Jay Brannan was born under a rock in the coldest part of the Himalayas where he was raised by trappist monks who taught him to maintain his body temparature without the necessity of food and clothing through intense meditation and really hard drinking. Shortly after his first birthday, he suffered a graphic and painful death to a hungry mountain lion who wasn’t so good at meditation and just needed a hearty snack.

It wasn’t long however before Jay’s indomitable spirit reappeared in Southeast Texas to a family who actually wanted a girl. In many ways, they got what they wanted, yet the compromise seemed to be much more controversial than the original disappoinment. After years and years of Southern Baptist immersion in Texas, Canada, and Oklahoma, Jay found himself once again outside Houston, TX, continuing in the public school system (quite similar to cattle herding, state prisons, or perhaps even the New York City healthcare system) and a conservative, repressive society infiltrated by a mixture of religion, rebellion, and lots of barbecue (the latter being the most repulsive?).

By 1999, Jay really threw a dildo in a small town’s gears when he decided that he hated high school so much that he would graduate in three years. He then moved on to scarier territories by attending the University of Cincinnati’s acting program where he was kicked out after six months because they no longer needed his slave labor services to build sets for the musical theatre and opera students. It was quite the blessing in disguise, however. Rather than transferring to another school and wasting more time and money going to college for a degree only slightly more useful than aromatherapy, he moved to Palm Springs, CA, to live with a man he met on the internet.

Obviously that didn’t last long.

In a matter of months, Jay found himself living in Los Angeles, CA, in a tiny studio apartment off the Sunset Strip. What a star, huh? Well, eventually the bathroom of that studio fell through into the garage below. So Jay moved in with the guy he had been dating for a whole month. I mean, the guy’s roommate had moved out… the timing was perfect, right?

Right. So after that, Jay moved into another little apartment in Hollywood where he remained until moving to New York City where he has currently resided for three years.

Donna Lynne Champlin was thrilled to return to Broadway as “Pirelli” in Sondheim’s SWEENEY TODD, which played at the Eugene O’Neill and starred Patti Lupone and Michael Cerveris. DL recently finished a run as ‘Gracie’ in THE FLIGHT OF THE LAWNCHAIR MAN at the Goodspeed-at-Chester’s Norma Terris Theatre, reprised her critically acclaimed performance of “Mary Gallagher’ in Michael John LaChiusa’s FIRST LADY SUITE (Drama Desk nom, Best Revival), created the role of ‘Penny’ in Jack Cummings III’s THE AUDIENCE (Drama Desk Award, Best Musical) at NYC’s The Transport Group, and played ‘Sophie’ in Moises Kaufman’s production of MASTER CLASS starring Rita Moreno at The Berkeley Rep.

In 2003, Donna Lynne was seen Off Broadway as The Grandmother/Francoise in Playwrights Horizons’ My Life With Albertine, and on Broadway in Hollywood Arms— a play based on Carol Burnett’s best-selling memoir One More Time. Written by Burnett and her late daughter Carrie Hamilton, Hollywood Arms was directed by twenty-time Tony winner Harold Prince and also starred Linda Lavin, Frank Wood, and Michele Pawk.

Champlin’s winning portrayal of Hollywood Arms’ Older Helen — a character modeled on the legendary Burnett—quickly made her a favorite among audiences and critics alike. NYC reviewers (echoing sentiments in Chicago where the show premiered at The Goodman Theatre) proclaimed Donna Lynne a “show stopping star in the making” and described her performance as “brilliant”, “a triumph”, and “a tour de force”. Even the legendary Prince proclaims in Onstage that Donna Lynne Champlin “is a born entertainer…(someone) about whom you can believe.”

A native of Rochester, New York, Champlin has been performing since her very first tap solo in a local variety show at the age of four. Her childhood was a veritable whirlwind of lessons, community theatre productions, and national and international competitions in voice, piano, flute, theatre and dance. Having had the good fortune in her career to play such diverse roles encompassing these varied talents in one form or another, Champlin has subsequently earned the reputation for being a proverbial “triple threat”.

Champlin’s focus on theatre crystallized when she attended Carnegie Mellon University on scholarship, graduating from their BFA Program in Musical Theatre with high honors. During college, she earned her Actors’ Equity status with the celebrated Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, portraying Peron’s mistress in Evita, and working with many “up and comers” of the time including Robbie and Kathleen Marshall, Paige O’Hara and Marin Mazzie. Also during her college years, she trained at Oxford University in association with Yale Drama School’s renowned British American Dramatic Academy program, receiving intensive training in Shakespeare and Chekhov on the Advanced Acting Scholarship and the Vira I. Heinz Grant to study abroad.

She worked consistently during her college years and after graduation, accumulating an impressive list of summer stock and regional theatre credits including Fame opposite Brian d’Arcy James, Three Penny Opera, Dreams From A Summer House opposite Chris Innvar, and Dorian directed by Gabriel Barre. Harold Prince first directed Champlin in The Flight ofthe Lawnchair Man, one of three one-act musicals comprising 3hree at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia. Champlin played Lawnchair’s Gracie in Philadelphia and at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles, earning numerous accolades for her showstopping delivery of the inspirational anthem “The Air is Free.” It was during the run of 3hree that Prince told her he was directing the new Carol Burnett play, he thought she was perfect for the part, and that Carol Burnett was in the audience and would speak with her after the show. After four rounds of auditions in NYC six months later, the part was officially hers.

Champlin made her Broadway debut in James Joyce’s The Dead, understudying fellow Carnegie Mellon University alum Emily Skinner in the role of Mary Jane, and eventually taking over the part when Skinner left the show. She earned enthusiastic reviews as the delightfully eccentric Honoria Glossop in the Alan Ayckbourn/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical By Jeeves at The Goodspeed Opera House, the Geffen Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and during its Broadway run at the Helen Hayes. She also played the feisty maid, Daisy, in the City Center Encores! production of Bloomer Girl (directed by Brad Rouse and choreographed by Thoroughly Modern Millie’s Rob Ashford), portrayed Betty From Boston “to the hilt” in The Goodspeed Opera House’s production of No, No Nanette, and delivered what critics called “a high octane performance” as legendary hoofer Ruby Keeler in the national tour of Jolson.

Champlin’s Off-Broadway credits include Jerome Kern’s Very Warm for May at Carnegie Hall (John McGlinn conducting), Reunion, and Stars In Your Eyes. She is a proud member of TheBroadway Inspirational Voices and has appeared in numerous cabaret shows in New York City at venues ranging from B. Smith’s to Don’t Tell Mama’s.

While Champlin has enjoyed much success on the stage, her career doesn’t end at the footlights. Her television and film appearances include By Jeeves; The 54 th Annual Tony Awards; A Rosie Christmas; The Dark Half; Sweet Surrender; and PBS’ Emily Dickinson of the Voices and Visions series. She can be heard on the cast albums of By Jeeves, 3hree, and Reunion as well as Our Heart Sings, The Lady and the Slipper and Have a Heart (as well as many voice-overs).

Donna Lynne Champlin has been honored with numerous awards throughout her career, including the prestigious Princess Grace Award from The Princess Grace Foundation, the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Grant from The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the title of National Tap Dance Champion for four consecutive years from the Dance Educators of America. Champlin also has gotten tremendous joy out of participating in many benefits for BC-EFA and The Actors’ Fund such as This Is Your Song with Elton John, Gypsy of the Year (1999, 2000, 2001) and First You Dream, a benefit for Christopher Reeve and fellow Jolson castmate Bran Pace.

Donna Lynne Champlin’s life offstage is as colorful and as versatile as the characters she brings to life onstage. In addition to being an accomplished performer, pianist, composer, musical director and choreographer, she enjoys an eclectic array of hobbies and special interests including metaphysics, mystic history and philosophy. She is a certified reflexologist, has a keen interest in Irish and Celtic folklore, music and dance, and is currently working on a humorous non-fiction book inspired by her (mis)adventures in the theatre. She lives in New York City with her cat, “Miss” Kitty.

Mike Daisey has been called “the master storyteller” and one of the finest solo performers of his generation by the New York Times for his monologues, including 21 Dog Years, Great Men of Genius, The Ugly American, Monopoly!, Invincible Summer, I Miss the Cold War, Wasting Your Breath, and Stories From the Atlantic Night Cafe which he’s performed Off-Broadway, across the country and around the world. He’s been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, and his work has been heard on the BBC, NPR, the National Lampoon Radio Hour, and his groundbreaking series All Stories Are Fiction is available through Audible.com.

Currently he’s a commentator for National Public Radio’s Day To Day, a contributor to WIRED Magazine, Slate, Salon, and his writing appears in the anthology The Best Tech Writing 2006. His first book, 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller’s Tale, was published by the Free Press and he is working on a second book, Great Men of Genius, adapted from his monologue about genius and megalomania in the lives of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla and L. Ron Hubbard. He lives with his director, collaborator and co-conspirator, Jean-Michele Gregory, in Brooklyn.

Rebecca Drysdale has performed with BOOM Chicago, the Second City Touring Company, and the Second City ETC Stage. She was invited to perform at the Aspen Comedy Festival where she took home the first ever Break-Out Performer Award.

Billy Eichner is the star, writer, and co-creator of Creation Nation: A Live Talk Show. Creation Nation, which plays regularly at the Ars Nova Theater, was called a “late night theatrical phenomenon” by the New York Times and Mr. Eichner was given the 2006 Time Out New York Critics’s Award. The show was also selected for the 2006 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and was the winner of the 2006 NY Nightlife Award for Best Comedy Performance. Mr. Eichner’s television credits include “Straight Talk with Joan Rivers” (Bravo pilot),”The Showbiz Show with David Spade” on Comedy Central, “Best Week Ever” on VH1, “The Nighttime Clap” and “Munchies” on Fuse, and he recently sold apilot script to Bravo.He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Stuyvesant High School in NYC.

Bridget Everett has been dubbed “Wynona Judd meets Melissa Etheridge, via the local bar floozy, on a rocket ship out of Twin Peaks” by The Village Voice’s Michael Musto. Having grown up in Manhattan, Kansas, Bridget received her degree in vocal performance at Arizona State University. Soon after, she promptly abandoned it all to move to New York, sing karaoke and work as a waitress.

Bridget has most recently been collaborating with Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb) and Michael Patrick King (“Sex and the City”) on At Least It’s Pink. At Least It’s Pink has played at Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Aspen United States Comedy Arts Festival. Bridget played Lynn Chenney in Taylor Mac’s Red Tide Blooming at p.s. 122. She is the cohost of Automatic Vaudeville at Ars Nova, has performed on the Murray Hill show at Mo Pitkins, sung with the Isotoners, with Jim Andralis and Larry Krone, and plays R Kelly’s sister in the show Neal Medlyn Plus Kenny Mellman Equals R Kelly. You can also catch her wearing gold lame in Times Square along side the Varisty Interpretive Dance Squad in Moby’s latest music video “new york, new york.” www.atleastitspink.com

FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME infuses new blood into the mix and continues to provide non-stop action throughout this whirlwind of music, comedy and freestyle rap. FLS uses audience suggestions to spontaneously combust into musical creations inspired by jazz, improvisational comedy and hip-hop.

JUDY GOLD received a 2006 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance for 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. She is the host of HBO’s “At the Multiplex with Judy Gold,” and she also hosted Comedy Central’s “100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.” She hosted the GLADD MEDIA AWARDS which aired on LOGO and VH1. Her most recent TV specials include a half-hour comedy special for LOGO and she is featured in the HBO documentary, “All Aboard.” Her stand-up specials include “Comedy Central Presents: Judy Gold,” Comedy Central’s “Tough Crowd Stands Up,” and Judy’s HBO half-hour special, for which she received a Cable Ace Award. Gold was most recently seen in the smash hit film The Aristocrats. Gold won two Emmy Awards for writing and producing “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” She was nominated twice for The American Comedy Award’s funniest female stand-up. She has also appeared on “Law & Order,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Sex and The City,” “The View,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and “The Conan O’Brien Show” to name a few. Gold lives in New York City with her two children, Henry and Ben. She frequently tours theatres and comedy clubs around the country and she talks to her mother at least once a day. Her CD, “Judith’s Roommate Had a Baby” is available now.” Check out www.judygold.com

Erin received her B.F.A. in Musical Theater from The New School in 2003. It was during this time that she reunited with her lovely cello. Erin began collaborating with singer/ songwriter, David Clement, writing her own parts and performing live shows in venues throughout New York City, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Thanks to this partnership, Erin was exposed to other musicians based in New York City as well. She was featured on Brady Brock’s album, Warm American Sweater, which led to opening for Elliott Smith in Brooklyn and Philadelphia in May of 2003. Erin was also afforded the experience of performing with Clement at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, and has been featured on numerous demo recordings.

Erin’s newly established performance career has recently taken a new direction. Melding her success as a cellist, and her innate comedic nature, Erin has started writing her own music. Her songs, ranging from disastrous visits to the zoo to her fear of abnormally long fingernails, have brought sincere joy and laughter to all who have seen her. Erin and her Cello have now appeared live to the ecstatic approval of Stand-Up audiences in New York City. Her first one-woman-and-a-cello show was performed as part of the Red Lab Series at One Arm Red, a theater in Brooklyn this May. Erin and her Cello anticipate many more shows to come, and hope to see you there!

Jollyship the Whiz-Bang was conceived in 2002 by playwright Nick Jones and composer Raja Azar. The origin of the group really began with a song, “Pyrate Love,” performed while the two were working for the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. The warm response to this ballad of rape and murder became the central premise for an expanding musical and theatrical universe. A mission was forged to create a massive live musical pirate puppet sea saga, to be performed in sequential episodes developed and presented over the course of many years. 4 years later, this has yielded 6 full length multimedia productions (or episodes) linked sequentially, including several full scale theater productions (Sleepless Fishes, and its sequel Crabquistador: Scavenger of God) as well as generating hours of inventive musical material.

Jollyship the Whiz-Bang has garnered praise in Time Out New York, New York Press, The Onion, The FADER, and VICE. In September of 2006, Jollyship performed to sold out crowds in Seattle and Portland (as part of the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival) and released an EP, Curse of the Ancient Legend following their first album Songs to Drown By.” In 2005, Jollyship toured Ireland, where they were nominated for Most Entertaining (Best Show) at the Dublin Fringe Festival, and were Artists-in-Residence in Bangkok as part of the 1st annual Hoontown Puppet Festival.

Neal Medlyn, now residing in New York City, has performed in a variety of films, bands and plays, been a model and a go-go dancer and continues to do some of these things. But most importantly, he is a Performer who presents his programs in New York City, having at some time or another appeared in numerous U.S. cities and in Berlin Germany. His work has appeared at Joe’s Pub, PS122, Fez (Neal Medlyn, the Paris Hilton of Performance Art), Ars Nova (Neal Medlyn’s Lionel Richie Opera), the Knitting Factory, Galapagos Art Space (Neal Medlyn’s Superstar Duets), on tour across the U.S. and as part of the TBA Festival in Portland, Oregon and the Philly Fringe.

He was honored with the title of Mr. Lower East Side in 2004 and starred opposite Karen Finley in “George and Martha” in New York and various places across the U.S. He has been discussed in the Onion, NPR’s Here and Now, Gothamist, the Austin Chronicle, and the New York Times, in which he has appeared twice without his shirt on.

His original Internet TV show NEAL MEDLYN’S LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE appears weekly on Nerve.com for whom he also writes weekly horoscopes and occasional articles on R. Kelly, Blind Date, bisexuality, and Days of Our Lives (with John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and Lisa Carver) among others. His book, “Sexual Buttocks” and his albums have been purchased by at least 10 people. www.nealmedlyn.com

Kenny Mellman studied music composition at UC Berkeley and poetry at San Francisco State University. His work on Kiki and Herb (with Justin Bond) has earned him an Obie, a Bessie, a GLAAD Media Award, an HX Award and a Helen Hayes Award nomination. Kiki and Herb recently completed a run on Broadway with Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway. They have performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall (UK), the Sydney Opera House among many many other venues and currently are performing at Joe’s Pub. They opened for the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour as well as opening for artists including the Magnetic Fields, Le Tigre and Rufus Wainwright. They were featured in the film “Imaginary Heroes”. Kiki and Herb will be starting a US Tour sometime this Spring.

On his own, Kenny has performed with artist John Kelly in Paved Paradise, portraying the character of Georgia O’Keefe, in San Francisco, at Highways in Los Angeles and at the Library Theater in Manchester, England. He has shared the stage or recorded with artists including Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar), the Magnetic Fields and The Magnetic Fields_ side project The Three Terrors, among others. His solo show Kenny Mellman Is Grace Jones has been performed at the TBA Festival in Portland, Oregon and at various venues in New York and London. His project, Kenny Mellman Plus Neal Medlyn Equals R Kelly, played in Portland and New York, and he recently wrote the music for a children’s musical, ‘That Pesky Rat’ at the Soho Theatre in London.

Old Springs Pike blends the cricket chirp of a suburban slow-fade with the subway scream of metropolitan mayhem. Using four-part harmony as a diving board, these early twenty-somethings find themselves in stylistic depths ranging from a fair-paced folk to a rarely-restrained rock. With an energetic and spontaneous live act, Old Springs Pike proves that it’s not just a concert. It’s an event.

Chelsea Peretti (CP) is a stand-up comic and writer living in New York (NY). She makes short films with the Variety Shac and for Turner’s newly launched SuperDeluxe. She is co-creator of the New York City Rejection Line: (212) 479-7990 and of web satire blackpeopleloveus.com.

Chelsea has written for the Village Voice, Details, Playgirl, Jest, American Theatre Magazine, and a videogame, as well as online publications like The Huffington Post. She is currently writing a book.

Louis Schwadron graduated from the Juilliard School and worked with James Levine, Kurt Masur, Bobby McFerrin, Marvin Hamlisch, Yo Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and The St. Gallen Symphonie Orkester, Switzerland.

Louis took his classical training to the international rock stages performing with David Bowie, Elton John, The Polyphonic Spree, Cindy Lauper, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Queen, Patti Labelle, Joss Stone, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey.

He composed for film soundtracks Mike Mills “Thumbsucker” and John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus”, and wrote and directed original rock theater pieces “Horn Star” (2001) “The Carnival of the Animals” (2003) and “The Polyphonic Christmas Carol” (2005).

Charismatic troubadour Langhorne Slim blends old-timey country blues with a punk-rock energy to create his own unique brand of music that refuses to be labeled.

Two of Broadway’s hottest leading ladies, Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast) and Kate Reinders (Wicked), shred the term ingenue with their hilarious band TastiSkank. With songs about everything from sex to pills to dirty boys who will remain nameless, TastiSkank is the newborn love child of the Indigo Girls and Tenacious D.

The Wau Wau Sisters unique show has shared stages with: TV On The Radio, Le Tigre, Kiki and Herb, Murray Hill, John Cameron Mitchell, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Lucha Va Voom, Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion, Camp Freddy, Metal Skool, Margaret Cho, El Vez, Tom Kenney (Spongebob Squarepants) among others.

They’ve been profiled or featured in the pages of: The Village Voice, The New York Post, Time Out New York, The New York Times, Jane Magazine, BUST Magazine, New York Magazine, The Guardian, Metro, VENUS, The Sun, LA Weekly, GONYC, French Vogue, Spectacle and many others!

Television & Film exploits include the feature film “Shortbus” by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), the film “Who’s the Top?” by Jenny Livingston (Paris Is Burning) , Nipon TV’s “Good Morning Japan”, “The Isaac Mizrahi Show” w/ Rosie Perez, NPR’s “The Next Big Thing”, “Live From Downtown”, “The Sharon Osbourne Show”, and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”