Alan Alda, a seven-time Emmy Award–winner, played Hawkeye Pierce and wrote many of the episodes on the classic TV series M*A*S*H, and appeared in continuing roles on ER, The West Wing, 30 Rock, and The Blacklist. He has starred in, written, and directed many films, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Aviator. 

His interest in science led to his hosting the award-winning PBS series Scientific American Frontiers for 11 years, on which he interviewed hundreds of scientists.  Also on PBS he hosted The Human Spark, winning the 2010 Kavli Science Journalism Award, and Brains on Trial in 2013. On Broadway, he appeared as the physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED. He is the author of the play Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie. He has won the National Science Board’s “Public Service Award,” the Scientific American “Lifetime Achievement Award,” and the American Chemical Society Award for “Public Service,” among others.  He is a Visiting Professor at Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.

Francesca Faridany has performed on Broadway in Macbeth, Man and Boy, The 39 Steps,  and The Homecoming, and Off-Broadway: The NY Idea, Orlando, and The Stronger. Regional highlights include the 2013 Helen Hayes Best Actress award winner for Strange Interlude (Shakespeare Theatre, DC), Julia in Albee’s A Delicate Balance (McCarter), title role in her own adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s Fräulein Else (Sundance Theater Lab, Berkeley Rep., La Jolla, Long Wharf, McCarter Theaters), Narrator in the Sitwell/Walton Façade (Caramoor Music Festival), Cassandra in Agamemnon opposite Tyne Daly (Getty Villa, Malibu) and the many productions with director Stephen Wadsworth: As You Like It, The Oresteia, Don Juan, Design for Living, An Ideal Husband, Changes of Heart, The Game of Love and Chance, and others. FILM: Conceiving Ada opposite Tilda Swinton. MEDIA: Lady Macbeth and Titania for the New Book Press Wordplay Shakespeare series. RADIO: Quartermain’s Terms (BBC). TV: E.R., Deadline, Law & Order, Law&Order; SVU. Francesca trained in London at The Drama Centre.

Cynthia Nixon made her film debut in Little Darlings at 12 years old and her Broadway debut at 14 in The Philadelphia Story. Since then she’s appeared in over 40 plays, countless films and television shows, and received Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Best known for her role as Miranda on HBO’s Sex and the City, Nixon will appear in Life Itself alongside Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman and Josh Mond’s indie film James White. She recently wrapped Nikole Beckwith’s drama Stockholm, Pennsylvania, opposite Saoirse Ronan and appeared in a recurring role on NBC’s Hannibal. This fall she will appear in the Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing as Charlotte, the mother of the character she created in the same play exactly 30 years ago: In real life; Cynthia spends a good portion of her off-time fighting for funding for New York public schools and for LGBT equality. She lives in downtown Manhattan with her wife Christine Marinoni and their three children.

Paul Rudd has performed on Broadway in Grace, Three Days of Rain, The Last Night at Ballyhoo, Twelfth Night (Lincoln Center). Other theater: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (West End, London), The Shape of Things (Off Broadway, Almedia Theatre London), Bash (Off Broadway, LA), Ancestral Voices. Films include: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, I Love You, Man, Role Models (co-writer), Our Idiot Brother, This Is 40, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Dinner for Schmucks, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wanderlust, Prince Avalanche, Wet Hot American Summer, Cider House Rules, The Object of my Affection, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Clueless. Upcoming films include: They Came Together with Amy Poehler and Marvel’s ANT-MAN. Television: Party Down (co-writer/co-creator), Friends (as Mike Hannigan).

Mark Brokaw’s work on Broadway includes Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Lyons, After Miss Julie, Cry-Baby, The Constant Wife, Reckless. New York premieres include works by: David Auburn, Lynda Barry (The Good Times Are Killing Me), Douglas Carter Beane (As Bees in Honey Drown), Charles Busch (Olive and the Bitter Herbs), Julia Cho, Lisa Kron (2.5 Minute Ride), Kenneth Lonergan (This Is Our Youth, Lobby Hero), Eduardo Machado, Nicky Silver (The Lyons), Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) and Wendy Wasserstein. Regional includes Yale Rep, Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Center Theatre Group, Hartford Stage, La Jolla, Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, Sundance Theatre Lab, Kennedy Center, and the O’Neill Conference. He has directed at London’s Donmar Warehouse and Menier Chocolate Factory, Dublin’s Gate Theatre and the Sydney Opera House. Mark is the Artistic Director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre. Artistic associate: Roundabout Theatre.