Mary Beth McCarthy Yarrow - Producer

Mary Beth (McCarthy) Yarrow is a producer of social and political documentary films and television productions. Originally from Willmar, Minnesota, she began her professional producing career in 1980 with the documentary, THE WILLMAR 8, directed by her good friend and lifelong collaborator, Lee Grant.  This Minnesota-centric story portrays eight women bookkeepers and tellers who formed a union and walked off their jobs at The Citizens National Bank, creating the first bank strike in the history of America. She went on to create a series of television productions for HBO, NBC, CBS, and Lifetime Channel along with SIDNEY POITIER: ONE BRIGHT LIGHT,  for the AMERICAN MASTERS series. She followed those with the documentary, SEAN O'CASEY: UNDER A COLOURED CAP,  a film portrayal for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE) and BBC/NI about the life, work, and legacy of the controversial Irish dramatist, Sean O’Casey.


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Bill Kersey – Director/Editor

Bill Kersey has edited several feature documentaries, most recently the peacemaking film BEYOND THE DIVIDE, which was broadcast nationally on PBS in November 2016. He edited the festival hit THE STARFISH THROWERS, which has garnered numerous awards and was named the most heartwarming film of 2014 by The Huffington Post, and he edited and scored the Emmy-winning AMERICAN HEART, which received its national broadcast premiere on PBS’s America Reframed in January 2015. He also edited and scored the award-winning THICKER THAN WATER and worked as additional editor on the Independent Lens documentary PRECIOUS KNOWLEDGE. His award-winning short films have screened internationally at numerous film festivals. Bill lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and holds a BFA in Media Arts from the University of Arizona.


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KELLE GREEN - CO-PRODUCER

Kelle Green began her career in film production as Assistant Producer for Quiet Island Films and Outreach Coordinator for the documentary, BEYOND THE DIVIDE, a film by Jan Selby. She joined MBY Productions as co-producer for GENE McCARTHY: IN THE LAND OF THE AARDVARKS in 2015. Known as the Jill-of-All-Trades, she contributes her talents in photography, research, grant-writing, web administration, marketing, and social media.


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PRUDENCE GLASS - CONSULTING PRODUCER

From 2000-2013, the Series Producer at PBS's AMERICAN MASTERS, Glass comes from a strong background in community and criminal justice work. She previously researched and wrote several social-issue documentaries, directed by Lee Grant for HBO’s America Undercover series, including the Academy Award winning DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA, a look at homelessness across the country. She wrote, and with Mary Beth Yarrow, produced, the AMERICAN MASTERS Sidney Poitier project, also directed by Ms. Grant, before joining the PBS program permanently. As Series Producer, Glass received six Emmy awards and a Producers Guild award. She has mentored at the Latino Producers Academy and at Firelight Media's Lab.


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SUSAN LACY - CREATIVE CONSULTANT

Susan Lacy is most well known as the creator of AMERICAN MASTERS, the acclaimed biography series profiling artists & visionaries who have helped shape our country’s culture. She created the program for PBS in 1986 and went on to serve as its Executive Producer for nearly 30 years. During that time, she directed multiple films for the series as well - portraits on David Geffen, Judy Garland, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Bernstein, Lena Horne, and Rod Serling. She also produced Peabody award-winning films on Paul Simon, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan. Over the years, AMERICAN MASTERS has garnered an unprecedented number of awards – Susan earned the series 71 Emmy nominations and 28 wins, including a remarkable 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series, in addition to 12 Peabodys, 3 Grammys, and an Academy award. In the last few years, Susan has begun a new chapter of her long and celebrated documentary career. She formed her own company, Pentimento Productions, wanting to focus solely on directing and producing. Susan has just completed a major film portrait of Steven Spielberg - one of the first projects in her company’s exclusive multi-picture deal with HBO - and she is currently producing and directing a film on Jane Fonda.


KeiTH BURRIS - HISTORICAL CONSULTANT

Keith Burris is the editorial page Editor for The Toledo Blade and has been a journalist for 30 years, writing on politics, government, culture, and the arts for publications ranging from Commonweal to The New York Times. 

Winner of the Allen B. Rogers Award for the best single editorial, in any newspaper, regardless of size, in New England in a single year, he is also the author of DEEP RIVER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF ROBERT SHAW and the editor of NO FAULT POLITICS by the late Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy.

Mr. Burris holds a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a master’s degree in political science. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kent State University.