Panelists

Annie Lareau - Fuselage

Annie Lareau is a writer, actor, and director and recently served as Artistic Director of Seattle Public Theater in Seattle, Washington for 8 years. Her theatrical adaptations of Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as well as Willa Cather’s My Antonia were produced in Seattle and California under her direction. Her essays have appeared in Huff Post, The Brussels Review, Zipline Magazine, Pacific Northwest Women’s Quarterly, and The McDougall Foundation for the Case Study Method at Harvard University. She has performed on Seattle stages for over 25 years and received two Seattle Times Footlight awards for acting and was nominated twice for California’s Elly awards in direction. She hold a B.F.A in theater from Syracuse University and an M.Ed. in Arts Education from Harvard University and a MFA in Creative Writing from Cedar Crest College. Annie is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union (SDC).

Bryn Woz - Smut

Bryn Woznicki is a filmmaker, performer, and writer from Los Angeles.

She’s been creating and performing for as long as she can remember: she wrote her first feature screenplay at eight (formatted by hand, can you imagine?), made stop-motion videos of Barbies fighting with weapons from Clue, and landed an early professional acting gig as a bully who gets eaten by Godzilla in a Fox Kids commercial. She has been directing professionally since 2009, helming dozens of projects, earning roughly a dozen awards, and screening work at festivals including Cannes.

Her first feature, Her Side of the Bed, played multiple festivals and secured North American and international distribution. Her second, Under the Influencer, screened at 17 festivals and won five awards.

As a performer and comedian, Bryn created, produced, and performed the solo show SMUT, which sold out and extended at Hollywood Fringe before heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There, it earned ★★★★ reviews from The Scotsman and The List, along with five additional four-star reviews, was featured in The Guardian, and led to an appearance on BBC Scotland’s Edinburgh Unlocked.

She is currently in production on a documentary exploring her and her friends’ experiences in the Troubled Teen Industry.

David Epley - Doktor Kaboom

Doktor Kaboom is the creation of actor/comedian, David Epley. Originally from Charlotte, NC, Epley first explored his passion for science in a lab he built in his parents’ basement. He just had to clean the basement, first. (Clever parents!) This love of hands-on learning grew, and he eventually went on to study chemistry and physics in a specialized high school, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. The first of its kind in the nation, NCSSM is a residential school with such luxuries at the time as PhD professors, its own electron microscope, and a Minivac mainframe with campus-wide internet, before the internet. From there, Epley continued his studies at the University level, exploring a degree in Chemical Engineering.

Along the way, however, he found a second passion, performing, and by joining the two David has created the most fulfilling work of his life. Over the last 16 years as Doktor Kaboom, he has performed more than 2,000 live shows to a cumulative audience of over 2,000,000 students and families, worldwide.

David believes in service, is a veteran of the US Army, and for 5 years served his community as a firefighter and EMT.

Home is now Seattle, Washington, with his magnificent wife, Annie. Occasionally they even hear from their two amazing daughters.

Jesse R. Tendler - Funny Guy

Jesse R. Tendler is an actor, director, writer, producer, film festival programmer, and educator. As a filmmaker, Jesse directs and produces a diverse range of projects, including short & feature length narrative fiction films, episodic projects, music videos, commercials, documentaries, and educational content. Past films (Frankie, Deadbeat, Leaving Circadia, Family On Board, 16mins) have won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Audience Choice awards at a multitude of film festivals, including being selected for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the 2016 Oscars.

Additionally, Jesse has produced and/or directed multiple award-winning plays for FringeNYC and the Edinburgh Fringe, receiving many 4 and 5 star reviews. Jesse is also a critically acclaimed professional actor and former child star with 3+ decades of experience in film & TV (including guest starring roles on Sesame Street, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Law & Order, among others).

In addition to acting, directing, writing, and producing, Jesse is the Director of TV & Web Series Programming for the Lighthouse Int’l Film Festival, a screener of episodic pilots for SXSW (since 2018), Senior Programming Director for the Climate Film Festival, and a juror and consultant for multiple other festivals. He is also a freelance script doctor, a professional photographer and videographer, and an avid ping pong player. A graduate of UPenn’s Management & Technology Program, Jesse earned dual B.S.E. degrees in Entrepreneurial Management & Marketing (Wharton) and in Materials Science Engineering (with a research focus on renewable clean energy technology). He is the co-founder of Maximum Potential Education and is a faculty member with Pratt Young Scholars and the Science & Technology Entry Program at Pratt Institute.

He is extremely passionate about filmmaking, clean energy tech, artistic expression, education, the environment, social justice, and human rights.

Kate Danley - Madam(e) Lou

Kate Danley spent five weeks on the USA TODAY bestseller list.  She was honored with the Garcia Award for Best Fiction Book of the Year (The Woodcutter), McDougall Previews Award for Best Fantasy Book of the Year (Queen Mab), and her series Maggie MacKay: Magical Tracker is optioned for film & television.  A time capsule aboard the Griffith Lander by Astrobotic will be placing her plays and books on the moon.

Her 1930s screwball comedy, Building Madness, won the Panowski Playwriting Award and received its professional world premiere at Harlequin Productions.  Working for Crumbs won the B Street Theatre’s New Comedies Festival and had its profession world premiere at the B Street Theatre.  It was a finalist in the Union Arts Center New Works Northwest festival, semi-finalist in the O'Neill and the Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative, and was nominated for two OFFIE Awards for its Off-West End debut.  Her adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first Poirot book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was a Critics’ Pick by the Star Tribune, listed as one of the highlights of the year by Play Off the Page, and was nominated for sixteen Broadway World Regional awards. Madam(e) Lou made its global premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe 2026 and received a five-star review from Ed Fringe Review. Madam(e) Lou is currently under option for audiovisual adaptation.

Kate graduated from Towson University and is a Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts.  She trained at The Groundlings, Theatricum Botanicum, Impro (Shakespearian improv), and the Acme Comedy Theater.  She performed her original stand-up at such clubs as The Comedy Store and The Icehouse, and wrote sketch for a weekly show in Hollywood.  She trained in on-camera puppetry with Michael Earl (Mr. Snuffleupagus, Sesame Street) and lost on Hollywood Squares.