Each summer session, CSSSA brings dynamic and diverse voices to our community, offering students the opportunity to engage with distinguished artists and industry professionals from various disciplines. Visiting artists share their unique perspectives and creative processes through the Visiting Artist series, Arts & Culture, Masterclasses, and more. The 2026 Schedule of Events will be announced in June 2026.
2025 Visiting Artists
tarell alvin mccraney
Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theater Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film Moonlight, based on his own play, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He wrote the screenplay for the 2019 film High Flying Bird and the 2019 television series David Makes Man. In 2023, McCraney was appointed artistic director of the non-profit Geffen Playhouse, in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
David Hinojosa
David Hinojosa was born and raised in Portage, IN. While Hinojosa was head of development at Killer Films, he was the executive in charge of production on films including Carol, directed by Todd Haynes. Hinojosa produced First Reformed directed by Paul Schrader, Zola directed by Janicza Bravo, both of which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Film. He is known for Past Lives (2023), Babygirl (2024) and The Brutalist (2024).
Rosa boshier gonzalez
Rosa Boshier González is a writer and editor living in Houston. Her fiction, essays, and art criticism appear in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, Joyland, Artforum, The Guardian, The Brooklyn Rail, The Believer, The Washington Post, and the New York Times among others. She is a 2024 Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writing grant recipient. She teaches creative writing at Rice University.
Ernest Felton Baker
Ernest Felton Baker is a dancer, choreographer and educator rooted in Hip Hop. Named the first U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts in Hip Hop Dance by the White House, Ernest choreographed the award-winning short film, JONAH, Off-Broadway play One Nation, One Mission, One Promise, HOME – a musical theater production commissioned by Harlem Arts Festival, and the Netflix Original series Explained, “Dance Crazes” episode. In addition to teaching at CSSSA, Ernest has also taught at Debbie Allen Middle School, Colburn, LACHSA, CalArts, Glendale Community College, and Santa Monica College.
julieta garza
Julieta Garza (she/her) is a Theatre artist and educator based in the Los Angeles area. In June 2021, she received her MFA degree for Ensemble Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, where she was able to develop her skills in dance, movement, devising, and performance. Julieta’s credits include: Translations/Missed communications performed at Highways, The Taming of the Shrew performed with Shakespeare Center LA, and Remains performed at the REDCAT in Los Angeles. This is her third year teaching at CSSSA and is delighted to come back.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Njideka Akunyili Crosby was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1983 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She was a participant in La Biennale di Venezia, 58th International Art Exhibition, May You Live In Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff (11 May – 24 November 2019). She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts Degree from University of the Arts (2020) and Otis College (2024), an Honorary Doctorate of Art from Swarthmore College (2019), a MacArthur Fellowship (2017), and a United States Artist Fellowship (2021). Akunyili Crosby’s work is held in significant museum collections throughout the world.
Megan Lemasurier
Megan LeMasurier is a designer and illustrator with over eight years in the animation industry. She graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2016 with BFA in Illustration. She is currently working as a character designer at Nickelodeon and lives in Los Angeles. In her free time, you can find her holed up in her cave of crafts working on quilts, ceramics and block printing.
eric hesserer
Eric Heisserer, born in 1970 in Norman, Oklahoma, is a writer and executive producer best known for the critically-acclaimed Arrival (2016). His other notable works include Bird Box (2018) and Hours (2013).
Luanne Homzy
Internationally acclaimed American/ French-Canadian violinist Luanne Homzy is highly sought-after for her technical facility, sensitive musicality and expansive versatility. Based in Los Angeles, she works as a studio musician, an arranger/composer, and is the leader of the California String Quartet.
Sarah Putros
I’m an illustrator and educator based in Orange County, currently teaching at CSULB and Azusa Pacific University. I specialize in teaching life drawing, animation and illustration courses. I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Orange County, working as an adjunct professor at CSULB and Azusa Pacific University, teaching illustration and animation. In my past experience, I previously worked as a compositor for TV Animation for shows like Bojack Horseman and Cosmos, and have also freelanced for various clients. I recently was awarded my Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration from CSULB in 2023.
Jackie Farkas
I’m a creative leader with a passion for blending art, graphic design, photography, and strategy to tell compelling visual stories. I’ve worked with fashion and beauty brands including Sanctuary Clothing, Pistola Denim, Flower by Drew, HCT by kdc/ one, and SPARITUAL. My work spans seasonal campaigns, brand storytelling, and visual content across digital and print platforms. I hold a B.A. in Fine Arts from UC Berkeley, an M.F.A. from Mills College, and a Digital Marketing Certificate from General Assembly. As a painter and photographer, I bring a fine arts perspective to design and love helping students explore their creative voice through digital media.
Davey Jarrell
Davey has been working in animation since graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2017. He’s worked primarily as a storyboard artist at Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, Bento Box, and PBS on shows including “Teen Titans Go!”, “The Patrick Star Show”, and “Dinosaur Train.” He’s also directed several award winning independent animated shorts. To give back to the animation community, Davey serves on the board of the educational non-profit, Animation Resources. In addition to working in animation, Davey is also a standup comedian and is a member of the sketch comedy troupe, Trifecta Comedy.
Jason Jenn
Jason Jenn is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in intermedia art, theatre, film, and cultural administration. Born and raised in rural Iowa, Jason received his B.A. from the University of Iowa with a double major in Film & Media Production/ Theatre Arts and a minor in Intermedia Arts. He has produced over fifty theatrical shows and festival events, assisted in curating over fifty exhibitions, and produced hundreds of video shorts and features. Jason co-founded L.A. Art Documents, a media company providing quality video and photographic documentation to preserve, promote, and curate the contemporary arts community in Los Angeles and beyond.
Tommy Perez
I am a multi-disciplinary designer & maker based in Southern California. I always strive to create fun, engaging and thoughtful work. I have the awesome job of bringing pixels out into a physical space and creating something uniquely tangible and delightful. With the help of photography and stop-motion I am able to breathe life and charm into my physical pieces, completing my work cycle of digital to physical and back to digital. When I’m not having fun crafting in my studio, I enjoy skateboarding, root beer floats and family time.
Freddie MacDonald
Freddy Macdonald is a Student Academy Award winner, and the youngest Directing Fellow ever accepted to the AFI Conservatory. His critically acclaimed feature film debut, SEW TORN, premiered at SXSW and headlined Locarno on the Piazza Grande. His AFI admission film, the SEW TORN proof of concept short, was executive produced by Peter Spears (NOMADLAND) and was acquired by Searchlight Pictures. It received an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release nationwide alongside READY OR NOT. Freddy’s AFI thesis film, SHEDDING ANGELS, won a Student Academy Award and was shortlisted for a student BAFTA.
Rachel Ho
Rachel Ho Ruizhen is a Singaporean-Chinese performance-maker and multimedia artist exploring embodiment, expression, and human connection across physical and virtual spaces. Her practice draws from improvisational forms and clowning to emphasize liveness, and she creates containers and experimental ecosystems for play and experiencing shared discovery. Her work is concerned with inquiries into humanity and authenticity amidst technological futures, and speculates about individual impulses versus collective identity. Rachel holds a BFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts and her work has been featured at Slamdance DIG, LAX Festival, and others. She currently works as a writer for virtual assistants and runs a weekly clown jam at The Elysian Theater in Los Angeles.
Judson Emery
Judson Emery trained in multiple dance styles and participated in summer programs at the Juilliard School and Alonzo King’s LINES ballet school. One of his first professional experiences was the “Hold it Against Me” music video with Britney Spears. He has since worked with artists such as Christina Aguilera, the Jonas Brothers, Sia, Florence and the Machine, Adam Lambert and Carly Rae Jepsen, on awards shows like The Grammy’s, the Oscars, the Emmy’s, and MTV VMA’s. He has appeared in Ted 2 and worked on Glee, DWTS, American Idol, AGT, The X-factor US and UK, and assisted choreographers Ryan Heffington, Brian Friedman and Tyce Diorio. With over 10 years in the commercial dance industry, he combines his technical ballet and contemporary training in his teaching. As a choreographer he has worked on music videos and brand movement direction.
Sam Chanse
Sam Chanse (she/her) is a playwright and television writer in Los Angeles. Her plays include What you are now (Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Civilians, Sloan/ EST Commission), Trigger (Lark Venturous Fellowship), Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play; The Magic Theatre, NPC Semi-finalist), Disturbance Specialist (NAATCO and The Public Theater’s Out of Time), and Lydia’s Funeral Video (Kaya Press). Under commission with La Jolla Playhouse, she is currently developing a new musical, The Family Album (2024 Idea Awards/ Vivace Musical Theatre Award), with composers MILCK and AG, and director Jess McLeod. She is a resident playwright of New Dramatists and a two-time MacDowell fellow. TV: The Good Doctor (ABC).
oscar nava
Oscar “Oz” Nava (he/him) is a Mexican American actor, puppeteer, and visual artist based in Los Angeles. Aside from working in the full creature triceratops and sabertooth cat puppets at the Natural History Museum of LA County and La Brea Tar Pits, Oscar works as a teaching artist teaching Commedia and mime, and making his own masks and puppets of various kinds. Oscar has also self published his own hand-drawn coloring books, including “Many Merry Mushrooms!”
André Medina
André Medina is a premier Character Designer and Visual Development artist whose career has allowed him to work at many major studios in Hollywood. His versatility in style and form has given him the flexibility to work in both development and production across 2D, 3D, stop motion, Flash, and even a cut out graphic approach. Andre’ strives for the best from himself and any team he works with.
Jacques Van Dormael
Jaco Van Dormael is a Belgian film director, screenwriter and playwright. All of Van Dormael’s films contain surreal elements. In his first two films, these moments were few, like dancing flowers in Toto le héros or Georges flying around the room in Le huitième jour. Mr. Nobody makes much more extensive use of surreal imagery throughout the film. He wrote and directed Toto The Hero, The Eight Day, Mr. Nobody and The Brand New Testament.
damian Lewis
Damian D. Lewis is the Co-Head of BFA Acting at CalArts. where he teaches Speech, recruits MFA and BFA actors, and directs productions. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Drama and has been a teaching artist for over 20 years. He has taught at CSSSA for the past 5 years.
Ari Castleton
Ari Castleton has been in the animation industry for 10 years as a storyboard artist/ director in TV animation, and worked on a number of projects for Nickelodeon, Netflix, and Apple TV. Outside of work, Ari loves to make comics/zines, play guitar in a band, and play video games. You can always find Ari sketching at a nearby coffeeshop.
Hiroshi Clark
Hiroshi Clark is a lens based artist from Los Angeles, California. His work considers material use and memory through various forms photographic output. He received his BFA form Art Center College of Design in 2010 and his MFA from University of California, Irvine in 2022.
Whitney Schmanski
Whitney Schmanski is a movement artist, educator, and researcher with a BFA in Dance from Juilliard and an MFA from UC Irvine. She teaches a range of movement modalities, including contemporary and ballet techniques, GYROTONIC®, GYROKINESIS®, and Pilates, combining technical precision with embodied depth. Whitney is dedicated to helping students grow into intelligent, adaptable movers with strong creative voices.
caitlin Kilgore
As an actor, screenwriter, and award-winning songwriter, I channel my love of storytelling across many forms. My approach remains the same: to reveal the depth of humanity with care and levity, humor and heart. After graduating from the University of Southern California, I performed in Shakespeare summer stock productions in both Los Angeles and Vermont. Currently, one of my screenplays is optioned, and I’m collaborating with Joan Lane (producer of The King’s Speech) to package and sell the project.
Jesse Moynihan
Jesse Moynihan is a Peabody Award winning cartoonist, animation director and composer. He is best known for writing and storyboarding for the animated television series ‘Adventure Time’ and as the art director on the Netflix series ‘The Midnight Gospel’. He created the animated short ‘Manly’ through Cartoon Hangover and continues to produce the graphic novel series ‘Forming’ for Fantagraphics Books.
Kensaku Shinohara
Born in Sapporo, Japan, Kensaku Shinohara is an artist who brings a practice in anthropology to bear on his work as a choreographer/ performer/ videographer/ sound maker. His works have been presented across the U.S. and internationally in Portugal, France, Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. Shinohara is a recipient of Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Culture Hub AIR, BUDA Kortrijk Belgium AIR, 92Y Harkness Dance Center AIR, Exploring the Metropolis AIR, Queens Arts Fund, Japan Foundation New York to name a few. He has also appeared on an Off-Broadway theater production Time’s Journey Through a Room (The Play Company), take me home (Dimitri Chamblas + Kim Gordon), THEM (Ishmael Houston-Jones, Chris Cochrane and Dennis Cooper), Martin Creed Exhibition (Hauser & Wirth) and Clavin Klein season film.
Hanieh Khatibi
Hanieh Khatibi (b. 1985, Tehran, Iran) is an artist and educator currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She works across various media, including video, performance, sculpture, and drawing, and explores the continuity, resistance, and interrelationships in nature and society through her art. Khatibi’s work has been exhibited at several venues, including Spore Space in Ojai, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Human Resources, ArtCenter DTLA, Track 16, and Schindler House, among others. She received her MFA in Art from CalArts in 2019 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Rajaee University in Tehran.
Kevin Krieger
Kevin Gregory Krieger is an actor, comedian and director based in Los Angeles, CA. He trained in improv comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade and The Miles Stroth Workshop before discovering clown at John Gilkey’s Idiot Workshop. Kevin performed and collaborated with John for over 10 years beginning as a guest performer with Wet the Hippo and later as a cast member of The Murge, dubbed by LA Weekly as “LA’s craziest improv show.” In 2023, Kevin directed Claire Woolner’s award-winning show, A Retrospection, which the New York Times called, “captivating throughout.” “A fixture of the LA clown scene” (LA Times), Kevin has taught thousands of students in Los Angeles and abroad through the Idiot Workshop and his traveling workshop, Plain Clothes Clown.
Andrea Pallaoro
Born in Trento, Italy, Andrea Pallaoro holds an MFA in Film Directing from the CalArts and a BA from Hampshire College. His first feature film, Medeas, starring Catalina Sandino Moreno and Brian O’Byrne, premiered at the 70th Venice Film Festival and won several awards at prestigious international film festivals including Marrakech, Tbilisi, Palm Springs, and CamerImage. Hannah, Pallaoro’s second feature film, starring Charlotte Rampling, world premiered in the Official Competition of the 74th Venice Film Festival where Ms. Rampling won the Coppa Volpi for best actress. Hannah went on to receive many prestigious international awards and recognitions including a César nomination for best foreign film. His most recent film, Monica, starring Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza and Emily Browning world premiered in the Official Competition of the 79th Venice Film Festival and went on to win numerous awards.
peter howard
Peter Howard is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Cornerstone Theater Company—a leader in the field of community-engaged artmaking—working as an actor, playwright and director in collaboration with dozens of urban and rural communities across the U.S. since 1986. As a playwright, his Cornerstone credits include an American Muslim adaptation of You Can’t Take It with You (the first adaptation ever approved by the Kaufman and Hart estate) and Lunch Lady Courage, inspired by Brecht and set in the world of urban public school food service. As a performer, his regional theatre credits include the Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, the Guthrie, South Coast Repertory, Woolly Mammoth and Arizona Theatre Company. Peter also works as a program design consultant, teacher of community-centered arts practice and facilitator of community dialogue in a variety of youth, university and arts nonprofit settings.
Curt LeMieux
Curt LeMieux’s approach to art making is rooted in experimentation with process and materials. His practice involves a range of visual disciplines, and he is best known for creating works that suggest a tension between fragility and strength; they are at once ephemeral yet anchored with a sense of permanence. The complex relationship between human industry and nature is a reoccurring theme for LeMieux and his artwork sometimes contains humorous political and pop culture references. LeMieux has been living and working in Los Angeles for twenty-five years. Exhibition venues include: The Santa Monica Museum of Art, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Monte Vista Projects, The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, and The SOO Visual Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. LeMieux received an M.F.A. in 2001 from Claremont Graduate University.
Alicia Piller
Los Angeles based artist, Alicia Piller was born and raised in Chicago and received her Bachelors in both Fine Arts (Painting) & Anthropology from Rutgers University in 2004. While working in the fashion industry; living a decade in NYC and three and a half years in Santa Fe, NM, Piller cultivated her distinctive sculptural voice. Continuing to expand her artistic practice, Alicia completed her MFA focused on sculpture and installation from CalArts in May of 2019. Alicia is currently represented in Los Angeles by Track 16 Gallery. Her work is a part of the Hammer Permanent Collection 2020, Glendale College Collection, Forrest Kirk Collection, the Pam Royalle Collection, & Janine Barrois Collection. Her sculptural work was featured on the cover of Full Blede Magazine, Issue 10 (Fall 2019), the Lumina Journal (Sarah Lawrence College) (Jan 2020), and the LA Times (August 2022).
Alejandro perez
Alejandro Perez is a first-generation Mexican-American from Los Angeles, California, wherein he has been a tangible presence in the dance community and beyond, first seen performing internationally in a street dancing crew. He has been a dancer and a collaborator with Sidra Bell NYC, ISHIDA Dance, Dawsondancesf, ZiRu Dance, Mike Tyus & Co, in addition to other companies throughout the United States. Alejandro believes fervently in supporting young artists, and in recent years has focused primarily on teaching opportunities and presenting work around Los Angeles. He has created and set works on California School for the Arts, LINES Ballet Training/Summer Program, for Youth America Grand Prix, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago’s Academy Training Program/Studio Company.
paolo moretti
Currently director of the cinema department at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), director of the Grütli Cinemas in Geneva and cinema curator at the Fondazione
Prada in Milan, Paolo Moretti was general delegate of the Directors’ Fortnight, the parallel selection of the Festival de Cannes, from 2018 to 2022. He worked for numerous film festivals and institutions in Europe, including the Centre Pompidou and Cinéma du Réel in Paris, the Filmoteca Española in Madrid, the Leeds International Film Festival and the Portuguese Cinematheque in Lisbon. From 2008 to 2011, he was programming advisor and chief assistant to the director of the Venice Film Festival. Between 2014 and 2019 he directed the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival and was a member of the selection committees of the FIDMarseille and Visions du Réel festivals.
Max Aruj
Max Aruj is a composer born and raised in Los Angeles. His recent projects include HBO’s accalimed documentary MoviePass, MovieCrash, and Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Ice Road, starring Liam Neeson. He joined the Assassin’s Creed universe for Wrath of the Druids (2021). He did additional arrangements on Top Gun: Maverick (2022), for Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe. He also wrote additional music for Balfe on Marvel Studio’s Black Widow and HBO’s His Dark Materials.
Ivan Aguirre
Ivan Aguirre is an award-winning designer & painter in the Animation industry with 15 years of experience. He has worked for major studios such as Disney, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Sony Animation, Adult Swim, & Warner Bros. He has worked on critically acclaimed projects such as Mickey Mouse Shorts, Rick and Morty, The Book of life, and The Cuphead Show! where he won an Emmy Most recently he Art Directed “Primos”, a series for Disney Television Animation.
Charlie Hodges
Charlie Hodges has held principal contracts in companies for ballet, modern, and contemporary dance. Additionally, he has experience in commercial and concert dance work, as well as on Broadway. During his twenty-year career, he won the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Male Dancer in Europe, the Fred Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer on Broadway, and LA Weekly’s Person of the Year for his contributions to dance and dance education. When he is not teaching dance, he works as a product designer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
Kat Kosmala
Kat Kosmala has been animating for over 15 years on shows like Bob’s Burgers, DuckTales, and plenty of other projects you’ve probably never heard of, too. She loves the charm of genuine, hand-drawn animation, the choreography of interesting movement, and sharing an appreciation for this exciting art form with as many new people as she can. Most recently, Kat served as Animation Lead for Disney/Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur by day, while teaching animation to the second-year Calartians by night. She’d probably animate more if she could…but she hasn’t quite finished the time machine yet.
Crystal AC Salas
Crystal AC Salas is the author of the bilingual poetry chapbook Grief Logic, which was cowinner of the inaugural Alta California Prize from Gunpowder Press (2022). She has work in The Kenyon Review, Alta Journal, World Literature Today, and other publications. A founding member of the BreakBread Literacy Project, which elevates the voices of young creatives under 25, she serves as poetry editor for BreakBread Magazine. She holds an MFA from University of California, Riverside and is the recipient of a 2021–22 California Arts Council Established Individual Artist Fellowship.
Marisa Caichiolo
Marisa Caichiolo is an artist and curator who studied art history and curatorial studies, with a PhD in art history and psychology. She focuses on cultural exchanges researching cultural production fluctuating between theory and practice. She is the founder of Building Bridges International Art Foundation an international non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California. She is part of the curatorial team for
several international biennials, such as Cuenca Biennial (Ecuador), the Casablanca Biennale (Morocco), Sharjah Biennale (United Arab Emirates), Biennial of the Americas
(Colorado).
Darrian O’Reilly
Darrian O’Reilly is a Los Angeles-based choreographer and performer whose dance practice focuses on embodied awareness and movement therapy. Her choreography is inspired by clown, musical theater, postmodern dance, and contact improvisation. She has taught in the dance departments at UCLA, East LA College, and Loyola Marymount University. She is currently pursuing a doctorate of physical therapy at University of St. Augustine.
Kim Warner-Turner
Kimiko Warner-Turner (she/her/me) is a theatre educator, community activist and artist with over 30 years of experience, blending Liberation Arts and Social Justice techniques with movement, writing, and visual art. She holds an M.A. in Applied Theatre Arts from USC and has trained in Brazil and India. Kimiko teaches at L.A. County High School for the Arts and co-directs the Shakespeare in American Communities with national partners.
Sayda Trujillo
Sayda Trujillo (She/Her) is a Guatemalan Canadian American theatre-maker who writes solo performance and teaches voice, movement, acting, devising, and applied theatre. Identity and storytelling inspire her personal and collective work with communities around the world. Sayda is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Cal Poly Pomona.
Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz is a French actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter best known for his Cannes-winning drama La haine. Kassovitz is also the founder of MNP Enterprise, a film production company.
Robert Moon
Robert Moon has worked in the animation industry for nearly a decade in various capacities: storyboard artist, storyboard revisionist, and production.
Ed Douglas
Ed Douglas was member of the faculty for the CSSSA Theatre program for many years. He taught acting and stage combat. He has worked extensively as an actor, director and fight choreographer.
Daniel Scheinert
Daniel Scheinert is one member of the director pair known as “Daniels” (with co-director Dan Kwan), who has written, produced, and directed three features, after making dozens of music videos since 2010 with such artists as The Hundred in the Hands, Foster the People, Tenacious D., Manchester Orchestra and DJ Snake, whose “Turn Down for What” achieved viral status. Scheinert’s feature debut with Kwan was Swiss Army Man (2016), an absurdist comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano. Daniel Scheinert’s second “Daniels” feature with Kwan premiered at the 2022 South by Southwest film festival: the Michelle Yeoh-starring science fiction comedy, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Asad Qizilbash
Asad Qizilbash is Senior Vice President at Sony PlayStation and a key role in the formation of PlayStation Productions. As Head of PlayStation Productions, he oversees the development and production of video game adaptations to film and television. Notable projects include the “Uncharted” movie starring Tom Holland and the Emmy Award winning “The Last of Us” TV series on HBO. As a notable Hollywood producer and leading executive in the video game industry, he’s pioneering the crossroads between technology, entertainment and transmedia storytelling.
Chris Wade
Chris Wade, Music Director, Accompanist, Arranger. Credits: “Defining Courage” (Kennedy Center, Segerstrom, Hawaii Theater), Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour, Altadena Music Theatre: “Hair”, “Cabaret”, “Guys and Dolls”. Nocturne Theater: “Cabaret”, Melissa Schade shows. Off-Bway: Siren’s Heart, Great Leap Forward. Composer/ Lyricist/ Book: “29LIVES”, “Such Sweet Sorrow” (Live Nation, Fox Theater). TV/Film: Miracle Workers, USCellular, Game of Talents, Macys Parade, GEICO. Producer at Chris Wade Music Productions: RAISE (Bernie/AOC Rally), #TheAccidentals, The Broadway Bunch (Ralph Lauren), Belmont 4, The Jolly Holidays. BMI Musical Theatre Workshop (Composer), Wagner College, CLU, LACHSA.
Bre Kennedy
Singer-songwriter Bre Kennedy creates music soaked in rich, timeless storytelling with innate pop sensibilities. Influenced by mesmerizing talents like Brandi Carlile Tom Petty and Bonnie Raitt, Kennedy’s delicate, raspy sound soars as she touches on profound themes around life’s messy moments. Kennedy reveals, “I usually try to have a smile on when it comes to talking about the mess of being human.” After a brief stint in LA, she hopped in her Nissan and headed to Nashville where she discovered her true musical identity. She began playing shows at prominent Nashville venues like The 5 Spot and The Basement, where she caught the attention of industry and fans alike. Over the past couple of years, Kennedy sold-out a headline show at Nashville’s historic Exit In and has supported such renowned artists as Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr., and Stephen Wilson Jr. Media has also taken notice, with outlets like Billboard, Paste, American Songwriter and Atwood singing her praises. At the end of 2021, Kennedy signed to Nettwerk Music Group. She is currently readying a new album & will join various artists
on the road including NEEDTOBREATHE in the Fall. Kennedy has cemented herself as an artist to watch and one of the brightest voices out of the New Nashville music scene.
peter spears
Peter Spears is the Oscar-winning producer of NOMADLAND, the Academy Award-winning film for director Chloé Zhao and actor Frances McDormand, and won the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award, BAFTA, PGA, Venice Golden Lion, and Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture. Spears produced Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, for which he was also nominated for an Oscar. The film was written by James Ivory, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Spears produced the MGM feature Bones And All, with Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Spears’s film DRIFT, directed by Anthony Chen, starring Cynthia Erivo and Alia Shawkat, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. He worked with Guadagnino on QUEER, starring Daniel Craig. His most recent film, ON SWIFT HORSES with director Daniel Minahan, starring Daisy Edgar Jones, Jacob Elordi and Diego Calva premiered at TIFF in 2024 and released by around the world in 2025. He directed the cult-favorite short film “Ernest and Bertram” and developed the television series “Nightmare Café” and “John from Cincinnati”. As an actor, Spears has appeared in films such as “Something’s Gotta Give”, “The Opposite of Sex”, and “Father of the Bride Part II”, and in television, such as “Friends” and “E.R.” In 2022, Spears founded his own production company, Cor Cordium, with projects in development across film and television.
Ernest Dickerson
An Emmy, Peabody, and two-time Image Award winning film and television veteran whose signature brand of visual storytelling has been entertaining movie and TV fans for more than thirty years. Dickerson collaborated with Lee as Director of Photography on such classic films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, and Malcolm X. Dickerson directed and co-wrote JUICE (1992), an urban drama featuring Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps. Other credits include Surviving the Game, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Bones and Never Die Alone. Dickerson’s independent feature, Double Play, is based on the internationally acclaimed Frank Martinus Arion novel and was filmed on the island of Curacao. His television work includes hit series like The Wire, The Walking Dead, Treme, Dexter, Bosch and Bosch Legacy, The Man In The High Castle, House of Cards, Seven Seconds, the second season premiere of HBO’s Raised By Wolves and Epix’s hit series Godfather of Harlem, and many others. Along with directing, Dickerson also served as Executive Producer on DMZ and Interroga1on. Some of Dickerson’s most recent television credits includes NBC’s The IRRATIONAL. Dickerson, who is a long-standing member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), currently resides in Los Angeles, California.