Offering radical hospitality - a response to a need - artists are provided resources to develop their early stage new work through the artist cohort program.
Meet the 2022 Artist Cohort
Ian Brandon
(Composer) is originally from London where he worked as a Composer, Music Director, Actor, Vocal Arranger and Orchestrator in the West End and on National/European Tours. Since moving to California, recent U.S. composing credits include: Lit (California Center For The Arts, Escondido), Making Ends Meet (New York Workshop), Walks of Life (Blindspot Collective, La Jolla Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado), Cat (Theatre Of Note, L.A.), Hall Pass (WOW Festival, La Jolla Playhouse), The Winter’s Tale (Coronado Playhouse), Stuck, Warm It Up (Canyon Crest, San Diego) and Wake Up Brother Bear (Casa Del Prado Theatre, San Diego). Since moving to the US, his Music Direction/Conducting credits include: Hair (The Old Globe), The Wizard Of Oz (Moonlight Amphitheatre, Vista), Victoria & Victor Mature Cabaret (Bodhi Tree, San Diego/Palm Springs), Alice (Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado), Chasing Fear (Cygnet Theatre), Cancelled, A Kind of Weather (Diversionary Theatre) and Ragtime (Arena Stage, Washington D.C.). Ian has Musically Directed and taught at many of the top Drama Conservatories in London he was the resident Composer and Music Director at the Bridewell Theatre in London for many years and his original songs continue to be performed in the West End and Off-Broadway.
Anne-Marie Thompson
Anne-Marie Thompson is the author of Audiaton (Story Line Press, 2013), winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize. A pianist-turned-poet, she has taught music, writing, and literature at Johns Hopkins University, Westminster College, Lincoln University, and the Syracuse Downtown Writers Center. She has received fellowships and awards from Sewanee Writers' Conference, West Chester Poetry Conference, The Athens Centre in Greece, and the Yeats Society in Sligo, Ireland. Recent work appears in Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, 32 Poems, and other venues. Originally from southeast Texas, she now lives in Syracuse, New York, with her husband and son.
Matthew Buckley Smith
(Librettist) is the author of Midlife, winner of the 2021 Richard Wilbur Award, and Dirge for an Imaginary World, winner of the 2011 Able Muse Book Award. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in numerous national magazines and anthologies, including American Life in Poetry and Best American Poetry. His plays have been produced in Baltimore, London, New York City, and Washington, D.C. He hosts the NSFW books podcast SLEERICKETS and lives in North Carolina with his wife and daughters.