Amid concerns about global warming and an uncertain future, The Assembly presents a one-man show about natural disasters, large and small. The Dark Heart of Meteorology, created by The Assembly, is a series of barely-multimedia presentations—part lecture/slideshow, part happening—by lonely traveling weatherman Franklin Elijah White. Featuring a tour-de-force performance by performer Richard Lovejoy, The Dark Heart of Meteorology combines live performance, video, and the lost art of the slideshow to investigate the tensions between chaos and control and the intersection of the personal and the meteorological.

The creative team for The Dark Heart of Meteorology will include Edward Bauer (Dramaturgy), Nick Benacerraf (Scenic Design), Stacy Boggs (Lighting Design), Alex Koch (Video Design), and Asa Wember (Sound Design).

The Assembly Theater Company (formerly The American Story Project) is a New York based ensemble of multi-disciplinary artists formed by five Wesleyan University graduates. Assembly members seek to unite varied interests in service of creating wide reaching, unabashedly theatrical and rigorously researched ensemble performances that address the complexities of our ever-changing world. They embrace collaboration as the core of the creative process, developing all the elements of text, action, and design side-by-side within the rehearsal environment. The Assembly’s plays have been performed in Connecticut and Edinburgh (where they were nominated for the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Fringe First Award) as well as in multiple venues throughout New York City: The Ontological Theater, The Brick Theater, The Bowery Poetry Club, The Abingdon Theater Complex and The Flea.

“The Assembly theater ensemble have complete faith in every aspect of their wacked-out concept—their comedy stems from the organic merger of the bizarre elements on stage, not self-conscious jokes about the anachronism of it all.” Eli Epstein-Deutsch, The Village Voice (Clementine and the Cyber Ducks)

Alex Koch (Video Editor) Alex Koch (Video Designer) directs, designs, and edits installation work utilizing video. Projections design on Broadway; Irena's Vow. Off-Broadway; ReWrite, The Blue Bird, The Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion (Urban Stages), House of the Spirits (Repertorio Espanol), #9 (Waterwell), and Hades/Pluto_Aspect (Zena Group). Also design and technical work with New Georges at 3LD, Big Art Group, The Shalimar, KNF Co, and Royal Family Productions. His work was seen at the National Arts Club in 2008. www.alexkochdesign.com

Asa Wember (Sound Designer) Asa Wember is pleased to be working again with The Assembly, having designed Clementine and the Cyber Ducks in May. In the past decade Asa has been the resident sound designer for the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury CT and the audio engineer for New York Theatre Workshop, and has designed for numerous companies in New York, including Flux Theatre Ensemble, Blue Coyote, Wolf 359 and the Intentional Theatre Group. His work with Flux Theatre has been nominated for a 2009 NYITA award.

Audrey Crabtree (Performer) Audrey Crabtree (Sarah) is a creator of collaborative theater, including the Drama Desk Award-winning Charlie Victor Romeo, and NY Innovative Theater Award-winning Bouffon Glass Menajoree, she is co-director of Ten DIrections and the NY Clown Theatre Festival. Look for her new parody on wheels, ICETACLES The Last Chance of a Lifetime. Audrey loves sitting on her porch during thunderstorms.

Jess Chayes (Director) Jess Chayes is a co-founder and resident director of The Assembly. With The Assembly, she has co-created and directed five original plays including Clementine and the Cyber Ducks (The Ontological Theater), What I Took in My Hand (The Ontological Theater, The Brick Theater), and We Can't Reach You Hartford (Edinburgh Fringe; Fringe First Nominee). Recent assisting includes The Civilians’ Paris Commune (Steve Cosson, The Public Theater) and We Declare You a Terrorist (Niegel Smith, SPF Festival, The Public Theater).

Nick Benacerraf (Scenic Designer) Nick Benacerraf is a co-founder of The Assembly, and is the company's resident scene designer. Recent projects include designs for Waterwell's #9 (59E59), The Misanthrope (P.S. 122 Underground Zero Festival), and stage managing with Philadelphia's Pig Iron. Nick will begin a dual M.A./M.F.A. program at CalArts this fall.

Richard Lovejoy (Performer) Richard Lovejoy (Franklin Elijah White) is an actor/writer from Brooklyn. Recent acting credits include Willy Nilly (NYC Fringe), Adventure Quest (The Brick Theater), and I Stand For Nothing (The Ontological-Hysteric). He is also the writer of Adventure Quest as well as the web series “Four If By Space”. Richard's film and television credits include “All My Children”, “Nosferatu: The Brides Of Blood”, and “Rising Up: The Story of the Zombie Right's Movement”.

Stacey Boggs (Lighting Designer) Stacey Boggs joins the production team of The Dark Heart of Meterology from Ailey II, the second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has also designed the national tour of I Love a Piano; Marco Millions, The/King/Operetta and #9 (Waterwell); Goats, Australia Project I and II (The Production Company); Urinetown (St. John’s University); The Book of the Dun Cow (West End Theater). She graduated from NYU’s Graduate Design program in 2005.

Stephen Aubrey (Playwright) Stephen Aubrey is a co-founder and the resident playwright of The Assembly. His work has been produced at The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, The Flea Theater, The Brick Theater, Symphony Space, the Abingdon Theater Complex and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is a current MFA candidate in Fiction at Brooklyn College.