Following the success of last years TEDxNavesink conference that was held at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, event organizers have moved to a new, larger venue and scheduled a wide array of new talks and live acts for 2014.

TEDxNavesink: Play, scheduled for May 10 at the Two River Theater, Red Bank, will feature two dozen talks and performances centered on the idea of play and its impact on everything from human behavior to business.

Its about the value of play in community, in education, in human progress, event co-organizer Brian Smiga of Atlantic Highlands said.

TEDx conferences are independently run events that must be licensed by TED, a nonprofit organization that has been running Ideas Worth Spreading events around the world for 26 years.

Smiga, along with a number of co-organizers and sponsors, organized the first TEDx in the region in Lincroft last year, centered on the benefits and challenges of life along the Jersey Shore.

This years lineup will feature speakers from throughout the region and across the globe, including a Canadian rap artist and award-winning playwright discussing the history of rhyme, and Marie Jackson, a James Beard-award nominated pastry chef from Atlantic Highlands who will speak about the healing power of play.

The event will also feature an expanded lineup of musical and comedic acts, including Mike OKeeffe, creative director of the Improv Jam Comedy Lab, Red Bank, who will discuss how improvisational comedy can be used to become a better human being.

Stanton Green, dean of the McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, will give a talk about the Anthropology of Baseball, tracing its roots and cultural impact on America back to the 17th century.

Other talks featuring speakers from as far away as Chicago, Colorado and the Silicon Valley will focus on topics such as musical hypnosis, beer, social networking, urban planning, play in the animal kingdom and the role of play in human education.

John Dias, artistic director of the Two River Theater and a 20-year veteran of the public theater, will give a talk titled Pretending, Art and Life and explain why a performance is called a play in the first place.

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TEDxNavesink heads to Red Bank