We are excited to announce our Playwrights for the Military Family Staged Reading Project, funded in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Our Playwrights:

The Veterans:

Jeffrey Webster – Coast Guard 
Benjamin Fortier – Marine Corps
Gregory Hillman – Marine Corps

The Family of Veterans:

Denah Angel – Navy, daughter and niece
Liisa Rose – Air Force, spouse
Bryan Caldwell – Navy, grandson

Our Directors

Leilani Squire
Keith Szarabajka
Joe Garcia

Our Creative Team

Workshop Facilitator - Leilani Squire
Dramaturge - Jim Lunsford

The playwriting workshops are underway. We are exploring themes such as the weight of military service on both the one who serves and those who stay behind and what it means to come home or what it means leading up to going into the military. It’s exciting to listen to the plays taking shape through story, theme, characters, and plot. The stories are so different, the voices are so different—and this makes the process even more exciting and fulfilling. Perhaps what is even more so—are the stories told from their life experiences. We are building community through dialogue and story.

Each playwright will have the opportunity to present their first draft during a public staged reading. The staged readings will take place in Spring 2026 in North Hollywood and Atwater Village in the County of Los Angeles. We look forward to bringing you these new works written by Veterans and the Family of Veterans.

We need your support! We are actively seeking community sponsors, fiscal donations, stage manager, ushers, and so much more!  Let us know how you want to support this project by emailing Leilani at contact@returningsoldiersspeak.org

More information to follow!

As always, we are grateful to the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for their generous support.