwork, Trio Los Vigilantes, The House Jacks, The Swingle Singers and Sixpence None the Richer. He has eleven...

The author of Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds: A Writer’s Guide. Margaret was born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Screenwriting from USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her career spans television, film, digital media, games, brand storytelling, location-based entertainment and immersive experiences. Margaret has served as a story...

Steven Banks is a multi-disciplinary artist — a writer, musician, comedian and actor. He was head writer on SpongeBob SquarePants and also wrote on CatDog and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade series Middle School Bites. He wrote and starred in the cult classic Home Entertainment Center on Amazon, and co-created Shadowland with the dance/the...

A Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter, touring musician and philanthropist who started her career with the platinum-selling hit song Stay (I Missed You) from the film Reality Bites. A trailblazing independent artist, Lisa was the first pop musician to have a Number 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. She followed that remarkable feat with several hit singles and six albums, two o...

An Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, actor and comedian currently serving as the announcer of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a writer/producer of Saturday Night Live. Prior to The Tonight Show, Higgins was the announcer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014. Early in his career, he was part of the sketch comedy trio The Higgins Boys and Gruber, who had their own eponymo...