Nice to meet you!
After earning my BFA in the Performing Arts from Montclair State University, I headed to Kentucky for a year-long acting apprenticeship at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, then onto graduate training at the American Repertory Theater’s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard.
I spent over a decade performing in NYC, LA, and everywhere in between, with a few favorite roles including Maria in Of Blessed Memory (Harold Klurman), Elena in The White Bear (Ubu Rep), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Grusha in Caucasian Chalk Circle, Rita in Educating Rita, Luisa in Hard Times (White River Theatre Festival), and Helga in Kindertransport at Arena Stage (the one in the PNW).
After performing professionally for a decade, I realized I wanted to be more hands-on in the unique, collaborative, and creative process, so I turned all my talents to writing and directing.
As a director, I’ve been shaping visions and inspiring actors since 2003, bringing out their best with equal parts hard-focused work and heart. The classroom is one of my favorite places to be—from the Northwest Acting Studio in Seattle, to Women in Progress in LA, to private coaching in every city I’ve lived in (which are many), chasing the dream.
While I had analyzed hundreds of plays during my acting career, I dove into the craft of writing, studying at UCLA Extension, The Lighthouse, Creative Writes, and many other programs. Everything she writes, 20+ plays, is shaped by my deep curiosity and an enduring desire to understand the human experience. In 2025, Gitelman & Good Publishing published my “horror/comedy” play for teens, The Ghost of St. Philomena’s, and my other works have earned multiple honors and have been produced, workshopped, or read in cities across the U.S.
The Lone Pine, a multigenerational family saga, is my first novel, currently in the editing phase. Most days, the muse calls me to the coffee shop to work on a still untitled end-of-the-world-sci-fi adventure—because I believe humanity could use a check-in to see how we’re doing, and who better than aliens.
On screen, I’ve popped up in TV commercials, short films, features, and the indie hit Smoke Signals, which snagged the Audience Award and Filmmaker’s Trophy at Sundance in the 1990s. I’d love to say I was “just a kid” then, but alas, I was already a full-grown adult. (Actual age shall remain classified intel.)
My plays have been produced, read, or workshopped at: The San Diego International Fringe Festival, Theatre District LA, NoHo Arts Center, Athena Project, Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region, Colorado Theatre Guild, Six Women Playwrights, And Toto Too, Bolder Life Festival, Theatre Company of Lafayette, One Night Stand, C4 Theatre, Tri-Media Film Festival, Open Eye, Millibo Art Theatre, and Follies.
Some awards along the way: Twice a winner from Writer’s Digest; Finalist – Ronald M. New Play Festival, Beverly Hills Theatre Guild; Semifinalist – Princess Grace Award, New Works of Merit.
After completing a play or a book, I always wonder if I’ll ever write another original word. But, somehow, a mystical magic whispers a new idea into my ear, it percolates for a while, and then one day, I sit and stare at that blinking black cursor on a blank new document, and write: Act I: Scene I OR Chapter One, and I start anew.
If you would like to read or produce any of Nicolette’s plays, please contact her directly.