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as•sem•bly |ə-sěm'blē| (noun)
1. a group of people gathered in one place for a common purpose.
2. a public facility to meet for open discussion.
3. the action of fitting together component parts of a machine or
other object.
4. a collective of artists dedicated to realizing a new American theater.
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CORE COMPANY
Jess Chayes
(Co-Artistic Director)
is an award-winning Brooklyn-based director and founding co-artistic director of The Assembly, with whom she has co-created and directed ten original productions. Recent directing includes THE FLICK (Warehouse Theatre), HOLIDAYS IN/COYOTE (The Tank), THE PROVIDENCE OF NEIGHBORING BODIES and LATTER DAYS (Dutch Kills), HALF MOON BAY (Lesser America), PRIMAL PLAY (New Georges), THE BACHELORS (Williamstown Theater Festival), THE SISTER (Dutch Kills), and THE NETFLIX PLAYS (Ars Nova). She has developed new work with The Vineyard Theatre, The Playwrights Center and New York Theatre Workshop, among others. Jess is a NYTW Usual Suspect, a 2018 Audrey Resident with New Georges, a co-founder of The New Georges Jam artists’ lab, and alum of The Civilians R&D Group and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Associate Director on PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Brooks Atkinson Theater and New World Stages) and MISERY (Broadhurst Theater). Jess is the recipient of the 2017 Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
is an award-winning Brooklyn-based director and founding co-artistic director of The Assembly, with whom she has co-created and directed ten original productions. Recent directing includes THE FLICK (Warehouse Theatre), HOLIDAYS IN/COYOTE (The Tank), THE PROVIDENCE OF NEIGHBORING BODIES and LATTER DAYS (Dutch Kills), HALF MOON BAY (Lesser America), PRIMAL PLAY (New Georges), THE BACHELORS (Williamstown Theater Festival), THE SISTER (Dutch Kills), and THE NETFLIX PLAYS (Ars Nova). She has developed new work with The Vineyard Theatre, The Playwrights Center and New York Theatre Workshop, among others. Jess is a NYTW Usual Suspect, a 2018 Audrey Resident with New Georges, a co-founder of The New Georges Jam artists’ lab, and alum of The Civilians R&D Group and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Associate Director on PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Brooks Atkinson Theater and New World Stages) and MISERY (Broadhurst Theater). Jess is the recipient of the 2017 Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Stephen Aubrey
(Co-Artistic Director)
is a Brooklyn-based writer and dramaturg. With the company, he has written or co-written THAT POOR DREAM, HOME/SICK, THE DARK HEART OF METEOROLOGY, WHAT I TOOK IN MY HAND, DAGUERREOTPYE and WE CAN'T REACH YOU, HARTFORD, as well as dramaturging all Assembly productions. Other writing credits include MINDCRAFT (Dixon Place) THE LONG GAME (Tiny Rhino) and BRAIN EXPLODE! (The Video Game Festival at The Brick Theater). His writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Publishing Genius, The Brooklyn Review, Pomp & Circumstance and Commonweal. He teaches literature and composition in the CUNY system. MFA: Brooklyn College.
is a Brooklyn-based writer and dramaturg. With the company, he has written or co-written THAT POOR DREAM, HOME/SICK, THE DARK HEART OF METEOROLOGY, WHAT I TOOK IN MY HAND, DAGUERREOTPYE and WE CAN'T REACH YOU, HARTFORD, as well as dramaturging all Assembly productions. Other writing credits include MINDCRAFT (Dixon Place) THE LONG GAME (Tiny Rhino) and BRAIN EXPLODE! (The Video Game Festival at The Brick Theater). His writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Publishing Genius, The Brooklyn Review, Pomp & Circumstance and Commonweal. He teaches literature and composition in the CUNY system. MFA: Brooklyn College.
Ben Beckley
(Co-Artistic Director)
is an actor and writer, whose work has been seen on and off Broadway, and in performances throughout the United States and internationally. Writing credits include KLAXALTERIAN SEQUESTER (www.klaxalteria.com); LATTER DAYS (Ars Nova/Dutch Kills); and “Outside Time, Without Extension,” which premiered in Red Bull’s 2020 Short New Play Festival. Acting credits include WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Broadway and NYTW); DYING FOR IT (Atlantic Theater Company); WELCOME TO NOWHERE (Salzburg Festival in Austria; Via/Exit Festival in France; Mois Multi and Usine C in Canada); the first national tours of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS and PETER AND THE STARCATCHER; and Shonda Rhimes' INVENTING ANNA on Netflix. He is a member of The Actors Center.
is an actor and writer, whose work has been seen on and off Broadway, and in performances throughout the United States and internationally. Writing credits include KLAXALTERIAN SEQUESTER (www.klaxalteria.com); LATTER DAYS (Ars Nova/Dutch Kills); and “Outside Time, Without Extension,” which premiered in Red Bull’s 2020 Short New Play Festival. Acting credits include WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Broadway and NYTW); DYING FOR IT (Atlantic Theater Company); WELCOME TO NOWHERE (Salzburg Festival in Austria; Via/Exit Festival in France; Mois Multi and Usine C in Canada); the first national tours of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS and PETER AND THE STARCATCHER; and Shonda Rhimes' INVENTING ANNA on Netflix. He is a member of The Actors Center.
Meredith Lucio
(Producing Director)
is a Tony award-winning producer who’s worked as an independent producer in New York City for almost 15 years. Her first foray onto Broadway as a co-producer with THE GERSHWIN’S PORGY AND BESS earned her a Tony Award for Best Revival in 2012. Meredith transferred Bedlam’s first productions of SAINT JOAN and HAMLET in rotating rep to the Off-Broadway stage. SAINT JOAN won a Best Revival award from the Off-Broadway Alliance and was named one of the Top 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2013 by Time Magazine. HAMLET was live-streamed to a pilot group of Title I schools in the New York City area in 2013, making it one of the first live theatrical productions to be live-streamed in this country. She has also been on the producing teams of THE 39 STEPS (New World Stages), ROOMS: A ROCK ROMANCE and is currently a producer on THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL (Broadway and National Tour). She helped capitalize GRACE on Broadway (starring Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon) and the HELLO DOLLY! STARRING BETTE MIDLER ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING. Meredith has extensive experience in financial consulting for small businesses particularly in the film industry. She has served as an accountant/financial consultant for THE REMIX: HIP HOP X FASHION (Tribeca Film Festival, 2019) numerous Frontline films. Meredith has been a speaker for the Commercial Theater Institute, the Educational Theatre Association, and the International Thespian Festival. She teaches seasonally at Scottsdale Community College about how to produce your own work. Meredith is also developing her producing curriculum into a new book, FROM BACKYARD TO BROADWAY: PRODUCING PRINCIPLES FOR THEATRE AT EVERY BUDGET. Catch up with Meredith on Twitter and Facebook @TheaterZen.
is a Tony award-winning producer who’s worked as an independent producer in New York City for almost 15 years. Her first foray onto Broadway as a co-producer with THE GERSHWIN’S PORGY AND BESS earned her a Tony Award for Best Revival in 2012. Meredith transferred Bedlam’s first productions of SAINT JOAN and HAMLET in rotating rep to the Off-Broadway stage. SAINT JOAN won a Best Revival award from the Off-Broadway Alliance and was named one of the Top 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2013 by Time Magazine. HAMLET was live-streamed to a pilot group of Title I schools in the New York City area in 2013, making it one of the first live theatrical productions to be live-streamed in this country. She has also been on the producing teams of THE 39 STEPS (New World Stages), ROOMS: A ROCK ROMANCE and is currently a producer on THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL (Broadway and National Tour). She helped capitalize GRACE on Broadway (starring Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon) and the HELLO DOLLY! STARRING BETTE MIDLER ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING. Meredith has extensive experience in financial consulting for small businesses particularly in the film industry. She has served as an accountant/financial consultant for THE REMIX: HIP HOP X FASHION (Tribeca Film Festival, 2019) numerous Frontline films. Meredith has been a speaker for the Commercial Theater Institute, the Educational Theatre Association, and the International Thespian Festival. She teaches seasonally at Scottsdale Community College about how to produce your own work. Meredith is also developing her producing curriculum into a new book, FROM BACKYARD TO BROADWAY: PRODUCING PRINCIPLES FOR THEATRE AT EVERY BUDGET. Catch up with Meredith on Twitter and Facebook @TheaterZen.
Emily Caffery
(Artistic Producer)
is an actor and creative producer who specializes in collaborative, experimental, and artist-led theater projects. In NYC she has performed in new plays and fresh takes on classics at La MaMa, the Bushwick Starr, The Tank, the Brick, Columbia University, and elsewhere. Regional credits include ELEKTRA (as Elektra), THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and STEEL MAGNOLIAS. Film: BILI BEAN, BASKET OF APPLES, SOME STRANGE RACE. She has worked with The Assembly since 2014, developing original works including the new musical IN CORPO, the immersive epic SEAGULLMACHINE (La MaMa), and NY Times Critics Pick HOME/SICK (Jack). Other producing work includes Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, PROTOTYPE Festival, Colt Coeur (DODI & DIANA, NY Times Critics Pick EUREKA DAY), Hypokrit Productions (ELEMENTS OF CHANGE Climate Week tour), and the Byzantine Choral Project (choral audioplay ICONS/IDOLS: IRENE, immersive installation ICONS/IDOLS: IN THE PURPLE ROOM) . She is a company member of Colt Coeur and an alum of Wesleyan University and the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Institute.
is an actor and creative producer who specializes in collaborative, experimental, and artist-led theater projects. In NYC she has performed in new plays and fresh takes on classics at La MaMa, the Bushwick Starr, The Tank, the Brick, Columbia University, and elsewhere. Regional credits include ELEKTRA (as Elektra), THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and STEEL MAGNOLIAS. Film: BILI BEAN, BASKET OF APPLES, SOME STRANGE RACE. She has worked with The Assembly since 2014, developing original works including the new musical IN CORPO, the immersive epic SEAGULLMACHINE (La MaMa), and NY Times Critics Pick HOME/SICK (Jack). Other producing work includes Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, PROTOTYPE Festival, Colt Coeur (DODI & DIANA, NY Times Critics Pick EUREKA DAY), Hypokrit Productions (ELEMENTS OF CHANGE Climate Week tour), and the Byzantine Choral Project (choral audioplay ICONS/IDOLS: IRENE, immersive installation ICONS/IDOLS: IN THE PURPLE ROOM) . She is a company member of Colt Coeur and an alum of Wesleyan University and the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Institute.
ASSOCIATE ARTISTS
THE ASSEMBLY'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stephen Aubrey
Ben Beckley
Susan Bernfield
Gregory Gorman Hernández
Walter J. McMath, III
David Milch
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