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The Ignite Project is an 8 week lab for artists to create brand new plays
written for or inspired by our company. Learn more.
COHORT #1 FACILITATORS
Makeda Declet
Makeda Declet is a Guyanese-American playwright, TV/film writer, and performer. She was shaped by network television, bootleg CDs, and an unwavering love of the WB. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Makeda holds an MFA from Northwestern University in writing for the screen and stage and a BFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
COHORT #1 WRITERS
Angela Bullock
Angela Bullock 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 and EST/LA.
Lauren
Campedelli
Lauren Campedelli is an award-winning actor and director, including Los Angeles, Chicago and regional stages as well as film. An EST/LA member, Lauren has acted in and directed productions and staged readings for its play development programs. She was a longtime member of Evidence Room, appearing in more than a dozen of its productions. As a writer, her original performance work has been produced at LA's Glaxa Studios and Chicago's Live Bait Theater and Society For New Things. Ignite was her first foray into playwriting. Lauren also works with TheatreWorkers Project's reentry workshops with formerly incarcerated individuals.
Katie Grant
Katie Styliani Grant is an early career writer, director, and dramaturg. Her most recent work includes Mud-Caked Validation & Salt Air, Upheave into a Slidecase, Perishable Skills on Window Sills, and …my arms are open, open, open, but where are you? As a writer/director, her work has been seen and developed with/at the Dramatist Guild Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theatre (Los Angeles), LAFPI (Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative), the Ignite Project, Atwater Village Theatre, [re]group, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation/New York University partnership, and more.
Harrison Harvey
Harrison Harvey is a playwright and actor from Houston, Texas and based in Los Angeles. He studied acting and playwriting at University of Texas at Austin and the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. An alum of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA's New West Playwrights, his play Jack Craddock is Having a Party received a staged reading in EST/LA’s Winterfest 2022, and premiered at Moving Arts in 2023.
Michael B. Kaplan
Michael B. Kaplan had his first play produced in the One-Act Marathon at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York. Since then he has worked primarily as a TV writer and producer on a dozen different prime time shows for ABC, NBC, FOX and the CW, including stints on such seminal shows as “Roseanne” and “Frasier.” He created "I'm in the Band" on Disney XD and "Dog with a Blog" on Disney Channel, serving as showrunner for both. He has been nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning one, and received a BET Comedy Award for his work as a writer on “Girlfriends.” He is the author of the “Betty Bunny” series of children’s books. Recently, he has been writing plays for EST/LA and PlaygroundLA. ( Playwrights Unit member).
Jude Lutz
Jude Lutz writes plays, TV/film, and fictional podcasts. She believes the most powerful way to speak to audiences is through emotion and humor. Her sweet spot is the convergence of darkly comedic drama, social issues, and flawed family relationships. Growing up in New Jersey, she was inspired by New York theater. She still is. She can be found writing around town accompanied by her rock star labradoodle. (Playwrights Unit member)
Leilani Squire
Leilani Squire is an award-winning playwright, published writer, certified creativity coach. She’s CEO of Returning Soldiers Speak, 501(c)(3), whose mission is to empower veterans, and their families to tell their stories. She’s a member of EST/LA, Playwrights Unit, The Dramatist Guild, and alumna of Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive and EST/LA’s The Ignite Project. 15 DEAD SOULS won Veterans Repertory Theater’s inaugural 10-minute playwriting contest, and is forthcoming in Smith & Krauss’ 2023 BEST 10-MINUTE PLAYS.
Jacob Surovsky
Jacob Surovsky is a playwright, game designer, and puppeteer from Southern California. He is currently a member of EST/LA's New West Playwrights, and a past participant of the first cohort of EST/LA's Ignite Project. He likes writing plays that are highly theatrical, sometimes about Judaism, and often featuring puppets. As a playwright, past favorite projects include Mira and the Whale, Christmastown, Happy Puppet Hour 2, and Emma and Richie's Big Viking Funeral!
See more at jacobsurovsky.com or on Instagram @coolthingsbyjacob.
See more at jacobsurovsky.com or on Instagram @coolthingsbyjacob.
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