MEET THE
BROADWAY FANTASY CAMP EXPERTS!
LAUREN CLASS SCHNEIDER
Broadway Fantasy Camp Founder & Producer
Lauren has been producing, directing, and stage-managing theatre, television, and live events for over 30 years. On Broadway, she produced The Velocity of Autumn with Estelle Parsons, High with Kathleen Turner, and Looped, for which Valerie Harper won a Tony Award® nomination as Best Leading Actress in a Play. As an investor, she's also involved with, "On Your Feet," "Something Rotten," and "Come From Away." For 15 seasons Lauren produced the Drama Desk Awards and continues to serve on numerous Tony, Grammy, Daytime Emmy, and Video Music Award telecasts. She has been the coordinating producer for Broadway Salutes, which honors professionals earning their living on Broadway for 25, 35, and 50 years.
She was also a coordinating producer for the outdoor extravaganza celebrating Mamma Mia’s 10th anniversary on Broadway.
For the past 8 seasons, she has produced the Gala for the American Theatre Wing, which presents the Tony Awards® along with The Broadway League. Past performers at the Wing Gala include Hugh Jackman, Kristin Chenoweth, Barbara Cook, Audra McDonald, Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Hudson, and Angela Lansbury. For over 10 years, Lauren staged the CFDA Awards with performers including James Corden, Lupita Nyong’o, Seth Meyers, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna.
Lauren is also the founder and president of Broadway Fantasy Camp, where adult Broadway enthusiasts live their dreams. She has been a guest lecturer of the graduate theatre programs at NYU and Yale.
Lauren's hosts an interview series at BroadwayRadio.com with actors, directors and writers from the current NY Theatre season. She's also the NY theatre critic for ArtsAmerica.org.
ELIZABETH PHILLIPSON-WEINER
Broadway Fantasy Camp Coordinator
Elizabeth is an award winning composer, trombonist and producer. Seeing "Hamilton" in 2015 was transformative for Elizabeth and opened up a whole new world of musical storytelling for her to pursue. She is currently writing 2 stage musicals as well as the music for a play that will be presented at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre. She discovered her passion for storytelling through music while studying at New York University and began a rigorous schedule of film scoring. By the time she graduated, she had written the music for 25 short films. During her time at NYU she garnered so much experience working with first time directors that she now presents a guest lecture at the Tisch School of the Arts on effective collaboration between directors and composers. Elizabeth’s music has been played at film festivals worldwide, including the 2014 & 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Outfest, and Frameline. In 2017, Elizabeth was selected as one of the 20 composers to participate in the ASCAP / Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop. Elizabeth also maintains a freelance life as a trombonist, playing a wide variety of gigs from orchestral to pop. Through Broadway Fantasy Camp, Elizabeth hopes to provide life changing magical theatre moments that she herself has experienced and cherished.
MATT STERN
Broadway Fantasy Camp Host
Matthew Aaron Stern has stage managed on over 18 Broadway productions. After earning a BA in Theatre from the University of California at San Diego, Matthew followed his dream of working on Broadway by moving to the bright lights of New York City. His work on Broadway includes: Play On!, Grease, The Full Monty, Enchanted April (with Molly Ringwald), The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (with Ellen Burstyn), The Phantom Of The Opera, Fiddler On The Roof (with Alfred Molina and Harvey Fierstein), Wicked, The Little Mermaid, Baby It’s You, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Death Of A Salesman, Hands On A Hardbody, Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, Side Show & Doctor Zhivago.
In addition to, Matthew spent three seasons stage managing The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and has worked numerous corporate events around the world. Matthew’s experience touring includes Grease, Martha Graham Dance Company, Les Miserables, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, Stories By Heart (with John Lithgow), An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.
Matthew still finds time to share and give back to the next generation of stage managers, as he teaches at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Design and Technology. His work in the classroom, sharing his Broadway experience and having his students observe his productions, has shown the incredible benefits students receive with access to Broadway. By combing his love of teaching and experience on Broadway, Matthew has created the Broadway Stage Management Symposium.