Joe Kinosian (Book and Music) is the composer and co-bookwriter (with lyricist Kellen Blair) of Murder for Two, which he’s also performed in over 700 times. Murder for Two had its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, receiving the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical and earning Joe a nomination for Best Leading Actor, before going on to an acclaimed off-Broadway run, where it earned Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. A two-year national tour and well-received productions in Japan, China, Korea, England, Chile, and Argentina followed. Joe’s work with Kellen has been showcased at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and on Broadway at the Theatre World Awards, and their new backstage musical/farce is currently in development at Second Stage Theater. In addition, Joe (with Marcus Stevens) adapted the children’s book Dragons Love Tacos into a successful touring musical. Joe is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, selected and presented by Stephen Schwartz, and the Harrington Award from the BMI Workshop. His acting credits include Dear Edwina (off-Broadway), as well as regional productions of Dirty Blonde with Emily Skinner, An Act of God, and the title role in The Nerd. kinosianandblair.com

Kellen Blair (Book and Lyrics) is the Drama Desk nominated co-creator of Murder for Two, the murder mystery musical comedy that ran for a year off-Broadway and has been continuously produced across the United States and internationally since 2014. The show earned Kellen (and co-writer Joe Kinosian) the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical Work in Chicago and the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers / Lorenz Hart Award for their contribution to musical theatre. Kellen’s lyrics have been heard on Broadway stages (at the Theatre World Awards), at the Kennedy Center, and in theatres across the country. His other musical works include Scrooge in Love (available to license through Tams-Witmark), Just Between the All of Us (an immersive musical comedy commissioned by Pittsburgh CLO), and Diane Steals the Show (being developed with Second Stage Theatre). In addition to writing for the theater, Kellen enjoys writing fiction and poetry. He teaches film and playwriting in New York City, where he lives with his wife and young son. www.kinosianandblair.com

Marisa Smith (Playwright) is an award-winning American playwright. Full-length plays include: Saving Kitty (Eliot Norton award for Jennifer Coolidge Best Actress), and Mad Love (Northern Stage, New Jersey Repertory) which is also an audio drama produced by Wondery called The Defenestrator. Marisa’s 10-Minute plays have been produced in the Boston Marathon of 10- Minute Plays, Barrington Stage and in many other theaters around the country. Screenplays: Second Wind and Surprise Engagement for producer/director Andrew Silver starring English actors June Brown, Harriet Walter and Tamzin Merchant, and Tamzin Outhwaite. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Marisa is also the co-Publisher and owner of Smith and Kraus Publishers.

Eleanor Burgess‘ (Playwright) plays include The Niceties, Start Down, Chill, and These Dying Generations. Her work has been developed or produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Centenary Stage Company, the Lark Play Development Center, the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, Everyday Inferno, Ryder Farm and Luna Stage. She’s been the recipient of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award, an EST/Sloan commission, a Keen Teens Commission, and the Susan Glaspell Award for Women Playwrights. She grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, studied history at Yale College, and recently completed the M.F.A in Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch.

Michael Hollinger (Playwright) is the author of Ghost-Writer, Opus, Tooth and Claw, Red Herring, Incorruptible, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, and Tiny Island, all of which premiered at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company. These plays have enjoyed numerous productions around the country, in New York City, and abroad. His musical A Wonderful Noise (co-authored with Vance Lehmkuhl) has received the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre, the “In the Spirit of America” Award from the Barbara Barondess MacLean Foundation, and a developmental production at Creede Repertory Theatre. His translation/co-adaptation (with Aaron Posner) of Cyrano de Bergerac premiered in 2011 at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Other awards include a Harold & Mimi Steinberg New Play Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, a Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award, an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist, three Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, nominations for Lucille Lortel and John Gassner Awards, and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Michael is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University, and a proud alumnus of New Dramatists.

Joe Landry’s (Playwright) plays have been produced across the country and internationally, and include It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Reefer Madness, Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play, Eve & Co., Beautiful, Hollywood Babylon, and Numb. Mr. Landry attended Playwright’s Horizons/NYU, founded Second Guess Theatre Company in Connecticut and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He is currently developing new projects for the stage and screen.