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

Troy Loftin

Troy Loftin is a playwright and screenwriter based out of Los Angeles, California. His plays have been seen at Wordsmyth Theatre, The Rec Room, BETA Theatre, The Blank Theatre, the Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, and more. Troy is co-administrator of EST/LA's New West Playwriting Program for writers under 30 and also served as Producing Director for the theatre. He was also a participant in the 2016 Writer's Retreat sponsored by The Lark and led by Theresa Rebeck. Troy was previously the Literary Associate for The Landing Theatre Company, and the inaugural Dramatist Guild Ambassador for the Houston region. He graduated from the University of Houston with a B.F.A in Playwriting/Dramaturgy and a minor in Classical Studies.

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.

Program Administrator

Deputy Administrator

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Alicia D. Carroll

Sarah Garic

Alicia Carroll, a screenwriter and playwright, got her start in theater and news before moving to screenwriting. Previous credits include BUMPER IN BERLIN (Peacock), THE WATCHFUL EYE (Freeform), ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST (NBC), and Crooked Media’s live show and podcast, LOVETT OR LEAVE IT. She has also participated in fellowships and labs across mediums in film, television, and theater including Film Independent: Project Involve, Women In Film: Insight, IAMA Theatre's Emerging Playwrights Lab and EST/LA’s Ignite Lab. When she's not writing, she runs the Substack publication, Write Bites, and produces See What Sticks, an LA-based staged workshop series. Alicia is an Emerson College graduate and teaches writing independently and at The Writing Pad in Los Angeles

Sarah Garic is an Indian-American playwright and actor based in Long Beach. A wanderer at heart, she is drawn to our society’s intersection points, kitchen tables, small town cafés, the metro, and anywhere where people are dancing. She values theatre as creating the space for our stories to intersect as we marvel at the varied shades, smells, and laughs that fill our lives. She developed her first play Bootstraps through the support of Jennie Webb and the Los Angeles Female Playwright’s Initiative. And she has wandered through a lot of degrees … MS in Engineering at IFP School in Paris, a BA in Human Rights and Gender Policy Studies, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Rice University. When she is not writing or acting, she is advocating for environmental justice and sustainability.

Cole Friedman (he/him) is a LA-based writer and performer, formerly a DC-based teacher and toy store employee. His plays have been produced by Make/Shift Theater Company, Homesick Play Project, and The National Theater Institute. On the screenwriting side, he is a 2023 Academy Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist for his feature, Good Youth. He received a B.A. in Theatre and Psychology from Tufts University in 2021, earning the Moses True Brown Prize for Dramatic Criticism and the Jane Anne Herman Newton Award for Directing upon graduation. Additionally, he is an alum of the Kennedy Center Directing Intensive and the National Musical Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Cole Friedman

Ally Lardner (she/her) is a Korean-American playwright and stage manager. She attended Boston College for undergrad and currently lives in Los Angeles. Her play Driving Lessens was recognized as a finalist for the 2022 Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival. She works as Script Coordinator for ABC’s General Hospital, and has stage managed at LA theaters including IAMA and the LATC. Ally’s passion is for new works, and writes for young adults navigating the contemporary technological wasteland. She also is Editor in Chief for the print and digital zine TRASH MAG. She enjoys spicy margaritas, Taylor Swift conspiracy theories, and walking in the rain.