The Artist Incubator: Students, Alumni, Mentors, and The 24-Hour Plays

LPAC is built around LaGuardia Community College students, not just as audience members, but as emerging artists and future leaders. Whether it’s creating job opportunities, opening doors to professional connections, or designing programs that give students real exposure to the creative field, LPAC continues to invest in initiatives that support students. This year, we are launching The Artist Incubator, a three day program  (March 20–22, 2026) presented as part of LPAC’s Rough Draft Festival.  

The incubator brings together LAGCC students, alumni, and faculty with professional mentors and partner institutions for a weekend of learning, making, and connection culminating in a 24-Hour Plays event. Through this, LPAC aims to create an on-ramp for students from community college training to the professional theater world. 

What the weekend looks like 

The Artist Incubator is designed to mirror how theater actually gets made. Over three days, participants will take part in workshops, panels, and collaborative sessions beside working professionals. Students and alumni will work alongside professionals, learning how ideas move from concept to production and how creative teams plan, communicate, and solve problems together.

Just as important, the weekend is built for connection. By working in the same rooms with mentors, faculty, and peers, participants have the chance to build relationships that can carry beyond the festival, grounded in the shared experience of making something together. 

The 24-Hour Plays 

The 24 Hour Plays® (est. 1995, Mark Armstrong, artistic director) bring together creative communities to produce plays and musicals written, rehearsed, and performed in twenty-four hours. Through our radically present approach to theater, we make work that responds immediately to the world around us, builds communities and generates new artistic partnerships that extend throughout the arts and entertainment industry. Our events include The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, The 24 Hour Musicals and The 24 Hour Plays Los Angeles. Each summer, we bring together early-career theater professionals on both coasts for our annual free intensive, culminating in their own production of The 24 Hour Plays. The 24 Hour Plays Nationals have introduced audiences and collaborators to nearly 600 new artists changing the game in theater, TV and film, while licensed affiliates and partners produce The 24 Hour Plays in theaters and schools everywhere.

Meet the founder: Patrick Anthony Surillo

The Artist Incubator is led by Patrick Anthony Surillo, founder of Surillo Productions LLC, producer, educator, and proud LAGCC alumnus. A Brooklyn born creative with experience in stage management and production, Patrick returns to the LAGCC community with a clear focus: helping community college artists gain real access to professional spaces.

Now pursuing a graduate degree at The New School, Patrick’s work centers on sustainable production and artist advocacy, and the Incubator is a direct extension of that mission. Partnering with LPAC’s Rough Draft Festival and the 24-Hour Plays, he designed the program as a hands on, low risk, high reward experience for LAGCC students. 

As he puts it, “I created The Artist Incubator because I believe the gap between ‘student’ and ‘professional’ should not be a leap, it should be a bridge.”

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The Artist Incubator reflects what LPAC has always prioritized: creating space where students can build real experience, real connections, and real confidence. LPAC’s Artistic Director Handan Ozbilgin has put it simply “Since its beginning in 2013, Rough Draft has always included students, and this year’s Artist Incubator and 24-Hour Festival continue to fulfill that mission… It is a testament to our mission and to the strong creative community we strive to cultivate.” Presented as part of Rough Draft Festival, this pilot is a prototype for what long term access can look like when community college artists are not treated as an afterthought, but as essential voices in New York City’s theater ecosystem.

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