About Us
Ian Ruskin
ACTOR, WRITER AND INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR
I trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and worked for 15 years in repertory companies, London’s West End, television and film. I came to Los Angeles in 1985 and found myself with guest star roles in episodic television. This work did not in any way fulfill my dream to be involved in great works that could move audiences and shine a light on their shared humanity. This was not happening on the soundstage of “MacGyver.”
Then I was cast to play a real-life character, Harry Bridges, in “Citizenship: The Harry Bridges Story,” and my life changed. This was a man whose beliefs and values inspired me, and when we performed for his union, his story inspired them. I had found my way to shine a light again.
And, so I began to do things that I had never done before - writing a play, producing radio documentaries, and then the film version of the play. I met and worked with extraordinary people, and performed, to amazing audiences all over the world, the story of an immigrant who came to America and found himself, much as I was doing. Harry Bridges then led me to other men and women who, in their own ways, had fought for social justice, and I produced new films and radio programs about them. This was followed by the discovering Thomas Paine and Nikola Tesla so that now, 20 years later, I have three men in my life, with three plays, two films about Bridges and Paine that have both aired on PBS, and, if all goes as planned, a third about Tesla to follow. And I travel between the worlds of unions, the Daughters of the American Revolution, working men’s clubs and the American Philosophical Society, and community colleges, universities and theatres in America, Australia and England. I am following the adventure that life has sent me and I have Ruskin Productions and wonderful partners for the journey.
For more information about Ian, please visit ianruskin.com.
“The Struggle of Man against Power is the Struggle of Memory against Forgetting”
- Milan Kundera
Our Team
Keith Robinson -
Editor
Keith was in charge of technical effects for David Bowie's “Sound and Vision” Tour, which required the synchronous interfacing of Mr. Bowie's performance with forty-foot film projections. He was also in charge of technical effects and projections for Frank Sinatra at the London Palladium. He ran the first digital audio mixing and sound editing facility in New York, and has maintained a creative environment accessed by both independents and studios, including sixteen Academy Award winners. He discovered the raw footage of the event known as “The Rumble in the Jungle” and resurrected the project, leading to “When We Were Kings,” a 1997 Academy Award winner. He has worked with Ian as an Editor and Special Effects consultant on his Harry Bridges and Thomas Paine films and created the audio and visual cues for “Magic and Lightning: into the Mind of Nikola Tesla.”
June Stoddard - Producer
June Stoddard is Producing Partner, Prop Master and Costume Designer for “Magic & Lightning: into the Mind of Nikola Tesla.” In 2006, she produced the Los Angeles run of Ian’s play “To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine”, bringing enthusiastic standing ovation audiences to the run and gaining many reviews, including the LA Times. The run closed with performances in London at RADA and Conway Hall. June raised funds through a successful Indiegogo Campaign to film a live performance of “To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine” with legendary Director of Photography Haskell Wexler. The film aired on Public Television nationwide for 2 years. June is president of JS Executive Search, and an alumna of UW-Madison and the American Conservatory Theatre.
Daniel Castillo -
Editor and Graphic Designer
Working in film production, Daniel noticed an alarming pattern - the films that he participated in were reinforcing stereotypes of people of color and perpetuating a cycle of negative portrayals. So he helped to create the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI). He taught documentary filmmaking to high school boys in the organization’s Black Male Youth Academy, and he managed the development and expansion of SJLI’s Boys and Men of Color efforts through a series of programs which focused on their literacy needs. He also focused on creating youth programs that utilize art as a medium to create and transmit stories for change. He is the Creative Arts Director at Jennifer Brown Consulting. He brings his directing, editing and digital design skills and his passion for social justice to our work. He is a Board member of The Harry Bridges Project.
Hannah Ruskin -
Branding and Web Design
Hannah graduated from the New Genres department at the San Francisco Art Institute, focusing her studies on Installation Art. Within a year she was collaborating with startups and tech companies to create approachable, modern and functional office designs to made their space feel a little more like home. She founded her own interior design firm, Ruskin Design, and spent the next 10 years honing her skills in business operations, marketing, client relations and interior design. Now Hannah enjoys helping other small businesses to develop branding plans, and has brought her unique designer’s eye to our new website.