Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine

David Zayas is best known for his role as Angel Batista on the award-winning series Dexter and Dexter: Resurrection. Other television work includes OZ (HBO), Shut Eye (Hulu), Gotham (Fox), Bloodline (Netflix), Blue Bloods (CBS), FBI (CBS), Pose (F/X), and Next (Fox) among others. He has appeared in the films The Interpreter, 16 Blocks, Michael Clayton, The Expendables, Ride, Tallulah, Shine, Annie, Body Cam, Force of Nature, and R#J. David began his acting career with LAByrinth Theater Company in 1992. Productions include In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, Jesus Hopped the A Train, and Our Lady of 121st Street all written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. His latest projects include Devil of Choice by Maggie Diaz Bofill and Divine Horseman written and directed by Paul Calderon. On Broadway, he appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-w inning Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz and directed by Emily Mann. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicola Kraus co-authored The Nanny Diaries, which became an international #1 best-seller selling over 6 million copies in 32 languages and inspiring the movie starring Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti and Alicia Keys.  In addition to co-authoring 9 more novels, Nicola has contributed to The London Times, The New York Times, Redbook, Glamour, and Town & Country. In 2015 she co-founded the creative consulting firm The Finished Thought, which helps the next generation of aspiring authors find their voice and audience.  The Best We Could Hope For is her first solo novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kadia Saraf stars as Detective Claudette Wallace in Showtime and Paramount+’s Dexter: Resurrection and has also appeared as U.S. Attorney Anya Avital in Law & Order: SVU. Her additional credits include The Better Sister, Blue Bloods, FBI: International, and The Good Fight. Fluent in four languages and conversant in ASL, Kadia is also a martial artist and amateur boxer. She volunteers at the Animal Care Center, fostering and caring for cats and neonatal kittens. Dominic Fumusa currently plays “Detective Melvin Oliva” on the hit Paramount / Showtime series “Dexter: Resurrection.” Fumusa is best known for playing "Kevin Peyton" opposite Edie Falco on Showtime's acclaimed show "Nurse Jackie" which ran for seven seasons from 2009-2015.  Fumusa's film work includes playing the real life hero John "Tig" Tiegen in "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" directed by Michael Bay.  Fumusa appeared opposite Will Smith and Margot Robbie in the romantic comedy "Focus."  Other film work includes "The Report," "Allegiance," "Helena from the Wedding," "Management" and "Little New York."  Fumusa plays opposite Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman on Apple TV's "Echo 3" written and directed by Mark Boal.   Additional television work includes major season-long arcs on "Homeland," "Godfather of Harlem," "Divorce," "Goliath," and "The Purge," as well as guest starring roles on "Damages," "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos," and many others. Fumusa's extensive stage experience includes originating roles in the New York premieres of Sarah Ruhl's plays "Stage Kiss" and "Passion Play", Richard Greenberg's Tony Award winning "Take Me Out" (NY and London), Melissa James Gibson's Obie Award winning "[sic]" and Stephen Belber's plays "The Power of Duff," "Fault Lines," and "Tape" (NY, London and Los Angeles).  His Broadway debut came in the 1998 revival of "Wait Until Dark" opposite Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino.  Select regional theater credits include numerous plays at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Stratford Festival in Canada, the Huntington Theater in Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Humana Festival at the Actors Theater of Louisville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marisha recently starred as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway and in London. Also on the west end she starred as Miss Adelaide in the smash-hit revival of Guys and Dolls, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also received critical acclaim and an Oliver nomination for her performance as Ado Annie in the groundbreaking production of Oklahoma! At the Young Vic. Her extensive stage credits include performing for His Majesty the King, starring as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray at the London Coliseum, originating the role of Becky in the West End production of Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, and making her West End debut as Effie White in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre. Her albums include Soul Holiday, Tomorrow and Live in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chiara Aurelia is an American actress known for her starring role in the Freeform series Cruel Summer and her Broadway debut in the play John Proctor Is The Villain. Other notable credits include the Netflix film Luckiest Girl Alive, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, Gerald's Game, and the TNT series Tell Me Your Secrets. She also appeared in the Off-Broadway play Dilaria before joining the Broadway production of John Proctor Is The Villain.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hannah Bos is a Peabody Award winning writer who is co-creator and executive producer of HBO’s critically acclaimed comedy series Somebody Somewhere. Along with writing partner Paul Thureen, she received a Humanitas Prize nomination for the Somebody Somewhere pilot and with Paul and Bridget Everett was nominated for a WGA Award for Episodic Comedy. The series has received nominations from the GLAAD Media Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, Gotham Awards, Spirit Awards, TCA & HCA Awards, Dorian TV Awards, and was honored by AFI amongst their Television Programs of the Year in 2022. Hannah and Paul received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for "Best First Screenplay" for their feature Driveways (dir. Andrew Ahn) which premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (North American premiere at Tribeca Film Festival). Together they have also written for HBO’s High Maintenance and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle. Hannah was a co-founder/co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society, a multiple Obie award winning theater company, co-writing and starring in all the company’s plays. She also starred in the premiere of Will Eno’s The Open House at the Signature Theatre Company (Drama Desk Award; Lortel Nomination, Featured Actress). Regional acting credits include premieres of Will Eno’s Gnit and Lisa Kron’s THE VERI**ON PLAY at Humana Festival. TV/Film acting: High Maintenance (HBO), The Outside Story, Timeless Seasons (Rooftop Films), and How to Follow Strangers (PBS). Hannah is a Sundance Institute Fellow. MFA Harvard/MXAT. Mother of Rocket. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jenny Anderson is a New York based freelance photographer. She has a degree from the University of Mississippi in journalism, served as the photo editor for Broadway.com for six years, was senior contributing editor and photographer for The X Magazine at Today Tix and regularly shoots for Disney Television, Getty Images and The New York Times.   She is skilled in a wide range of photography including theatre, live music, events, portraits and street photography. She has been featured in Vanity Fair, InStyle, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The X Magazine, The Observer, Time Out New York and on Broadway.com, PureWow, People, USWeekly, EW, Broadway Style Guide and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Isaacson is the Artistic Director and Executive Producer of The Muny, the third person to hold this position in The Muny’s 106 -year history. During his 14 seasons, he has produced 89 Muny shows, 37 new to The Muny stage. He is also a 9 Time Tony Award winning Broadway producer. After his first season at The Muny, The Riverfront Times wrote, “Under the leadership of executive producer Mike Isaacson the quality of Muny productions rose like the proverbial phoenix.” During his tenure, Isaacson has changed the look and feel of The Muny, overseeing a transformation in every aspect of production that culminated in 2019 with the arrival of the theatre’s extraordinary James S. McDonnell stage, a state-of-the art stage house that includes revolutionary LED technology, automated sets, and a host of other innovations. In 2016, The Muny embarked on an unprecedented $100 million capital campaign, raising within 5 years a record amount for any theater in the U.S. During the COVID lock-down summer of 2020, Mike produced and created The Muny 2020 Variety Hour, five live online shows that reached a worldwide audience of more than 400,000. For the summer of 2021, The Muny was one of two theaters in the U.S. to reopen, and produced five full productions, receiving acclaim for their artistry and their presence. The 2022 season’s productions received 21 nominations from the St. Louis Theatre Critics Circle, more than any other theater in St. Louis. In 2023, The Muny bested its record with 26 nominations, and for it’s 2024 season, The Muny received a record 30 nominations – a record for The Muny and for the Theatre Critics Circle. During his time, The Muny’s education and outreach programs have grown in number, and their artistic endeavors now incorporate all aspects of theater making – production, performance and administration. The Muny kids and teens are now recognized nationally for their excellence, inspiring a national program where teens from throughout the U.S. audition annually come to St. Louis to be a part of a Muny production. For 27 years, with his partner Kristin Caskey, Mike has produced more than 40 Broadway musicals and plays, national tours, off-Broadway plays, and London productions. This Spring on Broadway, they are producing Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, co-starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren. In 2023, they produced the highly acclaimed Broadway revival of Parade, starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, now on a national tour. Parade also received “Best Revival of a Musical” as well as “Best Musical Revival” from both The Drama Desk and The Outer Critics Circle. In 2022, they produced Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, which subsequently had a record-breaking run at London’s Savoy Theater. Other recent Broadway productions include David Byrne’s American Utopia, for which they received a special 2021 Tony Award. It also became a multi-Emmy Award nominated film by Spike Lee for HBO, for which he also served as an executive producer. In 2015, he received the Tony® award for “Best Musical” for the ground-breaking Fun Home. Other producing highlights include Dolls House, Part 2, The Humans (2016 Tony® Award, Best Play); Bring It On The Musical (2013 Tony® nomination for Best Musical); Red (2010 Tony® Award, Best Play); Legally Blonde the Musical (2011 Olivier Award, Best Musical); Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony® Award, Best Musical); You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; If/Then; The Seagull; Burn This, Caroline, or Change; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Gary Sinise, and Death of a Salesman (1999 Tony® Award). For the IPN, he served as producer for the Broadway productions of Spamalot (2005 Tony® Award, Best Musical), Ragtime (revival) and The Color Purple. All told, his productions have received more than 139 Tony® Award Nominations, and 40 Tony® Awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Burke Swanson currently stars on Broadway as James Hooper, Jr. in  the most Tony Award winning play of 2025 - Stranger Things The First Shadow. He  made his Broadway debut, immediately following his graduation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), when he originated the role of “Jack” in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo,  He  recently wrapped up a the First National Tour of Back to the Future: The Musical where he starred as “George McFly”. On television he can be seen in Harlem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kimberly Belflower is a playwright and educator originally from a small town in Appalachian Georgia. This is her Broadway debut, and she’s probably crying about it right now. Plays include JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN (2024 Huntington Theatre, 2022 Studio Theatre, 2019 Kilroys List, published by Broadway Licensing, Farm Theatre College Collaboration Project); LOST GIRL (2018 Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Kennedy Center Darrell Ayers National Playwriting Award, published by Concord Theatricals); and SAINT PIGTAIL (commissioned and developed by Studio Theatre, 2023 O’Neill Finalist). Kimberly has worked with South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Alliance Theatre, Ojai Playwrights Conference, among others. She was also a narrative lead at Meow Wolf, where she wrote a short film with original music by Beach House. Kimberly proudly holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and teaches playwriting at Emory University in Atlanta. Gabriel Eber - Broadway: Matilda The Musical (Tony Winner, Featured Actor), Pass Over, Casa Valentina, Brief Encounter, Time And The Conways, Therese Raquin, Red. Off-Broadway: 4000 Miles (OBIE Winner), Preludes, Gently Down The Stream, Sally & Tom, Peer Gynt, Prometheus Bound. Film/TV: News Of The World, “Dickinson,” I Am A Seagull, “Mr. Mercedes,” Ricki And The Flash, The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, and the upcoming Dope Thief. As a singer, he’s performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall and with the New York Philharmonic. Fina Strazza - Broadway: Matilda in Matilda the Musical. Off-Broadway: Animal, A Loss of Roses, Member of the Wedding. TV: “Paper Girls” (series lead), “Law and Order: SVU” (recurring), “Madam Secretary,” “FBI: Most Wanted” “Last Week Tonight.” A student at NYU’s Tisch, her eight films include Above the Shadows, A Christmas Melody (recording “Oh, Santa!” with director Mariah Carey), and Netflix’s upcoming “Fear Street: Prom Queen.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeb Brown has had a decades long career on stage and in film and televsion. Jeb appeared in productions on and off-Broadway including Grease, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, in which he originated the role of Don Kirshner. For his performance in Dead Outlaw, Brown was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CHRIS BAUER has appeared in over 300 episodes of television, 40 feature films, and several theater productions on Broadway and Off. His multiple  long running television credits  include Frank Sobotka in ‘THE WIRE’, Andy Bellefleur in ‘TRUE BLOOD’, and Bobby Dwyer in ‘THE DEUCE’ for HBO. Most recently he starred as pro wrestler Wild Bill Hancock on ‘HEELS’ for Starz, where he also appeared in ‘GASLIT’ with Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, and ‘SURVIVORS REMORSE’, produced by LeBron James, and played Joe McCarthy in the Peabody Award winning ‘FELLOW TRAVELERS’ for Showtime. On Apple TV Plus, he played Deke Slayton in the inaugural season of ‘FOR ALL MANKIND’, and appeared as  Det. Tom Lange in ‘PEOPLE VS OJ’ for FX. Recent feature credits include co-starring with Denzel Washington in the Warner Brothers film ‘THE LITTLE THINGS’, ‘MONEY MONSTER’, and ‘SULLY’. He received an Outer Critic’s nomination for playing Mitch in ‘STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE’ on Broadway, and has originated roles in plays by David Mamet, Jez Butterworth, and John Patrick Shanley throughout a long career in theater. Upcoming credits include the limited series' 'Unspeakeable' for Paramount Plus, and 'His/Hers' for Netflix. On film he will be seen in 'Henry Johnson' and 'Our Hero Balthazar', as well as '3 Holes and a Donut', a feature film he wrote and directed. Chris is a native of Los Angeles, a  graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and a metalhead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GEORGIA STITT is an award-winning composer, lyricist, music producer, pianist, and activist. Her original musicals include Snow Child (commissioned by and premiered at Arena Stage, directed by Molly Smith), Big Red Sun (11th Hour Theater in Philadelphia, NAMT 2010), and a children’s musical, Samantha Spade, Ace Detective (TADA Youth Theater), which won “Outstanding New Musical” from the National Youth Theatre in 2014 and is now licensed by Concord Theatricals. Other shows include The Danger Year, The Big Boom, The Water (winner of the 2008 ANMT Search for New Voices in American Musical Theater), Common Ground, and Mosaic.  Georgia has released four albums of her music: A Quiet Revolution (2020), My Lifelong Love (2014), This Ordinary Thursday (2007), and Alphabet City Cycle (featuring Tony-nominated actress Kate Baldwin, 2009). She is currently at work on a new album of theatrical art songs and an oratorio called The Circling Universe. Her choral piece with hope and virtue (using text from President Obama's 2009 inauguration speech) was featured on NPR, and both her orchestral piece, Waiting for Wings, co-written with husband Jason Robert Brown, and her piece for solo clarinet, Fanfare for the Ups and Downs, were commissioned and premiered by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Georgia served for several years as the composer-in-residence at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and she has written many pieces for choir, including A Better Resurrection, De Profundis, and The Promise of Light, which has often been performed by the LA Master Chorale.  Georgia is the Founder and President of Maestra Music, an organization that provides support, visibility, and community for women and nonbinary theater musicians, and through that work she has won an Obie Award and a Lilly Award and has been featured in Forbes, Billboard, Playbill, Opera News, and The New York Times. In collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, she and her team at Maestra created the RISE Theatre Directory which seeks to build a more equitable and inclusive theater industry by centralizing DEIA tools and resources. Georgia is in leadership at The Dramatists Guild, The Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing, and MUSE (Musicians United for Social Equity). She has produced albums and musical events for singers and has worked in the music department on projects including Broadway’s 2023 revival of Parade, NBC’s The Sound of Music (Live!), the film version of The Last Five Years (starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan), Off-Broadway’s Sweet Charity (starring Sutton Foster), Disney/ABC’s Once Upon a Mattress (starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett), and the recent Netflix film, 13: The Musical. In her eight years living in LA, Georgia worked for America’s Got Talent, Clash of the Choirs, and Grease: You’re the One That I Want, and she wrote songs for MTV’s The American Mall. She currently teaches Musical Theater Writing at Princeton University,  has previously taught at Pace University and USC, and is a frequent keynote speaker and master class instructor. Georgia lives in New York with her husband and their two wonderful daughters. www.georgias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeffrey Seller is an Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer best known for his work on Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton, as well as inventing Broadway’s first rush ticket and lottery ticket policies. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1986, Jeffrey moved to New York City where he worked, as a publicist, booking agent, and producer. With his business partner Kevin McCollum he produced three Best Musical Tony Award-winning Broadway shows; Rent, Avenue Q, and In the Heights. With increasingly expensive Broadway ticket prices, Seller and McCollum invented Broadway’s first rush ticket policy early on in the production of Rent. The idea was to keep the show accessible for people “in their 20s and 30s, artists, Bohemians-the people for whom Jonathan Larson wrote the show.” A select number of front row tickets would be sold for $20 on a first come per-serve basis. Rush tickets became so popular that people began to sleep on the streets outside the theater to get a spot at the front of the line. Out of concern for the safety of those who participated in the Rush policy Seller and McCollum created Broadway’s first lottery ticket policy, which kept cheap tickets accessible to a young audience by selling $20 tickets to the winners of a drawing. Together Seller and McCollum also produced De La Guarda, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, High Fidelity, and the revival of WestSide Story. After working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on In the Heights, he produced Hamilton. Hamilton has gone on to receive widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. In June 2016, Hamilton received 11 Tony awards of a record-breaking 16 nominations, including a Best Musical win for Seller, making it his fourth Tony Award. He is the author of the memoir, Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julia Knitel - Broadway: Dead Outlaw ( Tony award nominee), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Carole King, first national tour), Bye Bye Birdie. Off-Broadway: A Letter to Harvey Milk (Lucille Lortel nomination). Select New York/Regional: Nora in Brighton Beach Memoirs (Portland Stage Co.), Ingrid in Volleygirls (NY Musical Festival: Best of Fest). Film: Miles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices