Fran Kirmser is a two-time Tony Award winning producer. Fran co-produced the award-winning August Wilson’s Radio Golf, the last play and final chapter in an epic ten-play cycle by August Wilson, one of our nation’s greatest playwrights as well as Glenngary Glenn Rossstarring Al Pacino.  She earned two Tony awards for the Broadway revivals of Hair (2008-09) and Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2013-14). 

In 2008, off the heels of the financial crash, Fran conceived and produced a sports series for stage to explore stories of leadership, competition, and teamwork. The Broadway sports trilogy includes Lombardi, Magic/Bird and Bronx Bombers. Lombardi,based on the iconic leader and NFL coach Vince Lombardiis currently being made into a feature film with Legendary Pictures. Fran serves as Executive Producer. 

Fran teaches master classes in producing at Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University and at various universities across the country. Her passion is helping emerging artists produce and promote their work to stage. She is a Mom, author, and Tony Voter. www.FranKirmser.com

Christopher Burney is the Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film. Previously, he was the Tony Nominated Artistic Producer of New York’s Second Stage Theatre where he worked since 1996. Highlights of the over 100 productions he has shepherded include: the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy; 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Paskek and Justin Paul; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; and Tiny Alice by Edward Albee.

As a champion of emerging artists, he has launched the careers of Rajiv Joseph, Leslye Headland, Michael Golamco, Chisa, Hutchison, Kenneth Lin, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Brooke Berman, and Adam Bock, among many others. An advocate for the importance of fostering future generations of theater artists and practitioners, he is on faculty at Columbia University where he teaches creative producing. He has lectured at Barnard College, The Einhorn School for the Performing Arts at Primary Stages, The Juilliard School, Bard College, The Boston School of Music, Marymount Manhattan College and the New England Theatre Conference. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, B.A., and Columbia University, M.F.A. www.christopherburney.com