Jared Mezzocchi

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.