Michael Van Duzer

Michael Van Duzer is primarily a playwright and director. He has only recently returned to performing after a long, long hiatus. He performed on the Theatre West stage in his short plays Hand Beneath The Table and Sons of God, Proud Out Loud in 2022 and 2023, as well as several staged readings and musicals. He also took part in the 2022 holiday show, Winter Wishes, and the 2023 show So Many Stars.

He won a Robby Award for his portrayal of Henry Kissinger in the world premiere of Our Man In Santiago at Theatre West and joined the rest of the cast for the show’s Off-Broadway run in 2022. Michael is the current Chairman of the Artistic Board of Theatre West.

Jeff Kaufman

Jeff Kaufman directed, produced, & wrote the Emmy-nominated American Masters documentary about playwright Terrence McNally, Every Act of Life (with Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane, Billy Porter, and others), and the Critics’ Choice-nominated documentary about Iranian human rights activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh (narrated by Olivia Colman), Nasrin. Other films include The State of Marriage (about the women who launched the marriage equality movement), and The Savoy King (about Harlem jazz and the discovery of Ella Fitzgerald, with John Legend, Janet Jackson, and Billy Crystal), plus short documentaries with Time Magazine and Amnesty International.

Since Covid, he has written three full-length plays and two short plays. His second play, First Aid, was a winner of the 2024 Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival.

He also contributed cartoons to The New Yorker and illustrations to The Los Angeles Times, wrote for The Washington Post and CNN, hosted an Associated Press Award-winning daily radio talk show in Vermont, and exhibited paintings in several Los Angeles galleries. In 2023, he organized a global women’s rights campaign about the mandatory hijab and its connection to women’s right to choose with Amnesty International, PEN America, RFK Human Rights, Ms. Magazine, and others.