Shaina Taub
SHAINA TAUB is a songwriter and performer whose honors include two Tony Awards, an Obie Award, and nominations for a Grammy and an Emmy. An artist-in-residence at the Public Theater, she creates original music and theater for both stage and concert. She wrote, composed, and starred in her Broadway musical Suffs, which won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score and earned multiple other honors, including Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, along with a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album. Suffs is now touring nationally. For Shakespeare in the Park’s Public Works program, Taub created and performed in acclaimed musical adaptations of Twelfth Night and As You Like It, which have since received hundreds of productions worldwide. Her solo albums include Songs of the Great Hill on Atlantic Records, and she has performed her music everywhere from Joe’s Pub—where she maintains a long-running residency—to Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops and Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Her songwriting honors include the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, Jonathan Larson Grant, Kleban Prize, Fred Ebb Award, and Frederick Loewe Award. This fall, she plays Emma Goldman in Lincoln Center Theater’s Broadway revival of Ragtime. Other stage credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Hadestown, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Lortel nomination), and Old Hats, featuring her songs. Named to the 2024 TIME100 Next list, Taub has also been recognized with the Workers Circle Activism Award, League of Women Voters’ Tribute Award, and the NYCLU’s Michael Friedman Freedom Award, where she co-chairs the Artist Ambassadors program. She holds an honorary doctorate from Manhattan School of Music.
Marcus Paul James
Marcus Paul James, (BIV member since 2007) has been seen as Camel in Broadway’s “Water For Elephants”, Otis Williams in Broadwayʼs “Ainʼt Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations”, “Motown The Musical”, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning “In the Heights”, and Jonathan Larson's Tony Award-winning “RENT”. Also, his TV/Film credits include “Collateral Beauty”, “RENT”: Filmed Live”, “The Wiz Live!”, Academy Award®-nominated and GRAMMY® Award-winning “The Greatest Showman”, “tick, tick... BOOM!” on Netflix, “Dear Evan Hansen”, “In the Heights”, Apple TVʼs film “Spirited”, and animated Apple TV series "Sausage Party: Foodtopia". As a recording artist, his albums are available on Spotify, iTunes, and all streaming platforms. IG/TW/FB @marcuspauljames. Booking and inquiries at www.marcuspauljames.com
Troy Anthony
Troy Anthony is a Kentucky-born composer/lyricist, director, and theater-maker based in NYC rigorously practicing Black queer joy. He has received commissions from 5th Avenue Theater, The Civilians, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater, St. Louis Rep, and The Shed and has enjoyed residencies with Chelsea Factory, Musical Theater Factory (MTF), The O’Neill Theater Center, The Shed and Village Theater and was just named as the first musician Artist-In-Residence at the National Dance Institute. Additionally, he’s presented work at 54 Below, JACK, Joe’s Pub, the National Alliance of Musical Theater Conference, Prospect Theater Company, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Troy recently received the Vivace Award from the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation as well as the KY Governor’s School for the Arts Marlene M. Helm Award.
He has over 15 years of experience in youth and community development work with organizations such as the Kentucky Center's Governor's School for the Arts, the Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts and The Public Theater. He recently served as the first Director of Legacy and Internship Programs at the DreamYard Project in The Bronx where he focused on the importance of emerging leadership, mentorship, and examining work culture through a nationally recognized arts and social justice curriculum.
Troy’s work lives at the intersection between art, social justice and community practice. In this spirit, he recently founded Fire Ensemble Inc, a community-centered production company creating revolutionary new work rooted in music, ritual, and revelation by gathering through choirs that foster collective liberation and intergenerational healing as a home to develop his work. The Fire Ensemble is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Darnell-Moser Charitable Fund.
Samantha Howard
Samantha Howard, a native of Brooklyn, NY, has been singing since the age of four years old. Though her gift was cultivated and refined in the church, her voice has been shaped by the many genres that she also grew up listening to. Samantha grew up listening to a wide range of artists like Yolanda Adams, to Cece Winans, Kirk Franklin, Hezekiah Walker, Beyonce, Brandy, Avril Levine, ColdPlay, Fall Out Boy, Kelly Clarkson, Tye Tribbett and even then later went on to study music classically at Oakwood University.
After graduating from college, she officially pursued her career as an entertainer, acting and singing background vocals for major artists on some majors network programs like the Grammy’s announcement Commercial with Alicia Keys, played on various cable and streaming networks, Victoria Secret Fashion Show on NBC with Leela James, Countdown to the Golden Globes on NBC with John Legend and Common, and many more!