Connect
To Top

Meet Madeline Hendricks and Ilana Peña of See What Sticks in Silver Lake

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline Hendricks and Ilana Peña.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Madeline and Ilana. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We actually met when we were 16 and 17 years old at the Cherubs Theatre Arts program in Evanston, Illinois. We kept in touch after that, but it wasn’t until 2015 when our paths crossed again in LA. We had both moved on from acting at that point, and we came here to pursue careers in TV writing. As we hustled in the industry — both working round the clock as assistants — we realized that we both really craved an intimate, artistic community here in LA. Somewhere people could feel safe to take risks, be vulnerable, and celebrate each other’s work.

And so, we decided to put on a workshop. Our first one was mostly filled with close friends who were coming to support. We asked our friend Brendan Scannell — a very talented comedian, actor and writer — to host the event. And from the moment it started, we were hooked. We decided to do it every month. And so, See What Sticks was born!

Now, four years later, we are both professional writers. Ilana has written on the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and is the creator of the upcoming Diary of a Female President for Disney+. Madeline has written on the CW’s Jane The Virgin and now writes on Freeform’s Good Trouble. Brendan, who has continued to host SWS every month since day one, stars in the Netflix show Bonding and can be seen on Comedy Central and in Paramount Network’s reboot of Heathers.

And just as we have grown, See What Sticks has too! Over the last four years, we’ve put on 45 workshops, featuring over 250 artists, all FREE for the workshoppers and the public. This past year, we also launched our Creative Lab series, where we produced multiple pieces that originated at our workshops, including Diana Dinerman’s one-woman show, “Detour,” and 30-30-30: three half-hour plays which played to four sold-out audiences.

It’s been really magical to watch new generations of artists join our community every year. In a city that is constantly changing, See What Sticks grounds us, and reminds us of where we started.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At first, we struggled to attract all different kinds of artists to our workshops. In the beginning, a lot of people thought SWS was just for writers and comedians. And while we love writers and comedians, we also wanted this to be an eclectic home for all art forms. But as we expanded and continued meeting new, awesome people, we eventually became a truly diverse community. As an example, we once had a workshop where one person read a personal essay, the next sang an original song, another did a reading of a pilot, and the next person played a podcast they created and then asked the audience for feedback afterwards. It was one of our favorite workshops!

Of course, there have been other bumps in the road along the way… but, luckily, we have the best team in the world. Our brilliant host, Brendan, makes the show sparkle every month, no matter what. And our two amazing producers — Alicia Carroll and Erica Wachs — help us with everything from scheduling to budgets to big, creative decisions. These people make our lives pretty struggle-free!

In general, the road to developing See What Sticks has been quite smooth. This workshop has been a haven for us. We love putting our lives on hold once a month to spend time with our constantly growing community, and continue to find inspiration in others’ work.

See What Sticks – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
See What Sticks is a free, monthly workshop with an audience where artists of all disciplines can present work at any stage in a blackbox theater. We offer the stakes of a deadline, the legitimacy of an audience, and the collaborative freedom of a workshop environment. ​

​Our workshops are once a month: ​always on a Saturday at 5:30pm at the Lyric Hyperion Theatre & Cafe in Silver Lake. Afterwards, everyone sticks around to get a drink, grab some food, and mingle! People discuss the work they just saw, and hopefully, make some new friends before they head on to their Saturday night.

We are most proud of the community we’ve created. LA can be a lonely city, especially to those who are new here. We pride ourselves on being inclusive, above all else. The audience that comes every month is kind and supportive and sees the value in watching an evening of works-in-progress.

See What Sticks is different from all other shows because it’s not a show. It’s a workshop. A place where we celebrate unfinished material. We don’t curate. We simply offer a space for artists to present their work, and we encourage them to keep going.

In addition to our monthly workshops, we also produce original, full-length projects in our Creative Lab series. As we look ahead, we’re excited to continue shepherding new work within our blossoming community.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We once had a female comedian come up to us after a workshop and thank us for providing a space where she could feel safe to talk about really personal topics in her set, and not be worried that some asshole in the back was going to “boo” her. She had never presented this material in front of an audience before, and she was so grateful that See What Sticks was her first. It made us so happy because that was the whole point of starting SWS — to create an environment where people feel both safe and inspired.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Mike Taing, Alicia Carroll, Zachary Nanus

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in