JONATHAN MITCHELL (creator, executive producer) studied music composition at University of Illinois and Mills College, where he discovered a passion for telling stories with sound. Public radio happens to be a great place to do that, and over the past 15 years he's contributed a wide range of pieces—documentaries, fictional stories, non-narrated sound collages, and original music— to all sorts of programs: Radiolab, Studio 360, This American Life, Hearing Voices, Fair Game, The Next Big Thing, and All Things Considered, to name a few. His work has won many awards, including the Peabody, Third Coast, and the Gold Mark Time Award for Best Science Fiction Audio. He lives in New York City.

KERRIE HILLMAN (co-producer) was the creator and executive producer of Public Radio International's Fair Game with Faith Salie, a satirical news and entertainment program syndicated across the country. She was senior producer of Studio 360, a Peabody Award-winning public radio program on pop culture and the arts. She was senior producer for Beyond Computers, and on the production team for Spring Board, an Emmy-nominated public television series which she helped transform from a local program into a national show for PBS. She's reported on a wide range of topics, from science and technology to the arts, for programs such as PRI’s The World, Studio 360, Radiolab, and Beyond Computers.

PETER CLOWNEY (production advisor) is the Director of Arts and Ideas Programming at American Public Media. His entire professional career has been in public radio. But he's happy about that. He got his start in 1993, cutting tape at Fresh Air in his hometown of Philadelphia. He was one of the first producers at This American Life, winning the Peabody award in 1996. As senior editor at PRI's Studio 360, he won another Peabody in 2004 for his writing and editing of the "American Icons: Herman Melville's Moby Dick" special. He went on to become senior editor at Marketplace, and later became executive producer of Weekend America. Clowney lives with his wife Julia and children Owen and Tadelech in St. Paul, Minn.

ED HERBSTMAN (writer, performer) has been teaching performance improvisation and sketch comedy writing for over 15 years. He began working at The Second City as a member of their National Touring Company, and studied improv under Del Close. Ed was a contributing writer on season two of HBOs Da Ali G Show. Ed was also a Police Officer for 3 years, assigned to the 70th Precinct in Flatbush Brooklyn where he once arrested a gun-toting drug dealer for kidnapping a prostitute. In 2005 he became a co-founder of Magnet Theater where he currently performs and teaches improvisation and comedy writing. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and kids (and dog).

MELANIE HOOPES (writer, performer) is an educator, writer and performer. She is the writer and director of Laurie Stanton's Sound Diet, a hilarious but darkly painful radio drama show recorded live at NYC's Magnet Theater, that's been described as a combination of A Prairie Home Companion and Joe Frank. She writes an advice column for the Park Slope Reader called "The Hypocrite's Almanac" and edits the PS261 Newsletter. She's part of the Bummer Collective with Jean Villepique and Rachel Hamilton. Melanie's currently working on a new solo show on aging. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two kids.

CHET SIEGEL (writer, performer) is a West Virginia native currently living in Chinatown. She's a recent graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where there are technically no majors, but if there were, she would have a B.A. in Theater and Literature. She studied improvisation with Armando Diaz, Rachel Hamilton, James Eason, Bill Arnett, Piero Procaccini, Joe Wengert, Christian Capozzoli, Joe Bill, and Mark Sutton to name a few. Chet has improvised all over NYC, and performs regularly in the improv team The Boss at the Magnet Theatre. She is also a young artist in residence for INTAR’s Pound, where she is developing her new play, Hitting Kids and Feeding Husbands.

LOUIS KORNFELD (writer, performer) is a teacher and ensemble member at NYC's Magnet Theater. He can be seen regularly performing there with house improv team The Boss as part of Thursday Night Out, as well as Theory of Everything and MegaLou. Louis has appeared in countless other shows at Magnet and elsewhere, including The Armando Diaz Experience, Tiny Spectacular, and a stint touring with The Second City onboard the NCL Gem. He still hopes you're enjoying your cruise.

CHRISTIAN PALUCK (performer) has been performing Improv and stand-up in New York since 2000. He is proud to be a member of the Magnet Theater's MegaWatt team Chet Watkins. Christian hopes to one day own a houseboat or something, or maybe drive an NHRA Funnycar.

AMY WARREN (performer) Broadway: August: Osage County (Karen). Off-Broad­way: Adding Machine, a Musical (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Lortel noms, Best Featured Actress in a Musical), When the Messenger is Hot. Steppenwolf: Mother Courage, Ten Percent of Molly Snyder, House of Lily, The Weir. Goodman: Rabbit Hole, Heartbreak House, Trojan Women. Also, About Face, Northlight Theatre, Piven Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch and Theatre Oobleck. TV: Law & Order