Coeurage Theatre Company Announces New Artistic Directors

Having completed its 10th anniversary season in 2019, Coeurage Theatre Company, LA's only Pay What You Want theatre company, announced today that Amanda McRaven and Joseph V. Calarco have been named Co-Artistic Directors. They are joined by Associate Artistic Director Katelyn Gault, Artistic Development Associate Nardeep Khurmi, and CoLab Director Katie Pelensky.

Coeurage, a non-profit professional theatre company, was founded in 2009 by a group of graduates from California State University, Fullerton. At their first staff meeting, while discussing company goals and values and crystallizing a mission statement, the decision was made to operate with an exclusively Pay What You Want ticketing model. Coeurage quickly fostered a reputation as a company to watch and has cemented its place in the community as an exciting, high-caliber ensemble of artists. The company's production history proudly boasts 14 Ovation Award nominations, two wins, and eight shows that were designated 'Ovation Recommended.'

Amanda McRaven (Co-Artistic Director) creates collaborative, socially-conscious feminist theatre and performance. She attended the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and she is a Drama League Fellow, Ovation Award-winner, Fulbright Awardee (Community-based Theatre, New Zealand), Professor of Performance Studies, Founder/Producer of Los Angeles Lady Arm Wrestlers, Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director of Make Trouble ensemble theatre training, and Artistic Director of Fugitive Kind Theater Ensemble.

Joseph V. Calarco (Co-Artistic Director) was an actor in Chicago for several years before moving west. As a founding member of Coeurage, he has directed award-winning productions of The Secret in the Wings, The Sparrow, The Yellow Boat, and The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide. He has also served as sound designer on numerous productions for the company.

Katelyn Gault (Associate Artistic Director) has been a member of Coeurage for six years and an Associate Artistic Director for the past two. She also works as an actor in film, theatre, and voiceover.

Nardeep Khurmi (Artistic Development Associate) is an actor, director, and writer. His extensive film and television credits include SWAT, 911, The Odd Couple, Angie Tribeca, Jane the Virgin, and Orbital Redux, as well as theatrical productions of Silent Sky, The Importance of Being Earnest, Samsara, Twelfth Night, Still Life, and Dallas Non-Stop. He has a recurring role on the new Disney animated show Mira: Royal Detective, and his most recent directorial work, Pagg, has screened at over 35 festivals worldwide and is currently available on YouTube.

Katie Pelensky (CoLab Director) has been a member of Coeurage since 2014. She has appeared in the company's productions of Andronicus, The Sparrow, The Secret in the Wings, Samsara, and The Woodsman. As director of Coeurage CoLab her work includes Kairos by Ann Noble (staged reading), After the War by Philip Kan Gotanda (staged reading with East West Players), and Misfit Stories by Meghan Brown (workshop led by Amanda McRaven).

Coeurage Theatre Company is committed to being a safe and cherished artistic and creative space for all people, including but not limited to those who've been historically underrepresented based on cultural heritage, race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic status, geography, or religion. The company seeks to empower and give voice to all through consciously equitable means, so that those with less privilege are given distinct opportunity to gain equal footing with those who have more.

Information on the company's 11th season, which begins in the fall, will be announced soon.

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