What a wonderful night!
We were so excited to bring you this stellar lineup of performers!
UPPER: Jason Veasey (host), Jackie Cox, Lisa Stephen Friday, Murphy Taylor Smith
LOWER: Dan Hoy, Jackie Cox, Lisa Stephen Friday, Bryan Blaskie
Jason Veasey (he/him/his) is a NYC based actor and singer. He currently appears in the new show “Best Medicine” on Fox and Hulu. Jason created the role of “Thought 5” in the Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical A STRANGE LOOP, for which he won the first of two OBIE awards. Jason is recognized for his multi-season arc as “Jonathan” on the hit Hulu series ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, which garnered him a 2024 SAG Award nomination.
Jackie Cox is the stage name of Darius Rose, a Canadian-American drag performer and actor based in New York City, best known for placing 4th/5th on Season 12 of RuPaul's Drag Race. (Jackie is gay and gender-expansive. Out of drag, her pronouns are he/she/they.) As the first Persian-Canadian queen on the show, she is known for incorporating her Iranian heritage into her performance and addressing political issues through drag. She is also recognized for her work in cabaret, theatrical shows like "Make Me Gorgeous," and appearances on TV programs such as What Would You Do? and Days of Our Lives.
Lisa Stephen Friday (she/her/hers) is a singer, musician, actor and playwright/composer. Her most notable work is her one-woman musical TRANS AM which had its world premiere at the Keegan Theater in Washington DC in 2022. She is the composer of Doll/Girl, a new musical about the artist Greer Lankton which was commissioned in 2023 with Judson Arts at Judson Memorial Church. She is a 2025 recipient of the FY2025 artist grant through the New York State Council on the Arts. For the 2025-26 season, Lisa has been commissioned by Joe’s Pub and the Public Theater through their New York Voices Program to develop a brand new musical.
Murphy Taylor Smith is an actress and songwriter. She originated roles in A TRANSPARENT MUSICAL (Centre Theatre Group), BILLIE JEAN (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and DOLL/GIRL (Joe’s Pub). With her twin sister Emerson, she wrote the musicals WATCHDOG, a doppelgänger psychothriller; ELEKTRIC, a trans woman-centered Oresteia; and RADIO: A MUSICAL GHOST STORY, a lesbian horror romance. She and Emerson are 2025/26 Ars Nova Artists-in-Residence, developing their new musical GOOD FRIDAYS. You can listen to her songs on bandcamp.
@msmurphysmith // MurphyTaylorSmith.com
Dan Hoy (he/him/his) is currently playing Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s immersive Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade, directed by Diane Paulus. His Broadway credits include Pirates! The Penzance Musical, and Harmony. This fall he played Darcy in the national tour of the new Jane Austen musical, Austen’s Pride. While performing in Masquerade, Dan is simultaneously in law school.
Bryan Blaskie (he/him/his) is a composer, music director, and orchestrator. His original music has been featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race and has been performed across the US in collaboration with organizations such as American Opera Projects, New York Theatre Barn, A Little New Music, and Lincoln Center. Bryan is an advocate of new and innovative musical storytelling with a particular focus on tales of self-empowerment, historical recontextualization, and breaking down of the binary.