ARTIST CONVERSATION: Rick Cleveland and Chris Nee

Write On is pleased to partner with Door Kinetic Arts Festival (DKAF) on a conversation with Rick Cleveland and Chris Nee.

Rick Cleveland is a playwright and an Emmy winning writer/producer whose television credits include “The West Wing,” “Six Feet Under,” “Mad Men,” “Nurse Jackie,” “House Of Cards,” “Archer,” “Legit,” and “Man In The High Castle.” Rick performed his one man show “My Buddy Bill” at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, and won the Best Solo Performance Award at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen in 2006.  He also performed the piece at the 92nd Street Y in New York City for a one hour Comedy Central special in 2007.   As a playwright Rick has earned playwriting grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays.  He was a Founding Member of American Blues Theatre, Chicago’s second oldest ensemble based theatre company, as well as a Founding Member of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Rick was a commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and he received his MFA from the University of Iowa’s Playwrights’ Workshop.

Chirs Nee’s musical Finn (for which she was co-book-writer/lyricist) premiered at the (former) Kennedy Center in Fall 2024 and went on to have a star-studded concert at NYC’s Town Hall resisting the cancellation of its two-year national tour in the wake of Trump’s Kennedy takeover. Nee was the creator and executive producer of the acclaimed series “Doc McStuffins” for Disney Junior, where she also developed for television and executive produced the hit animated series “Vampirina.” In 2018 Nee began her own company Laughing Wild and signed a multiyear overall deal at Netflix, where she created, developed and EP’d, “Ridley Jones,” “Ada Twist, Scientist,” and “We the People” working with H.E.R, Janelle Monae, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Brandi Carlile, Bebe Rexa  and more. “Ada Twist” and “We the People” were a co-production of Nee’s Laughing Wild Productions and Higher Ground Productions, with President and Mrs. Obama serving as executive producers alongside Nee. Nee served as EP for “Spirit Rangers,” which was created and executive produced by Native American Karissa Valencia and staffed with an entirely Native writing staff.  Nee has also juggled a career as a documentary and reality TV producer. While on location in Alaska for Discovery Channel’s cult hit documentary series “Deadliest Catch,” Nee was simultaneously writing the first “Wonder Pets” Christmas Special for Nickelodeon. Nee is a Peabody, Humanitas, Annie Award, five-time NAACP award, and three-time Emmy Award-winner. Her series have attracted top voice talent with series regulars Lauren Graham, Loretta Devine, Wanda Sykes, Blythe Danner, Patti LuPone and James Van Der Beek. Her series have also highlighted the voice talents of Michelle Obama, Ludacris, Carol Kane, Geena Davis, Portia de Rossi, Curtis Stone, Andrew Rannells and Audra McDonald amongst many others.  Nee began her career as an associate producer at Sesame Street International and spent time in Mexico, Finland, Israel and Jordan working on the local productions of the award-winning show, before transitioning over to writing for Sesame Workshop. In 2024, Nee launched the Velma Awards (https://therainbowproject.tv/2024-winners/) to recognize LGBTQ+ representation in Children’s Media.