Sheila Schwartz fuses her life’s civic interests, cultural commitments and academic accomplishments in creating Affinity Company Theater. Teacher and student, reader and writer, audience and author, she believes in the crucial primacy of the essential human project of story telling and is thrilled to participate by gathering kindred spirits to produce theater, magically transformative celebrations of our human spirit.

John Dias is the artistic Director of Two River Theater Company in Red Bank, New Jersey. Prior to that he was a founding artistic director of Playwright's Realm, an off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing new plays by emerging artists. For twelve years, he worked at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater as Associate Artistic Director, Associate Producer, Literary Director, Dramaturg, and Director of The Shakespeare Lab: the Theater's classical actor training program. He was a Producer on the Broadway production of Lisa Kron's Well. He is currently a partner in the commercial producing group Affinity Company Theater, a Tony Award nominator, and the production dramaturg for the upcoming Broadway revival of August Wilson's Fences. He is also a panelist for NYSCA, the Drama League, and the Pew Charitable Trust. Before coming to New York, John was on the artistic staff at the Hartford Stage Company. He has consulted for a number of arts institutions and taught at NYU, Yale University, Columbia University, and the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab. BA: George Washington University. MFA: University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Diane Morrison has been a leader in the nonprofit theatrical community in New York for the past fifteen years most recently serving as Executive Director of the Laura Pels Foundation from April 2001 to January 2007. Prior to holding that position she was Board Chair of the Signature Theatre Company during its formative years from 1993-2001; and, was a member of Theatre Communications Group’s, National Council for the American Theatre 2000-2001. She is on the newly formed Drama Council of The Juilliard School. In the private sector, she was a founding partner of Schiffman, Ekman, Morrison & Marx a leading talent agency representing actors for work in TV commercials from 1987-2000. She holds a BA in Communications from Ohio University and a MA from Columbia University in East Asian Studies.