David Javerbaum is a 13-time Emmy Award winner known for his work as writer, head writer, and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He co-authored its parody textbook America (The Book), which sold 2.6 million copies and won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He is the creator of the viral phenomenon @TheTweetOfGod, which grew to over six million followers and inspired the hit Broadway comedy An Act of God. That play, starring Jim Parsons and later Sean Hayes, ran on Broadway two years in a row and has since been produced over 100 times worldwide in 20 countries and a dozen languages. He also created the Netflix sitcom Disjointed and was a consulting producer on the Emmy-winning Kominsky Method.
A celebrated lyricist with an MFA in musical theater composition from NYU, Javerbaum has written lyrics for four Tony Awards opening numbers, including the showstopping 2011 anthem “Broadway Is Not Just For Gays Anymore.” His stage credits include the Tony-nominated musical Cry-Baby, and his television work includes Stephen Colbert’s A Colbert Christmas, which earned him a Grammy. His songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Feist, Kristin Chenoweth, Adam Lambert, and many more.
Zina Goldrich is a Drama Desk Award–nominated composer, conductor, musical director, and performing artist. Her romantic comedy and theatre songs have been performed worldwide by Broadway stars including Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Megan Hilty, Kelli O’Hara, and Alan Cumming.
Her newest collaborations with multi-Emmy Award winner David Javerbaum include re:Connecting and Yay, People, Yay!
She and longtime partner Marcy Heisler won the 2009 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in songwriting, the first women to do so. Their musical Ever After enjoyed acclaimed runs at the Alliance Theatre and Paper Mill Playhouse and will return in May 2026. Their newest work, Stage Mother, with bookwriter Brad Hennig, is in development. Other Goldrich and Heisler projects include Dear Edwina and Junie B. Jones, which both played successfully Off-Broadway, as well as Goodspeed’s The Great American Mousical, directed by Julie Andrews.
On television, she has composed for Apple TV’s Wonderpets in the City, ABC’s The Middle, Pooh’s Learning Adventures, and PBS’s Peg + Cat. She was also a staff songwriter for Disney Feature Animation. On Broadway, she played keyboards for Avenue Q, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma! and Titanic, where she also conducted.
Goldrich studied with film-scoring legend Jerry Goldsmith and is a proud graduate of USC’s Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program.
At 23, Mark Kaplan produced the pre-Broadway tryout of Are We There Yet? starring Donna Murphy. His theatrical directing credits include Lost in Yonkers, Biloxi Blues, Doubt, Love Letters (with Tony Dow), Cabaret, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and The Great American Trailer Park Musical.
With over 35 years in entertainment, Mark’s work spans talent management, creative development, production, and post-production. His film and television credits include Broadway Bound, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Water Engine, Cooperstown, and Legionnaires (featuring a then-unknown Dave Chappelle).
Now based in New York, he is developing re:Connecting by David Javerbaum and Zina Goldrich, a revival and film adaptation of Jim Leonard’s The Diviners, Javerbaum’s Talking Dogs, Dylan Brody’s And…Again, and other new works.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Mark has served on multiple nonprofit boards, co-founded the Albert Einstein Academy, and was honored by Sarah Lawrence with its prestigious Citation of Service Award.
Rob O’Neill is one of the industry’s most versatile entertainment executives, bridging television, theater, and the arts. As Senior VP of Content & Acquisitions at MTV Entertainment & Showtime Studios (Paramount Global), he oversees cultural touchstones like Yellowstone and the Taylor Sheridan Universe, The Daily Show, and South Park, while securing iconic series including The Office, Seinfeld, and Family Guy.
Starting at ICM, O’Neill rose to prominence during thirteen years at Disney, helping transform Disney Channel into a cultural powerhouse with hits like Hannah Montana, That’s So Raven, and High School Musical. At Warner Bros./Discovery, he drove growth for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Boomerang before joining Paramount in 2013.
His theatrical work includes Moulin Rouge (Australia) and The Secret Garden (Ahmanson Theatre). A Tony Award winner for The Outsiders, O’Neill is an arts advocate, serving on The Creative Coalition’s Advisory Board and co-chairing national arts initiatives.
Shane Snow is an award-winning business journalist, author, entrepreneur, and producer. He is co-founder of the virtual production company SHOWRUNNER Technologies and the film production company The Mad Ones, as well as a founding advisor to Substack.
Shane's books Smartcuts, The Storytelling Edge, and Dream Teams have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in dozens of languages, and made him a renowned keynote speaker and Fortune 500 consultant on the subjects of innovation, storytelling, and teamwork.
Shane has co-produced major musicals such as The Outsiders, The Who's Tommy, and Burlesque, and has executive produced many independent film and television projects.