KAYLA FELDMAN
Writer & director
Page | STAGE | SCREEN
she/they
Currently Based: London
about
Kayla Feldman is a freelance director and writer for the page, stage, and screen. At least three people have described her as “driven” which is apt because she doesn’t have a driver’s licence. They are the youngest of anywhere between three and eight children depending on who you ask. Her life goal is to hike every trail in Rocky Mountain National Park before she’s 60. As a British-American, Queer, Jewish, neurodivergent, sober atheist born in the 90s, they spend quite a lot of their time explaining herself to people.
theatre, film & TV
Kayla trained on the M.A. in Theatre Directing at Mountview, Shakespeare’s Globe Directing Studio, and Directors Lab North in Toronto. She is a Co-Founder of Snapper Theatre and Sovereign Writers Group, and was part of the inaugural cohort for the NO BORDERS Artists Project at the Royal Court Theatre. Previously, they were Associate Producer for Maiden Speech Festival, a script-reader for Hampstead Theatre, a theatre scout for Theatre503, and a literary associate for Abingdon Theatre Company in New York. Her play Watchdog was a longlisted for the Women's Prize for Playwriting and Theatre503's International Playwriting Prize in 2023, shortlisted for the RSC's 37 Plays Project, and was a top-ten finalist for Titchfield Festival Theatre's New Playwriting Award and received an honourable mention from the Jewish Plays Project Prize in 2022. They have taught actors, writers, and theatremakers at Mountview, Identity School of Acting, Stagecoach, Caspa Arts, and elsewhere.
poetry & Prose
(as Kayla Martell Feldman)
Kayla is a founding member of Sovereign Writers Group and co-hosts the Process spoken word night with Tyrone Lewis. Her work has been widely published across the UK and North America, and been featured on the Dead Darlings and Artists That Work podcasts. In 2023, she won second place in the Crossing the Tees short story competition. They are a three-time Genesis Poetry Slam Winner and have had work commissioned by JW3, Canada Water Theatre, Watch Your Mouth, Vashti Media, and The Narcissist Cookbook. In 2020, she took part in the invite-only Roundhouse Poetry Weekender led by Bridget Minamore and Cecilia Knapp. In 2021, Kayla self-published their debut poetry collection, Tikva, and her second collection is out now from Verve Poetry Press.