As far as Tim Kashani can remember, he always loved two things: blazing his own way forward and the thrill of live performances. Blazing a trail of your own becomes a necessity when you start a band at the age of 13. With three close friends, Tim formed Tempest, a rock band. Though they were too young to drive, they booked paying gigs, leaning on their parents for rides. Tim became the de facto manager and under his leadership, the four teens saved enough money to book gigs every weekend and even create a makeshift recording studio. Upon attending UCI for computer science, Tim uncovered a love for technology. Although he filled his world with artificial intelligence, databases, and computer graphics, he never lost his passion for the arts. One day, he found himself thrust back in the performing world when he took a ballet class on a dare, wagering that it was easier than his chosen sport of crew. After a semester of struggle, his love for the arts flourished right alongside his love for technology. By adding Tap, jazz and reviving his vocal chords from the Tempest days, musicals became his artistic outlet. Quickly tired of auditioning for other people’s performances, Tim ignored the traditional performer path and partnered with a local, struggling theater to put on a production of West Side Story. As part of their deal, Tim guaranteed financial success and promised to cover any losses. Tim produced, directed and performed in a production that blended his two worlds. Through fiscal responsibility and artistic integration, Tim allocated the majority of the budget towards skilled actors and live music. The show broke box office records, requiring extra performances to keep up with demand, and Tim never looked back. Post-college, Tim kept his two passions, technology and the arts, far apart. During the day, Tim ran his technology company, IT Mentors, meeting with business contacts, designing new systems and delivering experiential training programs. Tim and his firm focused on empowering employees and executives alike, and human centered design; even in a disruptive technological landscape, they understood that the human factor remains the most important one. At night, Tim performed in and directed musicals. For these disparate purposes, Tim drove two cars: a boxy Nissan 310GX straight out of central casting’s “starving artist” category, and a sleek, state-of-the-art German automobile, ideal for impressing potential investors and business partners. Thankfully, the world turned and technology became ubiquitous, allowing Tim to connect his two beloved worlds. As technology and the arts grow closer, Tim’s life now centers around finding success squarely at the intersection of his two, once disparate worlds. Now, Tim works as an experienced businessman and theater producer, working with multinationals like Microsoft and UBS, and at the same time, writing, directing, and producing Tony Award-winning musicals like Memphis, Hair, and An American in Paris. Tim’s belief in the fundamental compatibility of theater and technology led to the conception and creation of Apples and Oranges Studios, co-founded with his wife (and Broadway actress) Pamela Winslow Kashani. Apples and Oranges Studios combines tried and true fundamentals with emerging technologies to theater, especially in the areas of story development, production, distribution, and marketing. This includes data-driven ticket sales, marketing, and social media, and most importantly, a call to rethink the entire developmental and distribution cycle of new stories and explorations in how VR and AR expand past the fourth wall. Espousing the start-up mentality, Tim treats artists as entrepreneurs, empowering them with the resources to succeed. To that end, Tim and his team created THEatre ACCELERATOR, seeking to apply the methods, processes, and the “fail early and often” mindset of the startup world to the performing arts. The program illuminates the real-world responsibilities and tribulations for aspiring performers, writers, composers, and directors. Indeed, the Accelerator centers around the importance of failure not as a permanent end that dashes all hope of success, but rather as a step in a long and empowering journey. Now, many cars later, Tim Kashani continues this incredible journey across three cities, walking the combined worlds of arts and technology, and ushering in the future of musical theatre. Rather than blazing his own trail, today Tim partners with other like-minded evangelists who embrace and promote a world where art and technology co-exist as one. Tim graduated from the University of California at Irvine with a Bachelor of Sciences in Information and Computer Sciences, later returning to finish his M.B.A. there. He also holds a M.F.A. in Film Production, with a specialization in directing from Chapman University.