Producers

Larry Dean Harris

Artistic Director

Larry Dean Harris is a storyteller, playwright, producer and founder of Strong Words. He’s performed stories in LA, Chicago, his hometown Toledo, New York City and Palm Springs. As a playwright, he’s earned New York Outer Critics Circle Award, Ovation Award, GLAAD and LA Weekly Theatre Award nominations. Larry sits on the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and teaches storytelling and performance with fellow Strong Words producer Marlene Nichols.

Marlene Nichols

Producer

An international performing artist, Marlene’s original plays and solo shows have appeared at REDCAT (Los Angeles), the L.A. Women’s Theater Festival, Stage Left Studio (NYC), American Theater of Harlem (NYC), and on a sailing ship in the Arctic Circle. As a story producer she has produced for Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, AOL studios and the Discovery Channel. A dedicated teacher, she has enchanted classes at CalArts, NYU, and engAGE as well as Strong Word’s storytelling classes. She holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA from the American University of Paris.

Michael Coscia

Producer

Michael Coscia is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, lyricist, and storyteller. He has worked on over twenty-five films including Tropic Thunder, Seven Psychopaths, Gone Girl, How to Be a Latin Lover, and Ad Astra. He wrote the short film Sticky Pinecones, an official selection in the 2021 Show Low Film Festival, winning Best Message in a Short and a Producer’s Choice Award. Currently, he is producing the films The Bus to Heaven Has a Flat, Joe and Eddie, and Alabama Moon: all of which he wrote.

Roy Cruz

Producer

Roy Cruz, is an actor, writer and painter. He was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to Los Angeles a long time ago, before climate change. He joined the Strong Words Community in 2018 and has been regularly performing ever since.

Randy Kimmler

the hottest bartender in Silver Lake and Atwater Village

Randy Kimmler is also known as Canon Randolph Blayne Kimmler of Holy Spirit, an Episcopal Community formed in 2004 with an emphasis on: contemporary liturgy (on Thursday nights), community service with programs like Laundry Love and providing a venue for art, music, theater, yoga, and -– from the very beginning – a permanent home and well-stocked bar for Strong Words.

Producers Emeritus

We appreciate the time and support he shared for us and our community!

Michael Hirabayashi

Curator of Visual Art

Michael Hirabayashi has worked in film production for most of his life. He has served as producer and assistant director on many projects with Japanese film directors and has worked as assistant art director on films directed by Ridley Scott and David Fincher. He’s also an active photographer, both landscape and portraiture with many of the Strong Words artists as his subjects.