JOSE RIVERA is the first Puetro Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Oscar. Many of his plays have been produced across the nation and even translated into several languages, including: The House of Ramon Iglesias, Cloud Tectonics, The Street of the Sun, Sonnets for an Old Century, Sueño, Giants Have Us in Their Books, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot and Adoration of the Old Woman. In 2003, Cloud Tectonics was presented in the XLII Festival of Puerto Rican Theater, an event sponsored by the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, in San Juan. Rivera helped found the Los Angeles-based theater company, The Wilton Project. Rivera has won two Obie Awards for playwriting, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American plays Grant, a Fulbright Arts Fellowship in playwriting, the Whiting Writers' Award, a McKnight Fellowship, the 2005 Norman Lear Writing Award, a 2005 Impact Award and a Berilla Kerr Playwriting Award.

TINA LANDAU staged awe-inspiring Steppenwolf productions, such as The Brother/Sister Plays, Space, The Time of Your Life, Berlin Circle, Cherry Orchard, The Tempest and Superior Donuts. Tina came to the attention of Steppenwolf with her world premiere musical Floyd Collins and made her Broadway debut directing Bells are Ringing. She is a frequent instructor for The School, where she teaches the Viewpoints Method. Tina is currently writing the book for and directing a new musical Beauty with singer/songwriter Regina Spektor and lyricist Michael Korie. (As of 2013)