Jay Stern has 20 years' experience directing and producing for stage, screen, and radio in New York City. He is a founder, producer, and host of the Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival, screening monthly in NYC since April, 2002. Stern has produced and directed more than 30 short films. His work has won awards from the Montreal Film Festival and the National Educational Media Network, as well as screened in festivals across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His first feature film, The Changeling, opened in May, 2007, and his second feature, Spirit Cabinet, shot back to back with The Adventures of Paul and Marian, was completed late last year.

Stern produced two projects with writer/director/stand-up comic Victor Varnado: Roboto Supremo, (a short featuring a giant robot and Michel Gondry) and the feature The Awkward Comedy Show (which sold to Comedy Central and New Video).

In addition to his film work, Stern is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and has directed and produced more than 20 theatrical productions, from classical theater to world premieres by emerging American playwrights.  He is a founder of the World Wide Lab, a collective of international theater directors dedicaeted to creating collaborations between directors. He is also the director of Quicksilver Radio Theater's award-winning radio dramas which have been syndicated internationally.

He is a PhD candidate at the European Graduate School, where he studied with Peter Greenaway, John Waters, Siegfried Zielinski, Claude Lanzmann, Jacques Derrida, Agnes Varda and Volker Schlöndorff.

Jay Stern has been invited to lecture on ultra low budget filmmaking at Parsons School of Design in New York City and the Non Grata Arts Center in Tallinn, Estonia. He has programmed short film screenings for Comedy Central, Mass MoCA, Non Grata in Tallinn, Estonia, and the Woods Hole Film Festival.

After working in London as a puppeteer, Sarah attended Falmouth School of art, in Cornwall, where she received a BA degree in Fine Art. After graduating, taking advantage of dual nationality, she moved to San Francisco. There she got involved in theater; designing, assisting and scenic painting. She also worked as a mural artist and to make ends meet, she was a  house-painter and short order cook. She came to New York to attend Tish school of the Arts, where she obtained a masters degree in Theater arts. In 1991 she was awarded an NEA TCG designers fellowship grant. Since graduating, she has worked consistently with those engaged in experimental theater. She has frequently been invited to participate in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, where she has enjoyed collaborating with and meeting many of our more adventurous directors, including Jay Stern. One of these collaborations took her to Athens, Greece to continue development of an original work staged there, with Ioli Andreadi. In the New York area she has worked in the less traditional theater spaces such as La Mama, The Ohio, The Kitchen and HERE. Sarah also works as a teaching artist at various schools around  NYC. She has ongoing work as an event designer and installation Artist. 

Films include Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Jingle Hell, I'm No Stud, Crime of Passion, and Spirit Cabinet. TV credits include Law & Order, Wall Street and Third Watch. Floyd has also appeared in numerous web videos, including MoveOn.org’s 10 Weeks (directed by John Sayles) and two videos for The Onion News Network. Ramona’s off-Broadway credits include the title role of Medea, and Pygmalion and The Maids (Jean Cocteau Repertory), The Monument (Clockwork Theatre) and Shaw’s Arms And The Man. Regional Theater includes Candida, In Chains, La Ronde, Blue Window, Rhinoceros, and The Balcony. Floyd has also appeared in over 50 regional/national commercials and voice-overs.

Recent projects include What You Can Do, a series for PBS letting Americans know what they can do to help change the world in only a minute’s time.  She can also be seen in the web series The Sexually as a psychic turned therapist.  She has appeared in the independent films Belly, The Changeling, Aesops’ Diner, and Spirit Cabinet. She has performed in most black box theaters and comedy rooms in the New York City in projects ranging from Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Classic Stage Company to sketch comedy at Caroline’s.  She has been heard on NPR as part of the award-winning Union Signal radio theater company.  Mary has also performed in numerous pharmaceutical industrials almost entirely in Orlando.

Lorna began her career as a dancer after graduating the acclaimed High School of Performing Arts in New York City. She received full scholarships and the opportunity to study and perform with companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ballet Hispanico. On Broadway, she’s worked as an Associate Choreographer alongside George C. Wolfe and Kenny Roberson in Harlem Song and Christopher Ashley in All Shook Up! The 2010-11 NY Musical Theater Festival gave Lorna a nomination and an honorable mention for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for ”Frog Kiss A Musical.” Broadway credits as a performer include: Joe Mantello and Mark Platt’s Wicked (Midwife), Des McAnuff’s How to Succeed in Business (Miss. Krumholtz), and Tommy Tune’s Grease (Rizzzo). Lorna has had the pleasure of sharing the Broadway stage with Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera, Jennifer Holiday and Joel Grey to name a few. On the big screen as well as television, she has had the opportunity to hone her craft working alongside impressive directors, such as James Mangold in Kate and Leopold and Fred Scheppisi in It Runs in the Family. Lorna has also choreographed several episodes for seasons one, two and three for Gossip Girl , including: Valley Girls, In the Realm of Basses, It's a Wonderful Lie, Hi Society and Disco Stick.

Costume Designer and Fashion Stylist, Polina Roytman, studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and Polimoda in Florence, Italy. She mentored at Donna Karan and Myth and Ritual before transitioning into costumes and styling. She’s collaborated with celebrity stylist Ty-Ron Mayes and Emmy award winning costume designers Sally Lesser and David Zyla; along with photographers Andrea Blanch, Melanie Acevedo, Jeffrey Bucari, and Udo Spreitzenbarth. Other credits: Dancing With The Stars, America’s Got Talent, Good Morning America, Nike, Lufthansa Airlines, MasterCard, Toshiba, America’s Next Top Model, ZINK Magazine, Susan Lucci, Tyra Banks, Amber Rose, Warner Bros CMA party, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Western Union, ABC, NBC, Lincoln Center. More at polinaroytman.com and fashionbeautyandfun.com.