Alex Lyras and Robert McCaskill have collaborated on four solo shows for the stage: Desperlics, Unequalibrium, (New Playwrights: Best Plays and Best Men’s Monologues For the Twenty First Century) and The Common Air (Ovation, LA Drama Critics Awards). All three plays were recently published in a Trilogy by Smith & Krauss. Plasticity premiered at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles and received an Ovation and LAScenie Award. As a writing team, they have sold TV pilots to NBC, FOX and Warner Brothers, developed an action comedy for Jerry Bruckheimer and a drama for Joel Silver. They are both members of the Writer’s Guild.
Lyras full-length screenplay, ALVA, (co-written with Michael Dorian), won the Alfred P. Sloan Grant from the Tribeca Film Institute. He has produced two feature films, Mona and Heterosexuals, and written and directed several short films. His screenplay, How To Address An Envelope, will be produced this summer. Lyras will also direct.
McCaskill has written and/or directed three feature films, Mona, Heterosexuals, and Detours (all available on Amazon). A fourth, Hungry, is soon to be released. He has worked as a full time professional acting coach in New York City for over twenty-five years. As an actor, he can be seen as Ralph Waldo Emerson in Wild Nights with Emily; opposite Sachi Parker in the award winning series, The So So You Don't Know; and as Romeo Montague, suicide survivor, in Wherefore Art Thou?
Ken Rich has written music for HBO, VH1, Macy's, the NBA, and the WNBA as well as Lyras & McCaskill’s scoring and sound Design previous works, Unequalibrium and The Common Air for which he received an Ovation and LA Drama Critics Award. Mr. Rich owns Grand Street Recording in Brooklyn, where he has produced/arranged and/or engineered for Ingrid Michaelson, Sophie B. Hawkins, Tracy Bonham, Marcus Miller, Brady Rymer, Julia Darling, Morley, Patrick Stewart, David Duchovny, Joseph Arthur, David Mead, and Angus and Julia Stone. He records and mixes music for Bless the Harts (FOX) and has been nominated for two Grammys.
Corwin Evans is a Los Angeles based designer of video and sound. After receiving an MFA in Sound Design from UCLA, he's worked as a teaching with Center Theatre Group, Watts Village Theatre Company, and the Hollywood Fringe Festival. He has spent several years as the resident Sound Designer at Ojai Playwrights Conference. Selected theatre credits include: Four Chords and a Gun (Bootleg Theater), A Bright New Boise (Rogue Machine, LA Weekly Nomination for Best Video Design), TRACERS (US Veterans' Artist Alliance/RM), The Art Couple (Sacred Fools, Ovation Nomination for Best Video Design), The Word Begins (Hip Hop Theatre Festival/RM), 4.48 Psychosis (Video, Son of Semele Ensemble). He won the Ovation Award for Best Video Design for the Los Angeles production of Plasticity.
Effie Samios, founder of Istros Media, is a multi-award winning digital creation company that specializes in delivering creative content seamlessly across multiple channels, using the best practices, ideas, people and technology to provide innovative solutions for design, broadcast graphics, content creation, viral marketing, database development, print and video production. The intro and print campaign for Plasticity was created by Effie, Ilya Startsev, and Marielle Vermi.
Bjorn Zipprich, VFX artist, has worked in multiple aspects of visual effects animation, on films such as Watchmen, Spider Man 2 & 3, The Matrix Revolutions, and I am Legend, to name just a few. He has held the leadership positions of VFX Senior Technical Director and FX Supervisor at Sony Imageworks. He has also collaborated with Kodak, Acura, Kelloggs, and Planet Toccer. His company, Yebo Media, provides pre to post production services, most recently embarking on realizing visions in Virtual Production and Real Time workflows for a multitude of work requirements. He was born and raised in South Africa.
Peter Chakos is a television producer and editor with three Emmy’s for he Big Bang Theory, in addition to multiple People’s Choice Awards and an ACE Eddy. Previous television credits include Cheers, Wings, Dharma & Greg, Will & Grace, Two And A Half Men, Mike & Molly and Mom. He also plays guitar and has been a principal vocalist in several bands. He originally hails from Chicago, Illinois.
Shiloh Goodin, choreograper, Cabaret, Gallery Players. Spring Awakening, Gallery Players, BEST MUSICAL, Innovative Theatre Awards. Aida, Weathervane Playhouse. Retro Factory Pride, NYTB Choreo Lab. Associate on Twelfth Night (The Public), Chess (Kennedy Center), The New World (Bucks County Playhouse). SDC Observership, 2018-19. Performer at Berkeley Rep, Sacramento Music Circus, Riverside Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Santa Fe Opera. Faculty at AMDA. @shilohlovesyou
Jonathan Schell is a cinematographer whose NYU Grad film, Picasso Would Have Made A Glorious Waiter, won the Student Academy Award, as well as 26 festival honors. He has worked on numerous documentaries, including Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, the Robert Redford hosted Sundance Summit. and Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for Superman, and Teach. In 2010, he co-directed the festival winning feature documentary Sex Magic, about a tantric sex guru in Sedona. He has shot numerous shows for Discovery & TLC, including Welcome to Plathville.
Celia Schaefer has worked Off-Broadway in productions of Chekhovek and Voices of Swords, as well as world premiere productions at Ensemble Studio Theatre, LAByrinth and Atlantic Theater Company. Her regional work includes the touring company of Chicago City Limits Improv, Stageworks/Hudson’s critically acclaimed Tomorrow in the Battle, Fusion Theatre Company's Old Times and Disgraced and the Living Room Theatre's Exit the King. Film work includes Thirsty, Detours, Detachment and Heterosexuals. She has appeared on NBC’s Conviction and CBS Daytime’s As the World Turns. She will be seen in a recurring role on Hulu's original hit series The Path this winter.
Matthew Schiffman has been collaborating with Lyras and McCaskill for over 2 decades. As graduate of the University of Miami's BFA Theater Program, Matt began his career as a sound engineer/designer for acts including Jimmy Buffet (Don't Stop the Carnival) and John Leguizamo (Freak). He assisted in building sound systems for the Broadway musical Side Show, the national tour of Rent, traveled as a wireless tech/monitor mixer with the European tour of the Van Joyce's Original American Phantom of the Opera and was technical director for Steve Garvey and Jay Stern's The Bardy Bunch. In addition to his love of theatre Matt's other career is that of a software developer. Previous employers/clients of his include The Estée Lauder Companies, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Omnicom, and SiriusXM+Pandora. Recently Matt has jumped feet first into the deep end of blockchain technology and will report on what he finds once he comes up for air.
Christina Xenos is a professional writer and social media guru, chronicling the best things to do in Los Angeles and beyond. When she's not writing/tweeting and instagramming about food, entertainment and travel, she's helping L.A. eat well with her personal chef services and bringing proper Greek food to Los Angeles with her Sweet Greek pop-up feasts.
Dean Lyras is a cinematographer and camera operator who has shot film and television in New York, Los Angeles and around the globe. Founder of Rocky Mountain Motion Pictures, Dean’s feature credits include Nurse Betty, Double Jeopardy, Primary Suspect, Con Air and Dumb and Dumber, among many others. Television credits include Person Of Interest, Almost Human, Disney’s Stitchers, Mistresses and Revenge of the Ninja Turtles. He has also shot for Fashion Week in London and Prague. His extensive library of stock footage can be viewed at framepool.com
Tim Arnold is an editor, producer and writer. He has collaborated with Lyras and McCaskill on several previous projects, including key visual elements for The Common Air and The Agony And Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. His short film, Great Poets Die, adapted from a Charles Bukowski story, played at Telluride Film festival among many others.
