Tonight (June 26), The Assembly Theater Project, a Brooklyn-based performance collective, kicks off this year’s OBIE-winning Ice Factory summer festival at the New Ohio Theater in New York City with the play That Poor Dream.
Inspired by Charles Dickens’ 1860 novel Great Expectations, That Poor Dream is set entirely on a MetroNorth train traveling from New York City to Fairfield, Connecticut. Class identity and economic disparity are the main engines in this moving mosaic that explores how class defines and divides us, and how our shared humanity brings us closer.
That Poor Dream features several CalArts alumni in its production team with Justine de Penning (Critical Studies MA 12) as producer, Ray Sun (Theater/IM MFA 12) as video designer, Shelly Rodriguez (Theater MFA 12) as lighting designer, Marisa Blankier (Theater BFA 12) as stage manager, Lizzie Egert (Theater MFA 12) as technical director and Nick Benacerraf (Critical Studies MA 11, Theater MFA 12) as set designer.
The Assembly unites varied interests in service of “wide-reaching, unabashedly theatrical and rigorously researched ensemble performances that address the complexities of our ever-changing world.” The company drew from their own relationships with class and economic differences to develop That Poor Dream.
The production will be staged once daily through June 29.