Matthew Paul Olmos and Nehassaiu DeGannes Develop New Work In The Assembly's Deceleration Lab

The Assembly presents two new works developed by the resident artists of the Deceleration Lab, an initiative to foster new theatrical projects that use and experiment with multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary models of creation. Playwright Matthew Paul Olmos (three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency recipient) and actor and poet/writer Nehassaiu deGannes (Soho Rep.'s Is God Is) are the inaugural artists in the Deceleration Lab, each facilitating virtual workshops of new pieces created in collaboration with artists across the country, culminating in public showings of their work this coming week.

Monday, December 14 at 7pm EST is a screening and discussion of You Will Swim Oceans, a collaborative piece with music conceived by Matthew Paul Olmos and created by Bernardo Cubria, April Dawn Guthrie, Larissa Lury, Matthew Paul Olmos, and Danielle Slavick.

Saturday, December 19, 7pm ET is an experiential work-in-progress showing of EBB & lo', created by Nehassaiu deGannes as an investigation of the life and writing of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Both showings are online and open to the public. Free reservations may be made at assemblytheater.org/lab.

The Assembly, a collaborative theater collective whose ten original plays include New York Times Critic's Pick HOME/SICK and Seagullmachine, launched the Deceleration Lab to support artists in The Assembly's broader community to develop work that takes artistic risks, challenges traditional hierarchical structures, and creates new professional opportunities for the participating artists.

"Each time we make a play, we learn so much from the artists we work with," says The Assembly's Co-Artistic Director Jess Chayes. "The Deceleration Lab allows us to continue that relationship, and to give financial and administrative support to generative work from the artists in our community. We are so incredibly excited to showcase these new projects from Matthew and Nehassaiu, and for all of us who witness the work to learn new methods of creation and collaboration."

You Will Swim Oceans is a theatrical piece in which a Mexican father attempts to teach a Caucasian mother a song for children, which was passed down in his family. Through the teaching of this song, we explore the perceived ownership of cultural identity and legacy, as well the fear which clouds the air between us as we attempt to embrace change as a country.The piece features an original composition by April Dawn Guthrie, is directed by Larissa Lury, and features Bernardo Cubria and Danielle Slavick.

Nehassaiu deGannes' EBB & lo' poses the question: what if the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's father forbade her and all her siblings (brothers and sisters) from marrying, because he knew there was a black Jamaican ancestor or two swimming in their blood? EBB & lo' is a devised exegesis of love and (Caribbean) blackness, race and repatriation, taboo, erasure, literary genius, distance and otherness.

Matthew Paul Olmos is a three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency recipient, New Dramatists Resident Playwright, Center Theatre Group LA Workshop Playwright, Oregon Shakespeare Festival BLACK SWAN Playwright, Princess Grace Awardee, selected by Taylor Mac for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project, and La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright Awardee; selected by Sam Shepard. He spent two years as a Mabou Mines/SUITE Resident Artist being mentored by Ruth Maleczech; former New York Theatre Workshop Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center Resident, Dramatists Guild Fellow, Primary Stages Playwright, INTAR playwright; and is an Ensemble Studio Theater lifetime member, Echo Resident Playwright, and Kilroys nominator. His work is produced internationally and nationally, published by Samuel French and NoPassport, and is taught in university. Currently developing a new piece inspired by Samatha Power's "The Education of an Idealist" through The Geffen Playhouse. matthewpaulolmos.com

April Dawn Guthrie and Matthew Paul Olmos have previously collaborated on "so go the ghosts of mexico - a poet sings the daughter song" which was produced by Undermain Theatre and awarded Best Original Music/Songs by Theater Jones. They also collaborated on "we walk along the Christmas bridge" as part of Center Theatre Group's LA Writers Workshop and Nautilus Composer-Librettist Studio.

Larissa Lury and Matthew Paul Olmos previously collaborated on "three girls never learnt the way home" as part of Cherry Lane's Mentor Project, mentored by Taylor Mac. They also worked on the project at Dorset Theatre Festival and Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival.

Bernardo Cubria and Matthew Paul Olmos are longtime collaborators from "so go the ghosts of Mexico - a brave woman in Mexico" at La MaMa etc., to "nobody rides a locomotive no'mo" at Rising Circle, to various readings at Center Theatre Group, Echo Theater Company. Matthew has worked with Danielle numerous times through The Lark, The New Group and New Dramatists.

Nehassaiu deGannes is an actress and poet and has appeared at theaters in New York, regionally and internationally, including Stratford Festival of Canada, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, DC, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Soho Rep, LaMama, Cleveland Play House and The McCarter Theater. She was cited as the "Best Performance In A Play 2017" by The Wall Street Journal for her portrayal of "Esther" in Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel at Shakespeare & Co. Her solo-show Door of No Return, originally produced by Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University, has been presented at several theatres and colleges in NY and the Northeast.

Nehassaiu's first book-length collection of poems, Music for Exile, is being published by Tupelo Press in February 2021. Her publications also include Undressing The River, winner of the 2011 Center For Book Arts Letterpress Chapbook Award, and Percussion, Salt & Honey, winner of the Philbrick Poetry Prize for New England Poets. Her poems have appeared in Callaloo, Poem Memoir Story, American Poetry Review, Caribbean Writer, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tuesday: An Art Project, TORCH, Encyclopedia Project, After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery Anthology, ARAVA Review, and Cave Canem Anthology XII. Her work has been honored with poetry fellowships from Cave Canem, Vermont Studio Center, Rhode Island State Council on The Arts as well as The Berkshire Theater Critics Award for her 3-character "tour de force" in Liz Duffy Adams' Or,. Her poem "To Find, To Be" was recently shortlisted for The Montreal International Poetry Prize. Nehassaiu received her MFA from Brown University, is a graduate of Trinity Rep Conservatory and this fall is teaching acting for Princeton University. www.nehassaiu.com

THE ASSEMBLY is a collective of multi-disciplinary performance artists committed to realizing a visceral and intelligent theater for a new generation. Assembly members unite varied perspectives in service of wide-reaching, unabashedly theatrical and rigorously researched ensemble performances, crafted to spark conversation with their audiences. Their work embraces the complexities of our present moment; it is a call for empathy and engagement. Embracing collaboration as the core of the creative process, the company chooses projects through consensus and develops text, action and design side-by-side within the rehearsal environment. From workshops to productions to post-performance discussions, The Assembly is dedicated to rooting its artists, audiences, and peers in a profound sense of community.

The company has performed at venues across New York such as La MaMa ETC, Jack, New Ohio Theatre (Archive Residency Award), The Incubator, The Prelude Festival, HERE Arts Center, Horse Trade, and The Collapsable Hole, and has toured to the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, Wesleyan University, the Edinburgh Fringe (Fringe First nomination) and the Philly Fringe. In 2016, The Assembly's process was documented by Professor Cindy Rosenthal in the cover essay of the industry's leading academic journal, The Drama Review: "Circling Up with The Assembly: A Theatre Collective Comes of Age." The Assembly's educational workshops are designed to foster empowered and empowering collaborators, training young artists in the ethics and techniques of their unique method of ground-up creation. The company has worked with students at top-tier colleges and universities like Columbia, NYU, Dartmouth, Williams, and Wesleyan, as well as workshops in NYC, LA, and online. The Assembly is currently developing the company's first musical in the Kitchen Sink Residency at Theatre Row. For more information visit assemblytheater.org or follow The Assembly on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @assemblytheater.

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