Artists at Play Fest! — Digital Program

Preston Choi (This is Not a True Story) is a playwright whose work focuses on Asian American/mixed/queer lives, social science fiction, and the horrors of being alive. His plays have been developed with B Street Theatre, Interact Theatre, The Passage Theatre, and Silk Road Rising. His plays include HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARS ROVER (2022 Planet Earth Arts Award, 2022 Darrell Ayers Award), PERFORMING CLASS (2022 NNPN New Play Showcase, 20-21 Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series), A GREAT MIGRATION (2021 Paul Stephen Lim Award, 2019 NNPN National New Play Showcase, 2017 Agnes Nixon Award). 2nd year Playwriting MFA candidate at UCSD, B.S. in Theatre from Northwestern University.

Noa Gardner (A Stone is Nobody’s) is a Native Hawaiian playwright born and raised in Kaimuki on the island of O’ahu. He recently graduated from an MFA Dramatic Writing program at the University of Southern California (2020). Noa investigates different aspects of Hawaiian culture, people, as well as his own family, through his writing. Much of his work centers on family dramas, specifically Hawaiian families in Hawaiian homes. He was a national finalist for the Gary Garrison Ten Minute play award (2016) and has had his one act and full-length plays read in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Son of Semele Ensemble, the Los Angeles Theatre Company, Artists at Play, as well as the Pasadena Playhouse. Most recently, he is the recipient of South Coast Repertory’s Elizabeth George commission and his play will be showcased in the Pacific Playwrights Festival.

Rosie Narasaki (Smart White Girls Don’t Like Me) is a Los Angeles-based playwright and actor. As an actor, recent highlights include LITTLE WOMEN with Playwright’s Arena, and TWO MILE HOLLOW and IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT with Artists at Play, as well as appearances on SHAMELESS, WISDOM OF THE CROWD and FOR THE PEOPLE. As a writer, her work has been developed and produced by Becky and Baldwin, the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute, hereandnow theatre company and more. She is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s New West Playwrights and holds a BA in Creative Writing from Scripps College. In her spare time, she is the managing editor for TotalBeauty.com.

Nicholas Pilapil (if all that You take from this is courage, then I’ve no regrets) is a Filipino American playwright. His plays include THE BOTTOMING PROCESS (world premiere with IAMA Theatre Company in 2023, Victory Gardens Ignite Chicago Festival of New Plays) and IF ALL THAT YOU TAKE FROM THIS IS COURAGE, THEN I’VE NO REGRETS (winner of the 47th Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival). His work has been developed with Artists at Play, Geffen Playhouse, Playwrights Foundation, Theatre Rhinoceros, The Fountain Theatre, and The Vagrancy, among others. Nicholas is a member of The Writers’ Room at the Geffen Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s The Ignite Project, and an alum of IAMA Theatre Company’s inaugural Under 30 Playwrights Lab, The Vagrancy Playwrights Group, and artEquity.

Ankita Raturi (नेहा & Neel) is a bilingual, bicultural, bisexual writer with North Indian roots. She was recently awarded the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation’s 2022 Ollie Award. Commissions: Artists at Play & Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater; Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Foundation; Cygnet Finish Line. New play development: Playwrights Realm, Cygnet Theatre, Artists at Play, The COOP, Atlantic Pacific Theatre, Theater Masters, Hypokrit Theatre Company, New York Shakespeare Exchange, Pete’s Candy Store, Natyabharati. Devised work with Charlotte Murray: Fresh Ground Pepper, Corkscrew Theater Festival, Dixon Place. B.F.A. in Drama from New York University. MFA candidate in Playwriting from UC San Diego.

Katherine Chou (A Stone is Nobody’s; Smart White Girls Don’t Like Me; if all that You take from this is courage, then I’ve no regrets; नेहा & Neel) is a writer, filmmaker, and theatre artist. Theatre: THE CHINESE LADY (Denver Center), NON SO PIÙ COSA SON, THE CHINESE LADY, THREE WOMEN OF SWATOW (Artists at Play). Film credits include Dunkirk and The Hate U Give. Awards/Training: B.A., L’Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris; Visual Communication’s Armed With a Camera Fellowship; Telling Our Stories Contest presented by STARZ, The Wrap, and Women in Film; Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s Ignite Project; Bucheon International Film Festival’s Fantastic Film School in South Korea; Imago Theatre’s Artista Program in Montreal. @kacawcaw

Reena Dutt (This Is Not a True Story)  is a city girl with a country soul who believes in creating with a conscience, on and off the stage and screen. She is dedicated to new and reimagined texts that catapult polarizing conversations through unexpected stories with the bodies, voices and life experiences of the underheard. Upcoming: RENT (Coeurage Ensemble), AMERICAN FAST (Constellation Screen and Stage), YELLOW FACE (UC Riverside), THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY (Artists at Play). New York: Columbia University, Playwrights Realm, A.R.T. West Coast: UC Riverside, Greenway Court Theatre, East West Players, Sacred Fools. Assistant/Associate Director: Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public, The Fountain Theatre, Geffen Playhouse. Fellowships: Drama League NY Directing Fellow, LCT Directors Lab, Directors Lab West. Dutt is also a film director and producer having screened films at over 80 festivals worldwide including Sundance, LAFF, Outfest, Frameline, Cucalorous, NBCUniversal, BET, PBS/Latino and HBO.

Jessica Jade Andres was born and raised in Minnesota, a graduate of NYU’s Tisch school. Film/TV: NCIS: LA, The Mindy Project, Lizzie Bennet Diaries, 9-1-1, I Think You Should Leave, Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot. Theatre: West Coast premieres of KENTUCKY, IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT and TWO MILE HOLLOW. Artists At Play has my heart. Thank you to my family for their support.

Jaime Barcelon is thrilled to be working with Artists at Play again! Theater: BEIJING SPRING (East West Players), THE GOLDEN DRAGON (Boston Court), the world premieres of NICKY (Coeurage) and CINNAMON GIRL (Playwrights’ Arena). TV: 9-1-1, The Rookie, Mom and Criminal Minds. Recently appeared in David Ono’s DEFINING COURAGE (vocalist) at the Aratani Theatre. Jaime is a graduate of Ateneo De Manila University.

Julia Cho born and raised in Los Angeles, is an actor and proud founding member of Artists at Play. She has performed/toured with Center Theatre Group, East West Players, Will & Company, Playwrights’ Arena, Pasadena Playhouse, and Boise Contemporary Theatre. Julia is probably best known as “Charlotte Lu” in the Emmy-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Other credits include recurring roles on TV shows like Scandal Goliath, This Is Us, and more recently dubbing English voices on Korean content like the Netflix film Seoul Vibe and historical drama Bloody Heart. @thatjuliacho

Christine Corpuz Television: The Big Bang Theory, How To Get Away With Murder, Black-ish, The Orville, Carol’s Second Act, Station 19, Casual, Training Day, AJ and the Queen. Theatre: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (The Public), ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (Theatre For A New Audience), MYSTERIOUS SKIN (East West Players), YEAR ZERO (The Colony Theatre), OPUS (Ensemble Theatre Company). Most recently appeared in the titular role of Artist at Play and A Noise Within’s reading of MARABELLA. MFA from New York University’s Tisch Graduate Acting.

Fran de Leon is co-Artistic Director of Will & Company and a core member of Critical Mass Performance Group. Recent credits: A WICKED SOUL IN CHERRY HILL (Assoc. Dir; Geffen Playhouse), VALOR (Writer/Director CTG’s Digital Stage), SACRIFICE ZONE: LOS ANGELES (Director, USC Arts in Action), A JORDAN DOWNS ILLUMINATION (Actor/Collaborator, Cornerstone Theater). This winter, Fran will direct INTO THE WOODS for Pasadena Playhouse in a landmark collaboration with PUSD Arts. A proud Angeleno, she was born in Downtown, lived her early years in Manila, then returned to spend her childhood in Hollywood. http://www.frandeleon.com

Rachna Khatau is an actress and writer based in Los Angeles. TV credits include Baby Daddy, The Big Bang Theory, Bizaardvark, The Villains of Valley View, comedy pilots for ABC and CBS, and more. She originated roles in the world premiere plays A NICE INDIAN BOY and WASHER/DRYER both at East West Players. Rachna was published in “Good Girls Marry Doctors,” a book of essays by South Asian American women, and her 2-woman sketch comedy show, MR. (WITH THE PERIOD), has performed to sold out crowds in Los Angeles, Austin, and Chicago.

Pranshu Mishra is an actor, writer, and producer who makes his home right here in Los Angeles! He holds a BA in Theatre from UCLA, and some of his previous work includes on-stage during Coeurage’s run of Samsara in 2020, voicing in AAA-game New World, production work on games like Deathloop and Fallout 76. Enjoy the readings, and stay safe out there (dear lord stay safe out there)!