New West Playwrights | estlosangeles

EST/LA’s New West Playwrights is dedicated to fostering and developing the work of Los Angeles area playwrights under 30 years of age through weekly meetings, readings, and workshop productions.

Program Administrators

Jake Fiedler

Jake is a writer, occasional actor, and educator from Dallas and Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston's Playwriting and Dramaturgy program and had the privilege of studying under Mark Medoff, author of Children of a Lesser God. Jake writes about the messy spaces between faith and skepticism, loneliness and overstimulation, and logic and absurdity in our tech-saturated world. He has been a member of New West Playwrights since 2019 and a co-facilitator since 2023, and he was also a member of Flat Tire Theatre Company from 2018 to 2023. Jake is a recovering perfectionist with time blindness, but he has a special passion for new work development and is thrilled to serve New West’s writers in this role.

Aditi Pradhan

Aditi grew up in a neighborhood that was 80% Asian American, shaping her interest for different cultures. She has a degree in Political Economy from UC Berkeley, where she learned about systems of power. Aditi writes about family relationships, social change, and the South Asian diaspora. She’s a member of the New West playwriting group, a member of the Workshop Theatre’s writer’s group, an alum of the Rickshaw Foundation’s Writers’ Room, a semi-finalist for the Geffen Playhouse Writer’s Room, and a recipient of the Signpost Fellowship for BIPOC writers. In high school, she was nominated as “Most Dependable,” which is the highest honor she’s received.

Aubrey Clyburn

Aubrey Clyburn is an autistic writer, actor, and amateur mathematician based in LA. She grew up in North Carolina, went to school in Texas, and lived in NYC for two years as one of Off-Off-Broadway’s most caffeinated performers. Her first full-length play, Axioms, has been chosen for Caltech’s MACH 33 Festival (2024) and the Neurodivergent New Play Series (2024) in NYC. She holds a BFA in Acting from Texas State University and is an alum of Yale’s Summer Conservatory for Actors. Aubrey's play "Changeling" was featured as the New West Playwrights "Pick" for EST/LA's Winterfest 2026. Her current fixations include Stardew Valley and reanimating a dead succulent.

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Administrator

Deputy Program Administrator

Program
Administrator

MEET THE 2026 COHORT

NEW MEMBERS

Brandon Bautista

Brandon Bautista is a Filipino-American writer/actor/comedian originally from the Bay Area. A graduate of NYU Tisch Drama, Brandon’s plays have been developed at the Kennedy Center, The Makers’ Ensemble NYC, The Tank, and NYU. He is a recipient of a Merit Award in playwriting from The Kennedy Center, the Upright Citizens Brigade Diversity Scholarship, and The Groundlings Diversity Scholarship. Brandon strives to be somebody for his ancestors, his family, and his dreams.

Nena Martins

Nena Martins (she/her) is a playwright, actor, and overall theatre enthusiast! She graduated Northwestern University with a degree in Theatre and is currently pursuing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at University of Southern California. Her solo show Cry Baby was produced by Rhino Fest and awarded the DQT American Woman Fellowship. Her play Don’t Feed the Pigeons! received a production this fall at USC. She is a proud Miranda Family Fellow. Some of her acting credits include Yvette in Trap Door’s Mother Courage and Julia in Yale Production’s Yellow Eyes. Nena is an ensemble member at Gwydion Theatre Company.

Zach Ring

Zach graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in theater. Upon graduating, he workshopped his play — Linda's Journey — at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2024, his ten-minute plays — "The Man at the Door" and "The Woodside Wine Bar" — premiered at the Queens and the Equity Library Theater of New York's Short Play Festivals. Shortly thereafter, he participated in EST/LA's Ignite Project #5, where he developed his play Banana Men. Since then, his full-length plays have been read at Santa Monica Playhouse, Atwater Village Theatre, and Rogue Machine.

Emily Yuko Walborn

Emily Yuko Walborn is a Japanese-American playwright and screenwriter from

Montana. She received her MA in Playwriting from the University of Manchester (UK)

and her BA in Writing for Film & Television from Emerson College. Her plays have been developed and produced at The Road Theater Company, IATI, Stomping Grounds Art House, The Experimental Theatre Coop, Box of Tricks Theatre, The Old Library

Theatre, Manchester Drama Society, The Fled Collective, and at universities across the

U.S. Her play Logical Conspiracies won Old Library Theatre’s One Act Play Festival and

her play Clown Memo won the “Audience Favorite” award at the Last Chance New Play Festival.