About Christopher Trela and TrelaVisions Creative Services

Christopher Trela is an award-winning publicist, writer, editor, photographer and playwright, and the author of Newport Beach Centennial: Celebrating a Century, a coffee-table book published in October 2006 by OCR Magazines. He is the owner of TrelaVisions Creative Services in Newport Beach, CA, and the writer and editor of OC Wine, an internet-based wine magazine.

Writing & Editing

Christopher has had more than 1,500 articles published in various newspapers and magazines over the past 20 years. He has contributed arts, food and wine, health, fitness, business and travel articles to OC Metro, Metro Menus, OC Family, Coast Magazine, Performing Arts Magazine, Westways Magazine, Dining Out Magazine, and many others. He also spent several years under contract with Disneyland to write script treatments and VIP correspondence for the Special Events department.

In addition to being the writer and editor of OC Wine Magazine, Christopher is working on a new book project called FAST PR: A 60 Minute Guide to Getting Publicity. He is the writer and editor for the Laguna Playhouse Callboard Magazine and for the Pretend City newsletter.

Publicity

Christopher is currently the Director of Communications for Laguna Playhouse, the oldest professional regional theater on the West Coast. He spent four years as the Director of Public Relations & Publications for Orange County’s Pacific Symphony (the third-largest orchestra in California), and was the PR Liaison for the Newport Beach Centennial Celebration. He has provided public relations and marketing services for the Balboa Performing Arts Theatre, Emilio & Modern Gypsy (flamenco guitarist), One Earth/One Dream Environmental Festival, Orange County Fair, Discovery Science Center, Southern California Home & Garden Show, Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles, Imagination Celebration of Orange County, and many other arts-related clients.

Photography

As a photographer, his work has appeared in the L.A. Times, The Orange County Register, OC Weekly, OC Metro, OC Wine/OC Menus, Coast, and many other publications throughout Southern California. He has provided photography services for theater groups and corporate clients, and has many years of special event and wedding photography experience.

Playwriting

In 1997, Christopher founded New Voices Playwrights Workshop & Theatre, a consortium of playwrights, actors and directors who regularly present productions of new works at various theaters in Orange County. Christopher has written and directed more than 20 of his own short and full-length plays, and has directed plays for other theater groups. His plays have been produced at theaters in and around OC, including a series of special science-theater shows for Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. Christopher studied playwriting at South Coast Repertory with Cecilia Fannon, and took a masters class in directing from SCR Associate Artist Mark Rucker. For his efforts in promoting and developing new plays and playwrights, The Daily Pilot newspaper named Christopher “Man of the Year in Theater” for 1998.

Organizations & Awards

Christopher is the 2009-2010 President-elect of the Orange County Press Club, and the director of PR and Marketing for Overture Young Professionals, OC’s first independent arts-specific support group. He serves on PR Advisory Committees for Chapman University and OC Human Relations.

In 2008, Christopher received an Award of Excellence from the OC Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. He has won numerous awards for feature and entertainment writing, for photography, and for his chocolate chip cookies.