Jonathan Dorf is a Los Angeles-based playwright, screenwriter and script consultant, whose plays have been produced in more than 40 US states, as well as abroad. He is Co-Chair of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and the Resident Playwriting Expert for Final Draft and The Writers Store. He directed the theatre program at The Haverford School, and spent three years at Choate Rosemary Hall Summer Arts Conservatory as playwright-in-residence. He holds a BA in Dramatic Writing and Literature from Harvard College and an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA.

Ed Shockley, MFA is author of more than fifty plays. His works have set five box office records and been honored with numerous awards, including the Stephen Sondheim Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Musical Theatre, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and PA State Arts Council Playwrights Fellowship. He has received commissions for youth theatre plays from Seattle Children's Theatre, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Dallas Children's Theatre, Black Spectrum Theatre and the Harlem Renaissance Theatre. His historical short film, Stone Mansion, aired on Showtime television.

Nikki Adkins has a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Central Oklahoma, and studied Shakespeare at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.  She has worked with children's theatres as a performer and teacher for many years, including the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, where she was a member of their professional troupe, the Tarradiddle Players. They visited schools and civic venues all over the Southeast, performing and teaching playwriting workshops. Nikki is currently a children’s librarian in Los Angeles, and is a monthly contributing writer for the award winning children's magazine My School Rocks!.  She enjoys sharing her love of theatre, writing, literature, and life with young people, and as such, is currently spending summers pursuing her MFA in Children's Literature with an emphasis in Playwriting at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Bio and pictures coming soon!

John Bolen’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S.  They include: Count Down the Thunder (New Jersey Repertory, Longbranch NJ; Stages Theatre, Fullerton, CA), Best Chance, Chance Best (Chance Theater, Anaheim Hills, CA; Cabrillo Playhouse, San Clemente, CA), Waiting (Theatre@First, Somerville, MA; NewGate Theatre, Providence, RI; Newport Theatre Arts Center, Newport Beach, CA; Thalian Hall Studio Center, Wilmington, NC; Costa Mesa Playhouse, Costa Mesa, CA), For Bidden (Secret Rose Theatre, North Hollywood, CA; The Asylum Theatre, Hollywood, CA), A Song for Me (Secret Rose), Goodnight, Joe (Lincoln Square Theatre, Chicago, IL; Costa Mesa Playhouse), Nothing for Christmas (Malibu Stage Company, Malibu, CA; Chance Theater; Costa Mesa Playhouse), Sands of Discontent (Vanguard Theatre, Fullerton, CA; Costa Mesa Playhouse), Sunday (Garden Grove Playhouse, Garden Grove, CA; Vanguard Theatre; staged readings at Palm Springs Playwrights Circle, Palm Springs, CA and Don Cribb Theatre, Santa Ana, CA), Loreto (Vanguard), ‘Tween Time (Gallery Theatre, Anaheim, CA), A Christmas Frail (Empire Theatre, Santa Ana, CA), Kris’ Hopes (Chance), Expectations (Chance), Believing (Chance), Rudy in Saigon (Chance), Not Larabie (Costa Mesa),  David (Costa Mesa),  Lawanda (staged readings: Genesius Theatre Guild, New York, NY; Theatre Neo, Los Angeles, CA; Underground Theatre, Hollywood CA),  A Tangled Affair (staged reading: Empire Theatre), and The Hidden Dark (staged reading: Theatre Neo).  He is the Producing Artistic Director for the New Voices Playwrights’ Theatre.

Matt Buchanan is a New England-based professional playwright and composer specializing in theatre with and for young people. His plays and musicals have been performed across the United States and in several foreign countries. He is also an accomplished stage and music director, as well as a performing musician. He was a founding member of the Boston rock band System Underload. Matt has a BA in Music from Harvard College and an MFA in Child Drama from the University of Texas at Austin.

Paul E. Doniger teaches drama and English (and runs the theatre program) at Pomperaug High School (Southbury, CT), and was a founding member of the prestigious CSC Repertory Theatre (Classic Stage Company) in New York City, where he was trained as a classical actor.  At CSC, Mr. Doniger served as a leading actor and Board of Directors member.  After leaving CSC, Mr. Doniger worked in numerous theatres and worked regularly in film and television.  He moved to Connecticut with his wife Nancy in 1979.  Mr. Doniger also served as an adjunct English professor at Western Connecticut State University, from where he holds a Master of Arts in English.  He has been published several times, including in Syntax in the Schools and English Journal, and is a contributing author for Grammar Alive: A Guide for Teachers.  In recent years he could be seen on stage as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Ventures (Fairfield University) and as Prospero in The Tempest at The Town Players (Newtown, CT). He is also the treasurer and archivist of the Connecticut Drama Association.

Patrick Gabridge has written numerous plays, including Constant State of Panic, Pieces of Whitey, Blinders, and Reading the Mind of God, which have been staged in theatres across the country. His first novel, Tornado Siren, was by published Behler Publications. Much of his work seems to feature scientists—which might be explained by his degree from MIT. He co-founded Boston’s Rhombus writers’ group and started the on-line Playwright Submission Binge, as well as theatre companies in New York and Denver. More than thirty of his plays are published and have been used by thousands of students and teachers in performance and competition. Patrick lives in Boston with his wife and two kids (one of whom is a high schooler).

Arthur M. Jolly was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting in 2006 and works as a screenwriter and playwright in Los Angeles, represented by the Brant Rose Agency. His plays have won numerous awards, and been produced internationally.

He was born in England, but also lived in Kenya, Madagascar and France until the age of eleven, when his family moved to New York City. He attended Stuyvesant High School, where he cut his economics class to sit in on creative writing classes with Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt - then an unknown English teacher. Arthur's early career was in the film industry in New York, where for 12 years he worked every possible below-the-line job, from stuntman and special effects artist to food stylist and cockroach wrangler. (Not the same production.) He has over 150 film and television credits, but some of them are cockroach wrangling. These days he will only admit to being a writer.  More at www.arthurjolly.com.

Kris Knutsen is an actor/playwright currently based in Calgary, Alberta.  Originally hailing from Seattle, Kris holds a B.A. in Theatre from Trinity Western University, and is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Playwriting from Hollins University in Virginia.  An adjunct professor of theatre at Trinity Western and Rosebud School of the Arts, Kris also directs “playmakings”: creating original theatrical works within a limited time frame with students and camps.

James McBride is an author, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, musician and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, is considered an American classic and read in schools and universities across the United States. His debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna, was translated into a major motion picture directed by American film icon Spike Lee. His newest novel, Song Yet Sung, was recently released in paperback.

Amelia Denyven Ross is a Children’s Librarian for the Roanoke County Public Library System in Virginia, and the leader of the library’s Teen Creative Writing Club. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University, possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing from Brevard College, and has earned a Certificate in Irish Studies from University College Cork, Ireland. Amelia is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Lois June Wickstrom has been writing children's stories and fantasy professionally for over thirty years. She also develops children's science activities and currently performs as Imagenie 'If something looks like magic, design an experiment. See if you can make it happen again." on YouTube and MindTV.

She is the author of Starting With Safety, sold by American Chemical Society, and the It's Chemical series. Her science articles appear in Highlights magazine.

For income, she fixes computers. She is married, has two grown daughters, one silly dog, three grand daughters, one grandson, and loves to garden. When she refers to the "back forty" she means the back forty square feet of her small inner city back yard. Her children's books include Orange Forest Rabbit, Nessie and the Living Stone, The Lying Day, Wendell the Bully, and other titles.

Don Zolidis is a playwright, screenwriter, and a theatre teacher in the Texas public school system. He holds a BA in English from Carleton College and an MFA in playwriting from the Actors Studio in New York City.  His 30 published plays have been produced over 850 times in 49 states and 12 countries.  He has won numerous awards, including the Princess Grace Award and Stage West’s Texas Playwriting award.  Professionally, his work has appeared at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Dallas HUB Theatre, the Purple Rose Theatre, The Victory Theatre Center, Mirror Stage Ensemble, Expanded Arts NYC, Tinfish Theatre, Studio 360, and numerous other places.  He currently lives in the Dallas-Forth Worth area with his wife and two adorable sons.