OUR SPEAKERS:

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: MICHAEL KANTOR (Confirmed) 

Michael Kantor joined American Masters as the PBS series’ executive producer in 2014. He created the American Masters Podcast as well as the theatrical imprint American Masters Pictures which has been represented by ten films at the Sundance Film Festival over the past five years including Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise; Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am; and Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. This year’s festival featured the world premiere of the American Masters film, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, which Kantor executive produced with Norman Lear and Lin-Manuel Miranda.  

An Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, Kantor’s PBS series include Broadway: The American Musical (hosted by Julie Andrews), Make ‘Em Laugh (hosted by Billy Crystal) and Superheroes (hosted by Liev Schreiber). Kantor also wrote, directed and produced the American Masters program, Quincy Jones: In the Pocket and the Peabody-winning special, Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.  He served as executive producer of Give Me the Banjo with Steve Martin and is president of Almo Inc., a company that distributes the American Film Theatre series, including Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, starring Katharine Hepburn, and Chekhov’s Three Sisters with Laurence Olivier. Kantor has co-authored three books, serves as a Tony nominator and lectures frequently.

THE DIRECTOR – DAVID LEE (Confirmed) 

David was born and raised in Claremont, California. He graduated from the University of Redlands with a degree in Theater and Music. In 1978, he began long career writing, directing and producing television comedy.  With partner Peter Casey he wrote and produced The Jeffersons (six years) and Cheers (four years).  In 1989 they added a third partner, the late David Angell. The first series they created, Wings, ran for eight seasons on NBC.  Their second, Frasier, ran eleven seasons.  It has to date won more Emmy awards than any other sitcom… ever. Besides directing many episodes of his own series, David has directed several pilots and was a repeating guest director for Everybody Loves Raymond. He has won many and various awards for his work in television including nine Emmys (nineteen nominations) for writing, directing and producing, a Golden Globe, the People’s Choice (twice), the Directors Guild Award, the Television Critic’s Award (three times), the British Comedy Award, the Humanitas Prize (twice), and the prestigious Peabody Award.  Since 1999 he has returned to his first love, the theater, directing critically acclaimed revivals of Light Up the Sky, Do I Hear A Waltz?, 110 in the Shade, the LA premiere of Diva, and Can-Can (featuring a new book he co-authored; Ovation award; best director), Camelot, Art, Casa Valentina and Ragtime at the Pasadena Playhouse. He directed the world premiere of How I Fell In Love at the Williamstown Theater Festival, and On the Twentieth Century, Assassins, Company, A New Brain, Applause!, Working, Elegies, Two By Two, Forum, Gigi and Zorba (Ovation nomination; best director) for Reprise!   In 2007 he directed the acclaimed production of South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl starring Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell.  For the Two River Theater Company he directed Present Laughter and his eight-actor minimalist production of Camelot.  In 2014 he again directed his new version of Can-Can at the Paper Mill Playhouse in its pre-Broadway tryout. Most recently he directed Dear World with Tyne Daly and Wonderful Town for the Los Angeles Opera.

THE WRITER – JEFFREY RICHMAN

Jeffrey Richman is a producer and writer known for Modern Family, earning three Emmy Awards, three Writers Guild Awards, three Producers Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy.  He has served as Executive or Co-Executive Producer on Wings, Frasier (another Emmy Award for Best Comedy), Stark Raving Mad, Charlie Lawrence (Creator), Jake in Progress, Stacked, Rules of Engagement, Desperate Housewives, and Back to You. He also received an Emmy nomination for writing the 82nd Annual Academy Awards with hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Other credits include writing all of Barbra Streisand’s U.S. and European concert tours since 2006, as well as the subsequent CBS television special; Carrie Underwood’s holiday TV special for Fox; and the one-woman show Patti LuPone on Broadway.

THE ACTOR: JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY (Invited) 

John Benjamin Hickey won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the searing revival of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. His other Broadway credits include acclaimed productions of Mary Stuart, The Crucible opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, and the 1998 revival of Cabaret, starring opposite Natasha Richardson. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning Terrence McNally play Love! Valour! Compassion!, for which he received an OBIE Award for his performance when it was first produced Off-Broadway. He has appeared in such films as Flags of Our Fathers, Transformers, The Anniversary Party, and most recently Pitch Perfect. On television, he has reoccurring roles on The Good Wife and The New Normal, and played Laura Linney’s crazy brother on the acclaimed Showtime series The Big C. 

THE CASTING AGENT – JEFF GREENBERG (Invited) 

Emmy Award-winning casting director Jeff Greenberg has worked in casting since the early 1980s, and he has found success in casting for television in multiple decades. As a child, Jeff loved watching the Emmy Award shows. He would sit with his nose pressed against the television, eager to see who would walk away with a gold statue in their hand. One of his most successful — and the one he won an Emmy for — is Modern Family, which wrapped it’s final season last year.  Greenberg credits his success to learning from the masters of television. His first job as casting director came on the hit television series “Cheers.” Working under creators James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles, he learned important lessons about type casting in urban comedies.  After the conclusion of “Cheers” Greenberg continued to refine his style on series including “Wings” and “Frasier”, which presented him with his first six Emmy nominations. The approach he developed has remained consistent through the years. 

THE AUTHOR: WILLIAM J. MANN (Invited) 

Bill Mann has “set new standards in movie biography,” according to historian and critic David Thomson. Mann’s biography of Katharine Hepburn, titled Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, was named a Notable Book of 2006 by The New York Times, and praised by Gore Vidal. Mann’s latest study, How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, goes behind the scenes to discover the ways Taylor (and her savvy agents, managers and publicists) fashioned the blueprint for the celebrity culture we know today. Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand followed in 2012. Mann’s next book, Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, is the story of how the Hollywood studio system and the Hays Office were established during the early 1920s, told alongside the famous, unsolved murder mystery of director William Desmond Taylor, which Mann solves. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Mann has been writing about Hollywood since 1996. His first biography, Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, won the Lambda Literary Award. This fall, Mann will publish is latest work; The Contender: The Life of Marlon Brando.

THE HOTELIER – STEVEN BOGGS (Confirmed) 

As Director of Global Guest Relations for the Dorchester Collection of nine iconic hotels, including the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Steven has spent almost 30 years taking care of the rich and famous at the iconic “Hotel California.” His client list includes notables ranging from Lauren Bacall to Michael Jackson to Warren Buffet to Clive Davis. A Los Angeles native, Steven has always been fascinated by the history of LA and Hollywood and has developed friendships with some of the people that helped create that history. Steven will explore the history of the Beverly Hills Hotel and the influence it had on the culture of Hollywood. Expect more than a few of his favorite celebrity anecdotes!

 Special 30th Anniversary Voyage!

For more than three decades, Regent has been elevating ocean travel as the only, truly all-inclusive luxury cruise line. To celebrate these last 30 years — and as we look to the decades ahead — Regent and Artful Travelers have curated and enhanced this sailing. Experience the ultimate in luxury travel on this 30th Anniversary Voyages, including commemorative pins and gifts, an anniversary party on each cruise, double past guest savings, specialty drinks and one-of-a-kind