Confessional

Ken LaZebnik wrote the screenplay for the Lionsgate film “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage.”  It stars Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden and will open across America in November, 2008.  O’Toole plays popular painter Thomas Kinkade’s mentor, and Harden plays Kinkade’s mother.

Together with Garrison Keillor, LaZebnik co-wrote director Robert Altman’s last film:  “A Prairie Home Companion.”  The cast of the film included Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, and John C. Reilly.  LaZebnik has a long history of writing for Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” radio show, including such popular Keillor tapes as “A Visit To Mark Twain’s House.”

“Jake’s Run,” co-written with Brian Bird, is his next film going into production.  Scheduled to shoot in April, 2008, for Fox, it’s inspired by the real-life story of a 17-year-old boy in Ohio with Fragile X Chromosome Syndrome who scores a touchdown for his high school football team.

His other screenplays include “Hot Air,” which he wrote with Norman Steinberg for Michael Keaton and MGM.

LaZebnik’s most recent play, “Vestibular Sense,” which premiered in Minneapolis in 2007, was honored with an award from the American Theater Critic’s Association at the Humana Festival in Louisville.

For television, he has written on series as varied as “Touched By An Angel,” “Providence” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”   During his seven-year tenure on “Touched By An Angel,” he wrote over twenty episodes, including four popular Christmas episodes which have been released on DVD. 

He wrote three PBS specials for their series “In Concert at the White House,” which were filmed in the East Room of the White House.  These featured such varied performers as Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Jennifer Holiday, and country star Toby Keith. 

He has a long association with the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.  Mixed Blood premiered his baseball play “League of Nations” in the spring of 2002.  Artistic Director Jack Reuler has commissioned and produced other of LaZebnik’s plays including “Harlem Renaissance Revue,” and the one-man play “Calvinisms.”   LaZebnik has also directed the one-man show “Jackie Robinson” for the theater.

In 1996, LaZebnik wrote a new book for the musical “Babes In Arms,” Garland Wright’s last production at The Guthrie Theater.  It was a stunning multi-million dollar production, featuring Kristen Chenoweth, a full orchestra and a cast of over thirty.

His plays have been produced in New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.  Los Angeles was the site of the premiere of his comedy “Sink Eating,” which opened at the Matrix Theater.

In addition, he founded the literary baseball magazine The Elysian Fields Quarterly, now over twenty years in publication.  The EFQ is a compendium of baseball fiction, history, and poetry and LaZebnik has contributed essays, fiction and book reviews over the years. He has also written articles on baseball for The New York Times,  Manhattan inc., SpeakEasy, and City Pages.

He was a founding member of the off-off-Broadway ensemble DearKnows, and adapted “The Odyssey” which that company toured for Lincoln Center Institute.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Kate Fuglei, and their two sons.

Robert Visciglia rose from being the youngest Property Master in Hollywood at the age of twenty-three, working for the notably Producer / Writer Bruce Paltrow on “St. Elsewhere”, to becoming the Producer / Director of one of the most successful and enduring productions in entertainment history: ”Touched By an Angel”.

In 1982, Robert started his own production company “Eagles Flight Productions”, producing industrial films for Companies like Arco oil and Aviation. He did everything from shooting, Directing, Editing to making the coffee.

Then in 1992 CBS head of Production Bob Gros teamed him up with Writer / Executive Producer Martha Williamson, with Robert becoming Producer/Director/head of Post Production of this new little television show called “Touched by an Angel”. While “Touched by an Angel” was in its fourth year, the team of Williamson, Anderson and Visciglia Produced the hit spin-off “Promised Land” starring Gerald McRaney and Wendy Phillips. This team went on to produce twelve years of successful Television.

Robert went on to do other Projects from Directing the independent film “Beat the Drum” in South Africa to the Independent Television Pilot for which he won the prestigious “Gait Television Award” for Directing the “Outstanding Drama Program”, “Postcards From Heaven”.

Robert has recently been Producing Television Comedies such as the very funny Bravo show “Hidden Howie” starring Howie Mandel. This season Robert with his writing partner Ken Ornstein, (noted for his Producing work on “Everybody Loves Raymond”) teamed up with notable Director / Producer , Barry Sonifield, on the new Fox Pilot “Hackett” and are continuing to Produce the Comedy Hit for Betsy Thomas and TBS, “My Boys”. A native of Bridgeport Connecticut, Robert lives with his wife of thirty two years in West Hills California and has two smart beautiful daughters twenty six and twenty three years old who are headed out on their own careers.

Kate got her professional start at the famed Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, in CAMILLE, directed by Garland Wright.  She also played Belle in A CHRISTMAS CAROL under the direction of Christopher Markle.  She taught acting at the Guthrie and also won a McKnight grant through the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis.  As a member of that company for ten years, she developed new works with playwrights Lee Blessing, Jon Klein, August Wilson, Steven Dietz, Sherry Kramer, Cynthia Cooper, Jon Olive and Marisha Chamberlain, among many others.  Kate helped to develop and pilot an internationally acclaimed sexual abuse prevention piece, TOUCH, among the first of its kind, with the Illusion Theater. 

Kate was a founding member of the DearKnows Theater Company in New York City, one of the only companies ever given the rights to perform Joyce’s DUBLINERS.  Kate was Maria in a long running production of LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Marianne in THE MISER for the Lincoln Center Institute Theater.  She has performed extensively regionally.  Kate was Sonya in Yuri Lyubimov’s acclaimed production of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT at the Arena Stage, premiered A SHAYNA MAIDEL at Hartford Stage, DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS at the McCarter Theater and Richard Foreman’s AFRICANIS INSTRUCTUS at the Music Theater Group.  Other regional productions include Widow Begbick in MAN IST MAN at Portland Stage, Madame Renal in THE RED AND THE BLACK at A Contemporary Theater and Mrs. Webb in OUR TOWN at the LaJolla Playhouse, directed by Michael Greif. 

Kate also spent a summer at the Utah Shakespearean Festival playing Blanche in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and Raymonde in A FLEA IN HER EAR in repertoire.  Kate was in the world premiere of a new musical, THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR, at the NoHo Arts Center in Los Angeles.  Most recently, she created the role of Mrs. Cutter in the Rubicon Theater’s world premiere of “My Antonia,” an adaptation of the Willa Cather novel by Scott Schwartz. 

Kate has guested on the television shows LINCOLN HEIGHTS, AMERICAN DREAMS, CROSSING JORDAN, TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, THE GUARDIAN, ANY DAY NOW, FIRST MONDAY, SEVENTH HEAVEN, STRONG MEDICINE and BERNIE MAC.  She has played featured roles INDICTMENT:THE MCMARTIN TRIAL, THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED, NOWHERELAND and the soon to be released ONION MOVIE.

Kate has taught drama and acting as a guest instructor for Lincoln Center Institute, Colorado College, the Center Theater Group, Stephens College, Bard College and The New School for Social Research.  She currently studies acting with Gordon Hunt and singing with Kay Montgomery.  Kate is the admiring wife of Ken LaZebnik and proud Mother of Jack LaZebnik 17, and Ben LaZebnik 12.

David is excited to be a part of the new "new-media" initiative STRIKE TV and the wonderful project, "Confessional."

A veteran of theatre, stage and film, David began his career in New York City.  David has performed in over 40 television projects over the past @#$%\! years.  Television highlights include The Crew, Secret Service Guy, and The Tick where David originated the role of Arthur, the Quixotic Accountant with the heart of a Superhero.  Guest star credits include: Grey's Anatomy, CSI, House, Chuck, Eli Stone, Bones, Malcolm in the Middle, Fraiser, as well as recurring roles on Brothers & Sisters, Boston Legal, Joan of Arcadia, and on and on.  Film credits include Leo, See Arnold Run, Straight Jacket, and currently in production, Eddie Murphy's, A Thousand Words.  Stage credits include the original Broadway production of Six Degrees of Separation, as well as the National Tour, and numerous Regional productions.  A huge thanks to RJ, Ken and Kate for their beautiful work.  David currently living the dream in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife and three wonderful boys.