Barney Burman, is a third-generation monster maker. Barney was quite literally raised in and around the art of make-up effects. At 14, he started officially working with his father, Tom Burman, in his special make-up effects shop, The Burman Studios. By the time he turned 23, Barney was already designing and creating monsters and dead people for indie filmmakers like Roger Corman and others. Eventually, Barney would take on the role of Key Make-up Effects Artist for productions such as “Body Snatchers,” “Star Kid,” “Powder,” “The Rage: Carrie 2” and “The X-Files,” to name but a few.

He has since worked alongside some of the most prominent and talented artists in the film industry, directors such as Ben Stiller, Tim Burton, Ben Affleck, Ron Howard, Gore Verbinski, Jay Roach, Spike Jonze, Bryan Singer, Zack Snyder, Peter Weir, Danny Devito, Barry Sonnenfeld, Michael Bay, Jonathan Demme, Milos Forman, Leonard Nimoy, and many others.

Since 2004, when he first opened his own make-up effects studio, B2FX, Barney has created make-ups on many of the biggest make-up heavy films in modern cinema such as “Pearl Harbor,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Men in Black 2,” “The Ring,” “The Ring 2,” “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Mission: Impossible III,” and “Blades of Glory.”

In 2008, Barney was hired to co-design the memorable make-up for Tom Cruise in the summer blockbuster “Tropic Thunder.” Barney also created and designed the spectacular special characters in the hit NBC TV show, “Grimm.”

His artistic skills and personal esthetic proved rewarding when, in 2010, Barney was honored with an Academy Award for his work in JJ Abrams's reboot of “Star Trek.” Most recently Barney found adventure traipsing around the country turning Sacha Baron Cohen into 6 different characters for his latest and most scandalous project, “Who is America?”

And through all of this, Barney, the cineaste, has longed to play a bigger role as a filmmaker. So, after having been an actor from the age of 11 and a writer for the past 25 years, Barney’s feature film directorial debut, “Wild Boar,” is expected to be released in early 2019. For more, please check out B2FX.com

Daina Griffith is a very much in-demand actress of breathtaking range and depth. She has performed in over 55 productions with Pittsburgh’s greatest theatre institutions such as The Pittsburgh Public Theater, Off The Wall, City Theatre, Front Porch Theatricals, PICT Classic Theatre, and Barebones. In 2013, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette named her Performer of the Year. In 2015 she was nominated for the Carol R. Brown Emerging Artist Award.

From May to September of 2018, Daina was seen on stage at City Theatre in Sean Daniels' The White Chip, Lauren Gunderson's The Revolutionists, Ragtime at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, and Front Porch Theatrical's sold out production of Grey Gardens.

Daina’s film credits include: Richard Linklater's upcoming Where'd You Go, Bernadette, starring Cate Blanchett and Kristin Wiig; Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Anna Martemucci's Hollidaysburg, Pittsburgh Dad's Street Light Stories (starring as Deb, Dad’s usually invisible wife), and Unsinkable, in which she plays the Countess of Rothes, a passenger on the Titanic.

  Peter Filichia has spent most of his life writing about theater. He’s written reviews and features for a daily newspaper (The Star-Ledger), a magazine (TheaterWeek), and the Internet (Playbill, Theatermania, Music Theatre International, Broadway Select, Masterworks Broadway and Kritzerland). Peter has also authored numerous books on theater, including: “Let’s Put on a Musical,” “The Biggest Hit of the Season/The Biggest Flop of the Season,” “Broadway Musicals’ Most Valuable Players,” “Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks” and “The Great Parade: The Remarkable 1963-64 Broadway Season.”

He was president of the Drama Desk Awards from 1992 through 1996, and serves on its current nominating committee. In 2009, he was chosen to be an assessor for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Since 1995, he has been critic-in-residence for the Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music; the chairman of the Theatre World Awards, whose ceremony he annually writes and emcees; and the musical theater assessor for ASCAP’s annual awards.

On most Sunday evenings, he can be heard podcasting on “Broadway Radio.”

His ten-minute play “Our Dead Classmate” was recently produced by the Camino Real Playhouse in San Juan Capistrano. His one-act play “Games,” about bullying, has seen high school productions in all 50 states and six foreign countries. His full-length play, “Adam’s Gifts: A New Christmas Carol” was a finalist for the first Terrence McNally Award administered by the Philadelphia Theatre Company and has been seen in six states.

Rick Hawkins is an Emmy-winning screenwriter whose decades long career in Hollywood includes successes as a producer, head writer, studio executive and international media consultant. Beginning with The Carol Burnett Show - where his now iconic "Went With the Wind" sketch contains the longest-sustained laugh in television history - Rick went on to pen the ABC telefilm, The Love Boat, which piloted the long-running series.

Rick's writing credits include landmark variety series and top-rated sitcoms and dramas, for which he has earned seven Emmy Award nominations, winning one for The Carol Burnett Show, and five WGA Award nominations. He’s Executive Produced TV series such as, “Sister, Sister,” “Major Dad,” and “Punky Brewster.”

Rick has penned the book for several musicals, including “Lunch,” which had it’s West Coast premier in January of 2014. He’s also served as lecturer and teacher at UCLA and the University of Moscow, as well as the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Warner Brothers Comedy Writing workshops.

Rick is currently serving as a Senior Teaching Artist in the Cinema Arts Department at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA.