Laila Soliman is an independent Egyptian theatre director and playwright, living and working in Cairo. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 2004 with a degree in Theatre and Arabic Literature and in 2010 she wrote and directed the first Arabic adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, staged in Egypt.

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) was a celebrated American composer and lyricist, one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre.

Sondheim started his theatre career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before becoming a composer and lyricist. Sondheim's best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987).

He won many awards including eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Author photo by Jerry Jackson

Katherine Soper is a playwright whose plays include the Bruntwood Prize-winning Wish List (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 2016, and Royal Court, London, 2017),

Other work includes The Small Hours (National Theatre Connections, 2019) and Star Jelly (RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, 2016).

She was named Best Writer in the inaugural Stage Debut Awards in 2017 for her play Wish List.

Sophocles (c.496–405 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian. Of his more than 120 plays, only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus.

Sophokles (or Sophocles) (c.496–405 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian. Of his more than 120 plays, only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus.

Hayley Squires is an actor and playwright.

Her writing credits include Vera, Vera, Vera (Royal Court, 2012), The Educator (BBC Radio 3, 2013) Glitterland (Lyric Hammersmith’s Secret Theatre 2014/2015) and VSO9 (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama / Royal Court Theatre, and Gate Theatre, London).

Kalungi Ssebandeke is a writer, actor and rapper based in London. He has written for the Young Vic, Bush Theatre and Talawa, amongst others. His plays include Prodigal (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, 2021, as part of the Inside/Outside season of short plays) and Assata Taught Me (Gate Theatre, London, 2017).

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is a Canadian playwright, theatre director and arts administrator. Her work has been recognized with a Siminovitch Prize nomination, SATAward nomination, the Herman Voaden Playwriting Award, the Enbridge playRites Award, a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and two nominations for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. She is the current artistic director of New Harlem Productions. She is based in Toronto.