Negin Singh is the Executive and Artistic Director of cARTel: Collaborative Arts LA. A 2008 graduate from the University of California-Irvine, she co-founded The Ahimsa Artists (now cARTel) as a way to express her frustrations with art-making conventions. She is also founder of Everybody Nose, cARTel's resident clown troupe. She is a performance artist, director, clown, and producer, specializing in creating highly-collaborative visual spectacles combining several mediums of art. She has directed over 12 Los Angeles premieres in the last three years, at spaces such as the Noho Arts Gallery, The Improv Space, The Powerhouse Theater, The Hayworth Theater and more.

Leigh Zeichick, cARTel's Secretary, is a recent graduate of New York University with a B.A. in psychology and a B.A. in philosophy. He is honored to be involved with cARTel; he will stage manage the upcoming production of Agamemnon on the Santa Monica beach, and he has worked on numerous previous productions including Pterodactyls and Attraction/Logic. He also submitted a video contribution to Two, cARTel's second birthday celebration.Leigh likes listening; he does not like talking.

Bethany Esfandiari organically became involved with the Collective when she kept coming and helping out/enjoying all of the events and shows. After officially being invited to become a member of the ensemble, she worked as a satellite artist on Attraction/Logic, was briefly a member of Everybody Nose, acted in Agamemnon and Two Figures, and has helped to produce several of the one day events, most notably 50 States 50 Stories. You can often find her greeting you or pouring wine at the Community Pool.

Peter Berube joined the cARTel after his appearance in the production Birthdays: An Invitation. He graduated from CCSU with BFA degrees in acting and directing. Since Peter arrived in Los Angeles, he has been a founding member of the comedy groups Scriptease and Easily Distracted which have performed at the LA Comedy Festival. Through Peter's two production companies Lord Dynamite and Inspired Insomnia, he has produced several pieces he wrote including Thanks for Dying (Feature Film), The Start-Ups (TV Pilot) Emily, Get a Clue, and Buddy Action Therapy (Web Series). As an actor, he is most known for his performance in the Los Angeles production of Little Secrets. When not working with the wonderful cARTel, Peter can be found working as a director, fight choreographer, and movement coach in theaters all over Los Angeles. He will always find the time to be the proud single dad of the world's fattest bunny.

Rachel Walker was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and in 2007, she graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama. During her four years at NYU, she studied with the Atlantic Theatre Company and Stonestreet Studios. Some of her favorite theatre roles tackled during college include Maria in Twelfth Night and Duckling in Our Country's Good. Since graduation, most of Rachel's efforts have been focused on film. Credits include the webseries, Ryder's Reel and the indie features Redemption Falls and The Graduates. She has also been producing since 2005, with three NY theater credits (NYU's GAP production of Of Mice and Men, Hamlet at Atlantic Stage Two (3 IT Award Nominations) and a sold-out run of The Lonesome West at 440 Studios) under her belt. Right now, she is co-artistic director of the non profit company, Red Elevator Productions, which she formed in 2007 with four fellow NYU graduates.

Laura Cheek, cARTel's Associate Press Relations Coordinator, was born in the harsh flatlands of Texas where she was raised to say "y'all" and shoot guns. She still says "y'all" a lot. Laura got a shiny degree from The University of Texas where she studied Theatre and Creative Advertising, as well as Musical Theatre at Ballet Austin Academy. Her most rewarding work lies in educational theatre; for nearly ten years she was a performer and producer for the Texas One-Act Play Festival. She also taught youth acting, voice, and improv at Zachary Scott Theatre and honed her acting chops as an ensemble member of the critically acclaimed Capital T Theatre company. Laura's first cARTel credits as an artist, writer, and performer are with Brokechella 2011 and TWO(A.M). Laura is so grateful to have found a home with other passionate artists who truly love what they do, and hopes one of them will teach her how to surf in exchange for Tex Mex.

J. Steadman cARTel's Director of Resource Relations, is genuinely glad to be alive. He thanks you in advance for coming to this website, because he believes that cARTel is pretty much the cat's meow. J. graduated from Western Michigan University with a BA in acting in 2006 and from UCLA's department of Theater Film and Television with an MFA in acting in 2009. He is a bassist, cook, actor, director and writer, in that order. J. spends most of his time with his dog, Newt Algebraic Bassclef Steadman.

Aaron J. Sussman is a playwright and lawyer; he also serves as Webdesigner for the cARTel. He wrote Slow Through Eden, an allegory of Paradise Lost by John Milton, which was produced and performed by cARTel in the Spring of 2008, and by Ahimsa Collective UK in Spring of 2009. He is also the designer and webmaster of wearecartel.org. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2005, with degrees in Theatre and Criminology, Law & Society. He recently graduated with High Honors from The George Washington University Law School, where he served as research assistant for Professor Paul Butler, author of Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice and lead blogger at Race and Crime. Aaron provided research assistance for such articles as One Hundred Years of Race and Crime, and The White Fourth Amendment. Aaron won the Thurgood Marshall Civil Liberties Award for his work at the Maryland Federal Public Defender's Office and for his work on the case of Troy Davis, a man sentenced to death on the basis of eyewiteness testimony of nine witnesses, seven of whom later recanted their testimony.

Jack De Sena is cARTel's Chief Artistic Consultant and Artist Outreach Associate. His original stageplay, Day One and So On, was featured as part of cARTel's annual Living Room Tour. Jack worked with cARTel during cARTel's first project, playing Todd in Pterodactyls. He has since co-directed and appeared in A Quiet Night of Chaos and Attraction/Logic. Jack also directed Epilogue, an original play that was toured through California and produced in living rooms. Jack is also a member of Everybody Nose, cARTel's resident clown troupe. Jack submitted a video contribution to Two, cARTel's second birthday celebration. He attended UCLA, where he studied theatre. As an actor, Jack has appeared in various film and television projects including Nickelodeon's All That and Avatar: The Last Airbender. As a swimmer, Jack cannot hold his breath for very long because he has asthma. He continues directing, acting, and performance-arting in cARTel productions.

Colin O'Brien-Lux, cARTel's Head of Research and Student Activities, has written, composed, and performed for cARTel' Attraction/Logic. He was amusic composer and performer for the production of Agamemnon on the Santa Monica beach. Colin also starred as Eric in Epilogue, an original play produced throughout Southern California in living rooms volunteered by friends of cARTel. Colin is a member of Everybody Nose, cARTel's resident clown troupe. He also submitted a video contribution to Two, cARTel's second birthday celebration, and he looks forward to doing the same and more and future cARTel endeavors. Currently Colin is attending the University of California, Los Angeles where he is in pursuit of a Theater degree in acting. Colin is a performance artist, musician, actor, and clown coming to cARTel with the expectation of serious play. Colin's work with cARTel was highlighted in a recent article in the Daily Bruin.

Matthew Chester, cARTel's Company Writer, is a writer, actor, and tries to direct every five years or so. He is the playwright of Epilogue, written for cARTel’s The Living Room Tour, an original play being toured through California and produced throughout Southern California in living rooms volunteered by friends of cARTel. Living Room Tour; such as it is, all he knows about it is that there will be a dwarf, a hunting knife, and a man in a woman’s hat (but that is subject to change). He graduated from Skidmore College in 2008 with a B.A in English and a minor in Theater. He wrote the book for Rufio: King of the Lost Boys, a musical spectacular, and his own play, Despite Everything, which he directed. He has acted in several Skidmore productions, a play in the New York Fringe Festival called On Air Off, and performs in the improv/sketch troupe The Younger Statesmen. Matthew Chester blogs at Rockstar Sunset Feelings.

Bryson Jones Allman graduated from the conservatory theater program at LA City College in '07 and has since racked up 13 Shakespeare credits, a New York Musical Festival performance, as well as countless short, independent, and student films; his debut feature film, “Suicide Flowers” or “The Offing”, are in pre-production, the race is on. He's also a singer/songwriter that recently debuted on iTunes with his album “Admitted”. Manager of the building, founder, and proud member of the Alto Nido Arts Collective, he lives in a state of constant inspiration surrounded by brilliant artists and friends. A veteran of OEF during his years of Naval service as an Aviation Technician, he's done his share of hard work and now it's play time. Oh, and he walked from Los Angeles to DC the summer of ’06 to protest apathy, and no one cared...

Noah Silverstein has been the Executive Manager of the Hayworth Theatre since 2008, and produced over 100 productions in Los Angeles. Recently, he was swept off his feet by cARTel’s overwhelming creativity and now lives in fear of his return to the ground. Recent acting credits include Nathan in Matt Chester’s Two Figures, Leroy in Everybody Nose: Science Fair. He has recently directed B. Alter’s A Very Dark Place, Tom Patrick’s Wildwood, Joyce Koff’s Young at Art. He has acted as assistant director for productions of Anna Waronker and Charlotte Caffey’s Lovelace a Rock Opera, Adam Baum and the Jew Movie directed by Paul Mazursky with Richard Kind and Hamish Linklater, Sin: a Cardinal Deposed directed by Paul Mazursky with Gary Cole and Bruce Davidson, Rick Najera’s Daddy Diaries. He has also produced Rhyme With Me, Neal Dymond Presents The Reflectaball, Mixed Nuts and the web series Acting Real and Group. Noah is also the Bruno Kirby Celebrity Reading Series' resident stage-manager and set/lighting designer. Noah recently produced cARTel’s Birthdays: An Invitation and can often be seen at one day events such as the 24 Hour Songwriting Competition painting murals. To see Noah’s Art, you can visit www.artnoahsart.com.

Lisa Bierman joined cARTel after stage managing and lighting their show Birthdays: An Invitation. She is a Southern California native and graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company, followed by lighting design and stage management at Tisch’s Technical Production Track. Since graduating, she has performed at the Ohio and Brick Theaters in NY, as well as appearing in the independent feature The Four Faced Liar. She is currently an actor, teacher, director and designer with a penchant for lists and sweetbreads.

"Madeline Harris is an actor, writer, performance artist and dancer who started out as a human being in the mountains of Redding, CA. She now has a BA in Theatre from UCLA and is always happy to work with the lovely people of cARTel. Her past roles with cARTel include: Iphigenia in Agamemnon, Margo in Everybody Nose A Christmas Carol, and Amy in Two Figures. She also starred in the docu-theatre event, (Un)Godly: A Conversation, playing six different characters. To see more about this little lady, go to… www.madelineharris.info "

Cambria Beilstein has been working as a clown for three years, originally trained with Eli Simon at UCI. She has traveled and trained clowns abroad including Italy and Korea and has toured in Simon's troupe CLOWNZILLA. She is currently associated with training performers in Everybody Nose, cARTel's resident clown troupe. Beilstein has a BA in Drama from UCI and has been in shows such as The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Under Milk Wood at UC Irvine, and cARTel's production of Much Ado About Nothing. Other professional credits include the San Diego Opera's production of Otello.

Chris Smith graduated UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television in 2007 with a B.A. in Theater- Acting. Attempting to put his degree to good use (outside of auctioning Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph out on E-Bay) Chris most recently starred in cARTel' Holiday Show Everybody Nose: A Christmas Carol as Clock/Scrooge. Outside of his love for clowning, Chris is also an accomplished filmmaker having penned and directed his own Indy feature Shadow in the Trees as well as a series of commercials for Carls Jr. Chris has also ventured into the the wild world of web series as the co-creator, co-director, co-star, and solo editor of the web series Dorm Life. Outside of juggling these various interests, Chris also enjoys....well...juggling. He has performed his act around the world in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Copenhagen as well as at numerous men's basketball games including the '06, '07, and '08 NCAA Final Four Tournaments and halftime performances for the Lakers and Clippers organizations at the Staples Center in 2009. Chris is humbled to be working with such an incredibly talented group of artists and can't wait for you to see what 2010 brings!

Ashley Opstad is an actor, teacher, director and arts administrator; she directed Jack De Sena's original stageplay, Day One and So On, as part of cARTel's annual Living Room Tour project. She began her career at The Orange County High School of the Arts where she taught Voice for Actors; Beginning and Advanced Improvisation; Stage Dialects; and Acting. In addition to teaching, Ashley created the Ultimate Improv High School League (a high school improv team that performs once a month in Los Angeles), sponsored Thespian Troupe 6826 and sat on the California State Thespian Board from 2006-2008. She has also taught for both the California Arts Center and Performing Arts Workshop, specializing in children's theatre. Currently, Ashley is the Educational Services Coordinator at Center Theatre Group and the Managing and Artistic Director at The Improv Space in Westwood, CA. Ashley spends most of her time teaching and performing improv/sketch comedy with various organizations and festivals including Story Pirates, The Improv Space, the Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival (2007- 2009) and the Out Of Bounds Comedy Festival (2009 and 2010).

Lauren Smerkanich is a relatively recent immigrant to Los Angeles, having grown up outside Philadelphia and gone to college in New York City. After graduating from The Tisch School of the Arts, Lauren spent a few years in New York acting and directing in such venues as The Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater Company's Second Stage and The Producer's Club. She then stuck all of her belongings in her car and moved to LA to continue her training in The Atlantic Theater Company's LA Program. Since graduating, she has written and worked on several short films and produced, written and acted in her first web-series, "The Complex," produced by Bad Bonsai Productions. Lauren is the playwright of Amongst the Trees, cARTel's 2011 Living Room Tour.

Laryn Stout graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2007, having studied with the Atlantic Acting School and Stonestreet Film & TV Conservatory. She appeared in a number of Off and Off-Off Broadway productions in New York during her six years there, including Medea, The Yellow Wallpaper, and Holes. She is a founding member of Bad Bonsai Productions, a Los Angeles based web media company. She directed and appears in Bad Bonsai's first project, The Complex. She also crafts sometimes and really loves mashed potatoes.

David Branson, cARTel's filmmaker, attended the Brooks Institute of Photography for Video Production. During his youth, he was exposed to many different forms of theater and visual arts, influencing his own take on visuals. David is absolutely stoked about his collaboration with cARTel's productions. He works as a freelance video editor and photographer, and co-founded Shutter Eye, a creative video company based in L.A.

Sebastian Kadlecik, is an illustrator, an author, a spoken word artist and an actor. He was invited to join cARTel after performing in Attraction/Logic. He subsequently starred in the title role in cARTel's production of Agamemnon, which was performed on the Santa Monica beach. Sebastian next starred as Oliver in Epilogue, and Gooch in Day One and So On. Sebastian also created pieces for Birthdays and TWO(A.M.). Sebastian is a comic book creator and would love for you to check out his comic, Penguins vs. Possums, which tells the story of the battle that has been raging between these two species since the dawn of time. Issue Number One of this series debuted at the 2011 Long Beach Comic Con.

Kit Steinkellner, as a playwright, has been produced nationally, with productions Off Broadway (at Playwright's Horizons), the Kennedy Center, the San Diego Old Globe, as well as at several theaters in Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble. Her writing has received rave reviews from the New York Times, LA Times ('Critic's Choice') and LA Weekly ('Critic's Pick!'). Additionally, her writing has been honored with awards from Stephen Sondheim, Edward Albee, Tim Robbins, Jack Nicholson, the Kennedy Center and the Sundance Institute.

Patrick Burns is an actor, playwright and musical director whose original one-man-musical, From Foster Care to Fabulous, will be produced by cARTel this January. He first worked with cARTel by portraying Friar Frances in their outdoor musical production of Much Ado About Nothing and is stoked to be working with them again! Patrick recently relocated to Los Angeles after graduating from UC Irvine this past June. He most recently appeared as Lucas in the LA concert version of Bare at the Hudson Theatre. He performed off-broadway in 4@15, and has appeared in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Ubu Roi, Seussical, Bare: A Pop Opera, Bat Boy: The Musical, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. Patrick also spent three years as a performer on UCI's premiere improv troupe: Live Nude People (With Clothes On). Patrick blogs at Hella Boujie.

Andrew Pearson, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, studied and trained at the University of California, Irvine where he received his BFA's in dance performance and choreography. As a performer, Andrew has worked with Headwaters Dance Company in Montana, Loretta Livingston and Dancers, California Riverside Ballet, BodyTraffic, Lineage Dance Company, and is a current member of Nickerson-Rossi Dance. Through these companies he has had the privilege of working with such renowned choreographers as Loretta Livingston, David Allan, John Jasperse, Jane Comfort, and Barak Marshall. As a choreographer, Andrew's work has been seen at The Hayworth Theater as part of collaborations with the cARTel, The Pasadena Dance Festival Emerging Choreographers Showcase, and at various southern California high schools and dance schools. He has also attended The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under their choreographic residency program where he had the opportunity to work with choreographer Alex Ketley, The Whole Story, a choreographic workshop under the direction of Rosanna Gamson, and has been accepted into LA Contemporary Dance Company's composition track as part of their 2011 summer workshop where he will work with Artistic Director Kate Hutter.

Emmalinda MacLean is honored to be serving as cARTel's Educational Director and member of Everybody Nose, cARTel's resident clown troupe. She has previously taught childrens' theater in the bay area, for both California Theater Center and City Lights Theater Company, before coming down to Los Angeles to pursue her B.A. in Theater from UCLA. After graduating in June,s she appeared in cARTel' oceanside production of Agamemnon, and then went to Burning Man instead of getting a job. In addition to her acting and clowning careers, she sings alto in the choir at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City and sews purses out of ripped jeans.

Mary Kimball is a passionate theatre lover. Having graduated from UC Irvine in 2008, she's had the good fortune of working both backstage and administratively with several different theatre companies. She was Stage Manager for Epilogue by Matthew Chester, the Living Room Tour production in 2009. In addition to cARTel, she works with Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga and the Hillcrest Center for the Arts in Thousand Oaks.

Noelle Blanco has been involved with cARTel for three years as the resident Costume Designer. She designed and built the first outdoor production, Much Ado About Nothing in UC Irvine's Aldrich Park in Fall 2007 with vibrant, bold colors in tutu's and petticoats; she designed costumes, from underwear to suits, for the Living Room Tour premiere of Slow Through Eden; and she designed costumes and makeup for cARTel' production of Agamemnon on the Santa Monica beach. She also designs crafts hats, masks and fashion jewelry. Noelle graduated from UC Irvine in 2009; she intends to continue costume designing, craft building and living life through the beauty of art.