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Alfre Woodard is an American actress known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen. She has received four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two Grammy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century." She began her acting career in theater, making her breakthrough in the Off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977), then her film debut in Remember My Name (1978). She received an Academy Award nomination for Cross Creek (1983) and has appeared in Grand Canyon, Passion Fish, Crooklyn, Primal Fear, Star Trek: First Contact, 12 Years a Slave, Captain America: Civil War, and The Lion King (2019), among many others. On television she gained prominence in St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Desperate Housewives, and as Mariah Dillard Stokes in Luke Cage. She is also a founder of Artists for a New South Africa.

Bradley Darryl Wong is an American actor who won the Tony Award for his performance as Song Liling in M. Butterfly — the only actor in Broadway history to receive the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Clarence Derwent, and Theatre World awards for the same role. He is known for Howard Weinstein in Father of the Bride, Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: SVU, Father Ray Mukada on Oz, Dr. Henry Wu in the Jurassic Park franchise, Hugo Strange in Gotham, and the critically acclaimed role of Whiterose in Mr. Robot, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He also voiced Captain Li Shang in Disney's Mulan.

Cherry Jones is an American actress and founding member of the American Repertory Theater (1980). She has received three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards, plus nominations for an Olivier Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She won Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play for The Heiress (1995) and Doubt (2005), and was also Tony-nominated for Our Country's Good, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and The Glass Menagerie. On television she is known as President Allison Taylor in 24 (Primetime Emmy, 2009), and earned Emmy Awards for The Handmaid's Tale (2019) and Succession (2020). Film credits include Erin Brockovich, Signs, The Village, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Alan Ruck has made over 100 appearances in film, television, and stage. He is best known for his role as Cameron Frye — Matthew Broderick's hypochondriac best friend — in John Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). His film credits span Class (1983), Three for the Road (1987), Young Guns II (1990), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Speed (1994), and Twister (1996). Television appearances include Tales from the Crypt, Mad About You, Spin City, and From the Earth to the Moon.

Brooklyn-born Latina actress of Dominican heritage, Jessica Pimentel is best known as Maria Ruiz on Netflix's Orange Is the New Black (3 Screen Actors Guild Award wins). A graduate of the High School for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she was awarded the Cleavon Little scholarship. A versatile musician, she has performed as a classical violinist and as lead vocalist/guitarist for the heavy metal band Alekhine's Gun, and has played venues from CBGB to Carnegie Hall. She is also a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy in the Gelugpa Tradition and has studied with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku. Her theater credits include Anna in the Tropics, The Clean House (Sarah Ruhl), and Romeo and Juliet on national tour.

Neal Huff originated the role of Link Deas alongside Jeff Daniels in the acclaimed Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird, later switching to play Bob Ewell opposite Ed Harris. He also appeared in George C. Wolfe's hit production of The Iceman Cometh starring Denzel Washington. He played clergy abuse survivor Phil Saviano in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, and his other film work includes The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and Waves. On television he is known as Sean Muldoon in The Sinner, Father Dan in Mare of Easttown, and Michael Steintorf in The Wire. He trained at NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

Laura Esterman received Best Actress awards at both the Chelsea and Brooklyn Film Festivals for Can Hitler Happen Here?. Her Off-Broadway work includes Marvin's Room (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Obie Awards for Outstanding Actress), Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years at The New Group, and David Rabe's Good for Otto. Broadway credits include The Show-Off, Teibele and Her Demon, and The Suicide. Regional work spans Arena Stage, Goodman, Mark Taper, and Guthrie. Film includes Ironweed, The Doors, and Awakenings. She studied with Uta Hagen and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Compact, feisty, and fierce character actor David Patrick Kelly burst onto the acting scene as the devious gang leader in Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979) — his unforgettable "Warriors, come out to plaaayyy" becoming one of cinema's iconic moments. He went on to spar with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in 48 Hrs. (1982), face off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando (1985), appear in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), and play T-Bird in The Crow (1994). His range across genres and his quietly menacing presence earned him deep respect in Hollywood.

Mary Lou Rosato teaches 2nd Year Acting at the Yale School of Drama. She trained at the Juilliard School (Group 1) under John Houseman and Michel Saint-Denis, and became a founding member of The Acting Company. Over a 50-year career she has performed major roles across a vast range of classical and modern plays in New York, nationally, and internationally — including at the Old Vic in London, the Taganka Theatre in Moscow, and theaters in France and Italy. She won a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Chicago) and was nominated for an LA Drama Critics Award. Her directing credits span the Juilliard School, the Pearl Theater, and CalArts, where she served as Co-Head of the BFA Acting Program.

Michael Cerveris is an American actor, singer, and guitarist — called by Playbill "arguably the most versatile leading man on Broadway." He has performed in numerous Stephen Sondheim musicals including Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Passion. He won the Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Assassins (2004) as John Wilkes Booth, and his second Tony as Best Actor in a Musical for Fun Home (2015) as Bruce Bechdel. On television he is best known as the Observer "September" in the FOX sci-fi series Fringe.

Michael Kahn joined the Juilliard School faculty in 1968 and became head of its drama school. He served as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. from 1986 until his retirement in 2019, overseeing its growth and initiating its celebrated Free For All productions. He held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division at Juilliard from 1992 to 2006. Beginning his career off-off-Broadway in 1964, he earned acclaim for Broadway productions including The Royal Family (1975–76) and Show Boat (1983).

Jacqueline Knapp has been a professional actress for over 35 years, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in 23 regional theaters, film, and television — with credits alongside Al Pacino, Tom Hulce, and John Spencer. A voice-over artist, she was the voice for CBS's public service series "Reach Out." She has been teaching and coaching for 30 years, currently at the Actors Studio Drama School MFA Graduate Program at Pace University. A member of the Actors Studio for over 30 years, she worked under Lee Strasberg and was mentored by Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, and Ellen Burstyn. She also ran the popular workshop The Creative Core for 20 years.

Isaac Butler is the co-author (with Dan Kois) of The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America (named one of NPR's best books of 2018) and the author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act, published to critical acclaim. His writing has appeared in New York, The Guardian, and American Theatre. He created and hosted Lend Me Your Ears (Slate's Shakespeare podcast) and co-hosts Working, a podcast about creative process. He is the co-creator of Real Enemies, a multimedia exploration of American conspiracy theories named one of the best live events of 2015 by The New York Times. He teaches theater history and performance at The New School.

Ellie Heyman is the founder and Artistic Director of the New York-based Ellie Heyman Acting Studio, whose clients range from Broadway and film actors to Fortune 500 executives. She has taught acting at Franklin & Marshall College, Boston University, Whole Physical Theatre Laboratory, and Pegasus Players. She serves as Artistic Director of both Neutral Milk Hotel members' rock band The Music Tapes and Helikon Repertory Theatre. Her production of The Traveling Imaginary enjoyed a successful world tour in 2012–2013. She works with "actors" in the most literal sense: those who fully commit to speaking their truth within a given circumstance.

Jared Sakren graduated from The Juilliard School (Group One) on a full scholarship and is a founding member of The Acting Company under John Houseman. An internationally-renowned Master Teacher in Mask work, he has taught at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, NYU, ACT, the British-American Drama Academy at Oxford, Sydney's NIDA, and major regional theaters including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Guthrie. For 15 years he was Producing Artistic Director of Southwest Shakespeare Company, helping to quadruple its budget. He later served as Producing Artistic Director of 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, where the theater was voted Best Theatre Company in Sonoma County 7 of 8 years and oversaw more than 80 productions.

Joanna Merlin made her motion-picture debut in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) and created the role of Tzeitel in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. Beginning with the original Company, she served as casting director for Harold Prince's legendary collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, including Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, and Merrily We Roll Along. Her film credits include Hester Street, All That Jazz, Fame, The Killing Fields, and Mystic Pizza. She appeared in Law & Order and recurred as Judge Lena Petrovsky on Law & Order: SVU.

Wendy Smith is a contributing editor at The American Scholar and writes regularly for the book review sections of the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune.

Jonathan Kells Phillips is an actor and producer known for Condor, Yellowstone, and The Americans. He spent two years studying and working at the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) under Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov. He holds degrees in Slavic Literature & Languages from the University of Michigan and in Russian & East European Studies from Harvard University.

Evan Yionoulis is the Richard Rodgers Dean and Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School, having previously taught for twenty years at the Yale School of Drama. An award-winning director, she opened Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre (Broadway) with Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour and received an Obie Award for his Three Days of Rain. She directed critically acclaimed productions of Adrienne Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box and Ohio State Murders (Lortel Award for Best Revival), Tom Stoppard's Hapgood at Williamstown, and Seven — a documentary theatre piece about women working for human rights — in New York, London, and New Delhi. She is President of the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

After receiving her Masters from NYU Tisch's Graduate Acting Program, Angela Pietropinto joined five classmates under André Gregory to help form The Manhattan Project Theater Co., which performed on four continents and won 2 Drama Desk Awards and an Obie. Her Broadway debut was opposite Derek Jacobi in The Suicide (1980); she returned in Eastern Standard, Tartuffe: Born Again, and The Ritz. She has appeared in over 25 films working with Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas), Mike Nichols (Heartburn), Sidney Lumet (Running on Empty), Robert Benton (Nobody's Fool), and Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, winner of the 1995 Sundance Grand Jury Prize). She has been on the faculty as a Professor of Acting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts for over 25 years.

Rodrigo Cardoso Scalari is an actor, researcher, and theatre teacher with a PhD in Theatre Studies from the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris III, supported by a Full Doctorate Abroad Scholarship from CAPES (Brazil's Ministry of Education). He holds a Master's in Theatre from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and a degree in Theatre from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. At the École Philippe Gaulier he studied Le Jeu, Neutral Mask, Greek Tragedy, Larval Masks, Commedia dell'Arte, Melodrama, Shakespeare/Chekhov, Buffoon, and Clown. His research focuses on the education, training, and direction of the actor.