The Assembly Brings World Premiere of THAT POOR DREAM to New Ohio Theatre, Now thru 10/26

The Assembly will present the World Premiere of That Poor Dream, a new play written and devised collectively by the company and the cast (Stephen Aubrey, Edward Bauer, Ben Beckley, Nick Benacerraf, Ray Campbell, Jess Chayes, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Moti Margolin, Emily Louise Perkins, and Terrell Wheeler), today, October 4-26 at The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington).

The production will be directed by Jess Chayes (Krista Knight's Primal Play with New Georges; HOME/SICK with The Assembly) and will feature Edward Bauer (HOME/SICK with The Assembly), Ben Beckley* (national tour of Peter and the Starcatcher), Theodore Ray Campbell (Bus Stop with Denver Center Theater Company), Jocelyn Kuritsky (Sheila Callaghan's Crawl, Fade to Whitewith 13P; Ken Urban's The Awake at 59E59), Moti Margolin*(Grand Theft Auto IV), Emily Louise Perkins*(Caroline V. McGraw's The Vaults with New Georges), and Terrell Wheeler*(The Last Saint on Sugar Hill with National Black Theater).

The creative team will include Dramaturgy by Stephen Aubrey, Set Design by Nick Benacerraf, Costume Design by Kate Fry, Video Design by Ray Sun, Lighting Design by Derek Wright, and Sound Design by Asa Wember and Ben Truppin-Brown.

*Appearing courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association. That Poor Dream is an Equity Approved Showcase, approval pending.

A moving mosaic of what it means to be endowed with "Great Expectations," That Poor Dream is set on a train traveling from New York City to Fairfield, CT, uniting worlds divided by geography, privilege, and time. Inspired by Charles Dickens' classic novel about coming of age in a profoundly class-conscious society, the work draws on the company's own complex relationship to class identity and economic disparity in American society. The Assembly's newest creation explores how class defines and divides us, and how our shared humanity might bring us closer together.

That Poor Dream will play at The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington) October 4-26, Wednesday through Sunday at 8pm with additional performances on Monday, October 6 & 20 at 8pm. Tickets ($18) will go on sale Monday, September 1 and will be available online at www.assemblytheater.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006.

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 interests in service of unabashedly theatrical and rigorously researched ensemble-driven performances that address and reflect the complexities of our changing world. Developing text, movement and environment side-by-side within the rehearsal room, the company embraces collaboration as the core of the creative process. Above all, we are dedicated to rooting our artists, audiences, and colleagues in a profound sense of community.

Holding firm to the belief that history repeats itself, The Assembly frequently looks to the past to make sense of the present moment. The Assembly's first project, We Can't Reach You, Hartford, was created in the aftermath of September 11th and explored one of America's forgotten tragedies: the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus fire of 1944 in Hartford, CT. We Can't Reach You, Hartford premiered at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for the coveted Fringe First award. Later projects have explored Civil War photography (Daguerreotype; Abingdon Theater, 2007), Charles Lindbergh (What I Took in My Hand; The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, 2008), the Gold Rush of 1849 and the dot-com boom of the 1990s (Clementine and the Cyber Ducks;The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, 2009), climate change (The Dark Heart of Meteorology; The Philly Fringe Festival, UNDER St. Marks, 2009) and the Weather Underground (HOME/SICK; The Collapsable Hole, 2011; The Living Theater, 2012.) Our current production, That Poor Dream, had workshop performances at the 2013 Ice Factory Festival at The New Ohio, the 2013 Prelude Festival at CUNY, and at HERE Arts Center in Spring 2014.

Jess Chayes (Director/Co-Author) is a Brooklyn-based director and co-artistic director of The Assembly. Recent directing includes: Primal Play (New Georges), That Poor Dream (HERE), The Bachelors (Williamstown Theater Festival), The Sister (Dutch Kills), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), Salamander Leviathan (Joe's Pub) and HOME/SICK (The Assembly, NY Times and Backstage Critic's Pick). She has developed work with The Culture Project, The Public Theater, The Civilians, The Amoralists, P73, and Prelude Festival, among others. Jess is a member of the New Georges Kitchen Cabinet and a founding member of the The New Georges Jam. Recent affiliations: The Civilians R&D Group, The Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Associate Director on Peter and the Starcatcher.

Stephen Aubrey (Chief Dramaturg, Co-Author) is the resident dramaturg and playwright of The Assembly Theater Company. His plays have been produced at The New Ohio Theatre, Dixon Place, the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, The Flea Theater, The Collapsible Hole, The Living Theatre, Symphony Space, The Philly Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is currently an adjunct professor of English at Brooklyn College. MFA: Brooklyn College.

Nick Benacerraf (Production Design, Scenic Design, Co-Author) is a founding co-artistic director of The Assembly. As a freelance designer, he has collaborated with the Living Theatre (Here We Are, written and directed by Judith Malina), Waterwell (GOODBAR, at the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival), and La Mama (so go the ghosts of méxico, part 1, directed by Meiyin Wang), among others. In 2013 he won an LA Weekly Set Design Award for the US Premiere of Martin Crimp's The City, created by Son of Semele Ensemble in Los Angeles. He has collaborated with Richard Foreman (Assistant Set Designer for Old Fashioned Prostitutes at the Public Theater) and Queen of the Night (Associate Set Designer). Benacerraf is a full-time professor of Scenography at Kean University. BA: Wesleyan University. MFA: Theater Design, CalArts. MA: Aesthetics & Politics, CalArts.

For more information, visit www.assemblytheater.org.

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