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
Jacob Fiedler
Meet the 2024 Cohort
NEW MEMBERS
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
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.
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.
CURRENT MEMBERS
NEW WEST ALUMS
Sophie Lewis