Lucille Lortel was an American Actress, Artistic Director and, most notably, Producer. In the course of her career Ms Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, 5 of which were nominated for Tony Awards: As Is by William M. Hoffman, Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson, Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina! and A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing. Additionally she produced Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a production which ran for seven years and according to The New York Times "caused such a sensation that it...put Off Broadway on the map."

Lucille Lortel was born Lucille Wadler on December 16, 1900 at 153 Attorney Street, New York, NY the daughter of Anny and Harris Wadler, Jewish immigrants of Polish descent. Her father was a manufacturer of women's clothes and frequently traveled to Europe to buy designs that he would copy. She had two brothers, Seymour and Mayo (a respected violinist) and a sister, Ruth. She was raised in both The Bronx and New York City. She was home schooled and after attended school at Adelphi University in Brooklyn, NY. She was remembered by her friends for being vivacious, outgoing, flirtatious and was known to be found dancing at parties well into her 80s.

Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976), sometimes known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She has since started a solo career, and is also one half of the duo Evelyn Evelyn.

Palmer was born in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and attended Wesleyan University where she was a member of the Eclectic Society. She staged performances based on work by the Legendary Pink Dots, an early influence, and was involved in the Legendary Pink Dots electronic mailing list, Cloud Zero.^{[citation needed]} She then formed the Shadowbox Collective, devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows (such as the 2002 play, Hotel Blanc, which she directed).

With an interest in the performing arts, both in music and in theatre, Palmer spent time busking as a living statue called "The Eight Foot Bride" in Harvard Square, Cambridge; Edinburgh, Scotland; Australia (where she met Jason Webley); as well as many other locations. She references this line of work on The Dresden Dolls' self-titled CD, with the song "The Perfect Fit":

Jason Webley is an American musician known for his fusion of folk, experimental and alternative music. He began as a busker, playing accordion in the streets of Seattle, Washington, but has since moved in-doors and on stage, playing various venues.

In high school, Webley played in a punk band called Moral Minority. He picked up the accordion in 1996 in his last year in college at the University of Washington when he was part of a performance of Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and wrote a couple of songs for the play on the accordion. He later recalled, "I was just a geeky kid; accordion came later. It's since playing accordion that I've become cool. I used to be a geek with an electric guitar. I had a guitar and played in punky bands and I had a computer. I sequenced stuff. I was much geekier."

In the spring of 1998 Webley quit his day job, picked up his accordion, and hopped on a Greyhound bus with the intention of playing in the streets until his money ran out.

He used to pretend to die every Halloween only to be born in the spring (usually around May Day or Webley's springtime birthday). Webley first "died" on Halloween of 2000 when, after a concert, he led his fans to a park on the University of Washington campus and had a group of women take off his signature porkpie hat and black trench coat, which were burned. He then had his head shaved, was placed in a coffin and driven away in a hearse, and disappeared for six months. At the 2005 Halloween show he stated that he no longer wanted to live and die with the seasons. He did not die that year, and is expected to continue not dying on future Halloweens.

Laila Robins (born March 14, 1959) is an American stage, film and television actress.

Robins was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of Latvian American parents Brigita (née Svarcs) and Janis Robins, a research chemist. She attended the Yale School of Drama, (MFA) and received her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, (BA). Robins has been in a relationship with the actor Robert Cuccioli since 2000. They co-starred in Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; he was Macbeth, and she was Lady Macbeth. Robins has three sisters, Daina Robins, who resides in Holland, Michigan, Baiba, who still lives in the Twin Cities area, Minnesota, and Zaiga Robins, a chaplain at Season Hospice, Chicago, IL. Daina is the department chair of Theatre at Hope College. Robins has won several awards for her work including the Actors' Equity Foundation Joe A. Callaway Award, the Helen Hayes Award nomination, the Jefferson Award, the Drama League Award and the Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress.

Francis Jue (born September 29, 1963) is an Asian-American actor and singer. Jue is known for his performances on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and at The Muny in St. Louis. He has also appeared on television and in film. Among his acting awards are the 2008 Obie Award and Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor.

Jue was born in San Francisco, California, one of nine children of Chinese Americans Frank (an engineer for the U.S. Navy) and Jennie Jue. He grew up in the Richmond district of San Francisco and attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory high school, taking advantage of the school's excellent drama program. He received his B.A. degree at Yale University.

Jue first appeared in New York in 1984 in a production of Pacific Overtures as the boy in the tree and the Dutch Admiral. Later, he appeared in the show on Broadway as the Dutch Admiral and Madam (2004–05). He also appeared on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, creating the role of Bun Foo (2002–04). In the original Broadway production of M. Butterfly, he understudied the title character, Song Liling, and Comrade Chin (1989–90), also acting as understudy for these characters in the first national tour (1990–91); he then starred as Song Liling in the second national tour (1991–92).