Arts Education
The California Arts Council has announced two grant awards of $39,900 and $26,600 to Ensemble Studio Theatre – The LA Project as part of its new EST/LA Arts Education program in its second round of funding for 2022.
With support from the California Arts Council, in April of 2023, EST/LA will establish a collaborative partnership with Sotomayor Arts and Sciences Magnet by providing a Standards-based theatre and writing program. This partnership will enhance tenth grade students’ arts and academic learning.
Additionally, in the Fall of 2023, EST/LA Arts Education will present “CAMP,” a short play about gender and identity. After viewing the production, students will reflect on the play through the lens of their lives and the lives of others during critical response discussions, improvisation, and playwriting.
Arts Education Artists
Susan “Susie” Franklin Tanner (Program Manager) is an innovator in the field of documentary theatre & arts education with over 30 years of experience as a producer, director, actor, teaching artist and professional development provider. Susie leads EST/LA's new Education & Outreach initiative. She is the Founder/Director of TheatreWorkers Project (TWP), the program director for TWP’s Arts in Corrections program at California State Prison-Lancaster,and leads multiple theatre reentry programs. Susie is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the SAG-AFTRA Radio Play Committee and AEA. Susie designed and taught Theatre for Social Change at Woodbury University and created/led a distance collaboration with La Colmenita, the Cuban National Children’s theatre company. Workshop presentations include: Connecting Art and Law for Liberation (CALL)/UCLA; Arts Schools Network, Lincoln Center, NYC; Co-presenter w/Kitty Felde: ALLIES AT THE TABLE: The Role of White Theatre Artists in Multi-Ethnic Conversations, NYU 2016 Forum on Educational Theatre, NYC. Susie has a B.A. in Theatre from the UC/Riverside, a Lifetime Community College Teaching Credential and a Career Tech Ed Credential in Arts, Media and Entertainment. Member, EST/LA.
Artists in Schools Program
Alex Alpharaoh Collaborating Teaching Artist, supports the writing process for TWP’s in-prison and reentry programs. He is a nationally recognized, award-winning actor, writer, spoken word poet, solo performer, and teaching artist from Los Angeles, CA. Prior to Covid-19, He was on national tour with his autobiographical solo show titled WET: A DACAmented Journey, a story about what it means to be an American in every sense of the word except on paper. Alex is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle 2018 Solo Performance of the Year award for his work on WET. Alpharaoh teaches a FunDaMentals of Spoken Word and Performance Poetry class where he fuses writing technique with experiential acting, creating a powerful toolset for self expression and healing. Alpharaoh has been acting professionally for over 15 years and has been a lyricist for over 25 years. He is currently in the process of writing his first memoir about his experiences growing up in Los Angeles without a legal status. www.dacamentedjourney.com
Sharon Freedman, Collaborating Teaching Artist, supports the theatere component of TWP’s in-prison program. She is an actor, producer, and International Arts Educator. She was a resident teaching artist with B.R.I.D.G.E. Theatre Project for 7 years and The Unusual Suspects for 2 years before that. She’s taught internationally in Rwanda with B.R.I.D.G.E. in collaboration with Mashirika Performing Arts and Media Company and in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Heal Africa. She trained with and was a drama therapy facilitator’s assistant with C.A.N.Y. through Mount Sinai Hospital. Sharon is the Executive Producer of Tisch Represents, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for under-represented voices in the television industry. She was the Co-Creator and Company Manager of The 24Seven Lab in NYC where she developed work by writers including: Pulitzer winner Annie Baker, Tony nominee Lucas Hnath, and Macarthur genius grant winner Sam Hunter. Acting credits include Just Beyond (Disney+), Chicago Med (NBC), Henry Danger (Nickelodeon), and Legacies (The CW). She has performed at Ensemble Studio Theatre (NY & LA), The Kirk at Theater Row, The Shakespeare Theater of NJ, The Victory Theater, The Hangar Theatre, and Sacred Fools. She is a member of the Obie Award winning Partial Comfort Productions (NY), EST/LA and an Associate member of Sacred Fools.
Sharon is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. For more: www.sharonfreedman.com
Arts Exposure Program (CAMP)
Makeda M. Declet (Playwright/Director of CAMP) is a Guyanese-American writer, actor, and producer with a BFA in theater from NYU. Her passion lies in telling stories about family dynamics and addiction through the lens of Black, Queer protagonists. Currently attending Northwestern University’s MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program, Makeda is a co-founder of Circle of Writers LA and the Ignite Project at EST/LA. Member, EST/LA
Anna Fox (Teaching Artist) is a playwright and astrologer. Her work’s been seen at Sam French OOB Short Play Festival, EST/LA, and Theater Masters. Publications: Samuel French, The Dionysian, Bare Fiction Literary Magazine. Residencies: MacDowell, Monson Arts, Djerassi, The Cabins. MFA: UCLA, where she’s taught playwriting. EST/LA New West Playwrights alum.
Emily Kosloski (Teaching Artist) has a degree in Voice, Musical Theatre and Mathematics from Northwestern University, and has been seen on Broadway and in US regional theaters. She is a commercial and television actress, and a teaching artist for 17 years in the LA area, most recently at Elysian Heights Arts Magnet. Emily is the Director of Education at Sacred Fools Theater and a member of EST/LA.
Angela Bullock (Actor in CAMP) is an award-winning Actor/Writer who has appeared on LA and regional stages such as EST/LA, The Guthrie and Yale Rep. Guest star/co-star appearances include Shameless and The Sopranos. MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University LA; member of SAG-AFTRA & AEA. Member, EST/LA
Nicole Pacent (Actor in CAMP) is a graduate of NYU Tisch, best known as 'Aster' on the award-winning series, Anyone But Me (hulu). She has appeared onstage in LA and NYC and co-hosts the podcast Coming Out with Lauren and Nicole, found on all streaming platforms.
This program is generously funded by:
