Richard O’Brien, who was born in 1942, began his life in the world of entertainment in 1965 when, at the age of 23, he rode horses in British-made movies. He had no desire to become a full-time stuntman and, wisely, took himself off to an evening drama school, which claimed to adhere to the teaching principles of Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and anyone else that had decided to embrace the more ‘naturalistic’ approach to acting, commonly known as the Method. In 1967, Richard became an ASM and understudy in a musical touring version of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, retitled as Robert and Elizabeth. He worked backstage in many West End theatres, most notably the Cambridge Theatre at Seven Dials, where, among other duties, he shone a limelight upon John Hanson who, at the age of 46, may well have been the oldest Student Prince that the world had ever laid eyes upon. In 1969, Richard joined an ensemble group in a joyous production of Gulliver’s Travels at the Mermaid Theatre. This show was designed and directed by Sean Kenny. The choreographer was a young Japanese Canadian called David Toguri and, the following year, Richard auditioned for him once again and joined the cast of the British touring production of the American ‘hippie’ musical Hair. After Hair came Jesus Christ Superstar, which was directed by Jim Sharman. The following year, 1973, Jim cast Richard in a Sam Shepard play at the Royal Court Theatre’s Theatre Upstairs. It was here that he met Richard Hartley, his music partner of 40 years. The Rocky Horror Show opened in June of the same year and, slowly but surely, became the biggest cult musical of all time. Other highlights of Richard’s career are, of course, “The Crystal Maze,” a game show that warmed the autumn nights for Channel 4; the Child Catcher in the first stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; performing for the Queen in the gardens of Buckingham Palace upon Her Majesty’s 80th birthday, and playing Fagin in a New Zealand production of Oliver! In a career that has spanned 50 years, Richard has acted with some of the biggest and best-known names in the industry and, lately, he has won over a new and younger crowd of fans as the voice of Lawrence Fletcher, the father of Phineas and Ferb, in the Disney cartoon series of the same name. He is 82 years of age and refuses to make eye contact with the Grim Reaper.

Sam Pinkleton is a Tony Award-winning director and choreographer. His recent directing credits include Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! (currently running on Broadway) and the solo shows Can I Be Frank? and ta-da!, both of which played sold-out runs Off-Broadway last summer. With Roundabout, he directed the world premiere of Noah Diaz’s You Will Get Sick (with the late, great Linda Lavin) and choreographed the Broadway revival of Machinal. Other work as a director includes the participatory Scottish dance musical Ceilidh (Hippodrome Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (ACT), Elizabeth Swados’ Runaways (Encores!/Shakespeare in the Park), Head Over Heels (with Jenny Koons - Pasadena Playhouse), La Cage Aux Folles (Pasadena Playhouse) and Untitled DanceShowPartyThing (with Ani Taj - Virgin Voyages). As choreographer: Stephen Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are (The Shed/National Theater UK), Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang’s Soft Power (The Public/CTG), and seven Broadway shows including Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Film/TV: The End, “Dying for Sex.” Proud SDC member and lifelong Rocky Horror fan. @pamstinkleton

Ani Taj is a choreographer + founder of The Dance Cartel, working between NYC and the misty West of Ireland. Her work is rooted in the belief that dance can be liberatory and a GOOD TIME for everyone; The New York Times described it as “haute-performance theory with a house party vibe.” Recent thrills include the world premieres of A Wrinkle in Time (Arena Stage) and Dead Outlaw (Broadway/Audible Theater); La Cage Aux Folles (Pasadena Playhouse); Neon’s The End starring Tilda Swinton (film); and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Olney Theatre Center). She co-created Untitled DanceShowPartyThing with Sam Pinkleton for Virgin Voyages and has choreographed for Yoko Ono, Reggie Watts, Vic Mensa, and more. @ani.taj | @thedancecartel | www.anitaj.co

Recent Work: All In: Comedy About Love (Broadway, Music Supervisor/Orchestrations), Ceilidh (Music Supervisor), Beetlejuice The Musical (Broadway, North American Tour, Korea, Australia, Norwegian Cruise Lines Music Supervisor/Orchestrations/Arrangements). Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis (Vocal Music Supervisor/Producer/Arrangements), Disney’s The Tale of Moana (Disney Treasure, Supervisor/Orchestrations), Big Gay Jamboree (Orchestrations), Teeth (Orchestrations), Head Over Heels at the Pasadena Playhouse, The Liz Swados Project for Ghostlight Records, In The Green at Lincoln Center Theatre, David Byrne’s Joan of Arc at The Public Theater, Songbird at 59E59, a remounting of Elizabeth Swados’ Runaways at New York City Center, Jeff Buckley’s The Last Goodbye, The Heart of Robin Hood, Toronto Royal Alexandria. For 10 seasons, he served as the resident music director for the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Internationally, Heracles, The Frogs at The National Theatre of Greece, From the Fire at Edinburgh Fringe. The LaMama Cantata, Tokyo, Spoleto, Istanbul, Zagreb, Skopje and Belgrade. The Bacchae Warsaw, Bokan Festival di Bogotá. Graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He is adjunct faculty at Tisch/Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and has taught at The New School, Duke University, Columbia University, Belmont University, and Queens College.

dots is a design collective founded by Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa. Hailing from Colombia, South Africa, and Japan, their recent designs include the Broadway productions of Oh, Mary!; An Enemy of the People (Tony nomination); Appropriate (Tony and Drama Desk nominations); and Romeo+Juliet. Select honors include an Obie Award (2024) and two Henry Hewes Awards (2023 & 2024). designbydots.com

Jane Cox is a theater maker, an educator and a lighting designer working in theater, opera, dance and music. Jane won a Tony, a Drama Desk and the Henry Hewes award in 2024 for her lighting for Appropriate, and has three Tony nominations for Macbeth (’22), Jitney (’17) and Machinal (’14). Her creative career has been built on relationships; some of the extraordinary theatrical artists who have shaped her creative life include Ruben Santiago-Hudson, John Doyle, Elise Thoron, Shariffa Ali, Caitríona MacLaughlin, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Sam Gold. Recent designs include Michael R Jackson and Anna K Jacob’s Teeth at Playwrights Horizons; Donnacha Dennehy’s Land of Winter at the Irish Arts Center; The Weir at the Abbey Theater in Dublin (her hometown); Felon: An American Washi Tale; and The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi and Don Giovanni at San Francisco Opera. Other highlights have been co-organizing and hosting the 2023 symposium and creative convening The Future of Race in Design at the Park Avenue Armory with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Mimi Lien and Mikaal Sulaiman; organizing a series of events with returning citizens in conjunction with performances of Felon: An American Washi Tale by Reginald Dwayne Betts, and receiving a Distinguished Achievement Award from USITT in 2025. Jane has been a member of the Monica Bill Barnes Dance Company for more than twenty years. She is a Professor of the Practice and Director of the Program in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University, where she is also the co-director for the Fund for Irish Studies and a member of CreativeX.

Brian Ronan has designed the sound for 48 shows on Broadway including Smash, The Great Gatsby, Some Like It Hot, Funny Girl, Tootsie, Mean Girls, Springsteen on Broadway, The Prom, Beautiful, The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, American Idiot, Next to Normal, Curtains, Spring Awakening, and the Roundabout’s Cabaret. Brian is the fortunate recipient of the Obie, Lucille Lortel, two Drama Desks, an Olivier and two Tony awards. His career has spanned North America, Europe, Australia and Asia and has allowed him to work with the most talented composers, directors, designers, actors, musicians and stagehands in the world for which he is eternally grateful.