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Jared Mezzocchi

Jared Mezzocchi

Associate Professor, Dance/Theatre Design and Production

(301) 405-7492

2821 The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
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Research Expertise

Production Media and Technology

Jared Mezzocchi is an Obie award winning director and multimedia designer, playwright, and actor. Mezzocchi’s work has spanned all throughout the United States at notable theaters such as: The Kennedy Center, The Geffen Playhouse, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth (company member), and many more. In 2016, he received The Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for his work in Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2021, The New York Times highlighted his multimedia work in a spotlight article on his impact during the pandemic. His work was also celebrated as a New York Times Critic Pick on Sarah Gancher’s Russian Troll Farm (Co-Director & Multimedia Designer) where it was praised for being one of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. Currently, Jared is creating a new work through his mini-commission at The Vineyard Theatre in New York City entitled On the Beauty of Loss. He is a two-time Macdowell Artist Fellow, a 2012 Princess Grace Award winner, and spends his summers as Producing Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse. Outside of his artmaking, Jared is an associate professor at the University of Maryland, where he teaches in the M.F.A. design program in projection and multimedia design, and is associate director of the School for Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, as well as the co-director of the newly announced Brin Institute for New Performance. Over the pandemic, Jared founded Virtual Design Collective (ViDCo), which has aided in the development of over 50 new digital works over the last 18 months. 

Portrait by Joanna Eldredge Morrissey.

Education / Training:

M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Arts, Brooklyn College, 2009
B.A. in Theater and New Media: Film, Fairfield University, 2007

Professional Affiliations:

HARP Resident at HERE ARTS CENTER, New York City
Returning Writer/Director at Andy’s Summer Playhouse, NH
Group Member, Video Programs Designer with Big Art Group

Awards / Recognition:

2012 Princess Grace Award Winner, Theater Scholarship, First Projections Designer

2011 Best Original Playwright, NH State Theater Awards, THE LOST WORLD (Andy’s Summer Playhouse)

VIMEO MUSIC VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK, Chad Kotchy’s “Sometimes I Get Down” (Director, 2010)

Representative Productions:

The most recent and upcoming projects include video designs for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), HERE Arts Center NYC (Christine Evans’ You Are Dead. You Are Here., TRADE Practices), Milwaukee Repertory Theater (The Mountaintop), Synetic Theater (A Trip to the Moon) Studio Theater (Astro Boy and the God of Comics), Big Art Group (SOS, The Sleep, The People), Process Series at UNC (Poppa God Bless). While in NYC, Jared worked as an in-house Media Designer at 3-Legged Dog and for several years as the resident Video Designer at Santo’s Party House in Lower Manhattan where he produced live video and projection work for hundreds of bands and DJs such as Q Tip, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Of Montreal, The Noisettes, Washed Out, and Andrew W.K.

Awards & Grants

Jared Mezzocchi nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award

Mezzocchi was nominated for his projection design work on Qui Nguyen's "Poor Yella Rednecks."

School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Author/Lead: Jared Mezzocchi
Dates:

Assistant professor Jared Mezzocchi was nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for his projection design work on Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks. The Off-Broadway production was postponed due to COVID-19; stay tuned for new dates.

Read More about Jared Mezzocchi nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award

Creative

The Play Is Coming From Inside the House

Three new virtual productions, set in haunted homes and an interactive hotel, give you the excitement of exploring spaces that are off limits.

School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Author/Lead: Jared Mezzocchi
Dates:
Someone Else's House - Jared Mezzocchi - Geffen Playhouse

The projection designer Jared Mezzocchi has become a go-to guy for ambitious virtual productions. Next up: Starring in his own haunted house play.

Read More about The Play Is Coming From Inside the House

How a Multimedia Whiz Seized Digital Theater’s Big Moment

The projection designer Jared Mezzocchi has become a go-to guy for ambitious virtual productions. Next up: Starring in his own haunted house play.

School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Author/Lead: Jared Mezzocchi
Dates:
Jared Mezzocchi NYT April 2021

The projection designer Jared Mezzocchi has become a go-to guy for ambitious virtual productions. Next up: Starring in his own haunted house play.

Read More about How a Multimedia Whiz Seized Digital Theater’s Big Moment

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

TDPS faculty Jared Mezzocchi co-directs and designs projections for Round House Theatre's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies | Theatre Performance | Dance/Theatre Design and Production

Author/Lead: Jared Mezzocchi
Dates: -
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time stars image

Murder. Mystery. Mayhem. Math. What begins as an investigation into the grisly death of a neighbor’s dog results in a remarkable coming-of-age journey for 15-year-old Christopher Boone. A self-described “mathematician with some behavioral problems,” our narrator sees things differently than those around him and, like fractals in a kaleidoscope, each revelation exposes another puzzle for him to solve. As the audience follows Christopher’s brilliant yet dizzying mind, the full story unravels in a visually dazzling sequence of events onstage. Simon Stephen’s beloved Tony and Olivier Award-winning adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel challenges us to seek out the silver linings in ourselves—and others—as we make our way through the world.

Read More about Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Publications

The Technological Theatre Experimenters

Imagine a future where theatre can show the world how the internet is a living, breathing, site-specific treasure trove of real-time performance.

School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Author/Lead: Jared Mezzocchi
Dates:
Technological Theatre Experimenters - Howlround - by Nguyen Tran

Imagine a future where theatre can show the world how the internet is a living, breathing, site-specific treasure trove of real-time performance.th

Read More about The Technological Theatre Experimenters