Ian Ruskin

Ian Ruskin

TPMA Board Member

Ian Ruskin has worked extensively in theatre, television and film in England and Los Angeles. His lifelong interest in social justice led him to found The Harry Bridges Project in 2000. He has gone on to produce, write and narrate two radio documentaries and the one-man play From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks, which premiered at the University of Washington Summer Arts Festival in 2001. He has subsequently performed the play over 300 times to 50,000 plus people. He has produced four documentary films, including, in association with Suzanne Thompson, the film version of From Wharf Rats to Lords and the Docks, directed by Haskell Wexler. It has aired nationwide on PBS for four years, making the film available to 150 million Americans. To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine, written with a City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellowship, premiered on opening night of Grand Performances in Los Angeles and has been performed 90 plus times to date. The film version of a live performance, also directed by Haskell Wexler, has aired for two years on PBS. Ian has completed his latest play, Magic and Lightning: Into the Mind of Nikola Tesla, and the first two performances were at Theatre West, Los Angeles and The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

Ian is currently raising funds to film a live performance of his Tesla play and completing a pitch deck for a television limited series about the life of Thomas Paine.