Julian Mesri

Julián J. Mesri is a New York based Argentinean-American director, playwright and composer. His pieces are often fresh and funny philosophical laboratories that seek to explore contemporary problems by refracting them through a stylistic and musical lens where the audience is free to enter into a multi-faceted relationship with the work. He is proud to work with a company of actors encompassing both North and South America as well as directing and writing in both English and Spanish.

As a child he first began acting in plays by his mother, Susana Cook, performing at such venues as P.S. 122 and WOW Cafe. Later, he became resident sound designer for her company. In college he premiered many original works and also directed a site-specific performance of “King Lear” featuring live video. He graduated Williams College with a B.A. in Philosophy having studied under Mark C. Taylor and was privileged to work with theatre figures like Tina Shepard and Carson Kreitzer. He was part of a unique exchange program with the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

He is currently Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español where he directed  Rafael Spregelburd’s “La estupidez” in its New York premiere (ACE nominee, Best Direction) and this year presented Calderón de la Barca’s “La dama duende”. Recent work includes: “The Homophobes” by Susana Cook, which will premiere in September as part of Dixon Place’s Mondo Cané commission series, as well as his play Blood and Cake, which premiered at The Tank theatre in December 2010 and February 2011, produced by Magic Futurebox. He participated as a director in the 2010 USA/Mexico Word-Exchange at the Lark, and has directed readings for Repertorio Español, Monarch Theatre, NYU and Teatro IATI.

As a playwright his work has also been read at venues such as New York Theatre Workshop (Hopploshet), Dixon Place (The Obliged) and the Lark Theatre Center (Dinner with Friends and Ghosts). His play The King in Exile was presented in a new translation by the playwright in Buenos Aires in 2011.

As a Sound Designer he has presented work at Incubator Arts Project, INTAR (The Leak, Intringulis), The Cherry Lane Theatre (A Perfect Future, asst), 59 East 59 (Body Politic), Seattle’s Little Theatre (Artifacts of Consequence) and the Martin Segal Theatre Center (Woodman project, Mannequins Ball) and Dixon Place as well as internationally with Susana Cook at the Cadiz festival. He is currently a company member and sound designer with Josh Fox’s company International WOW: “Reconstruction” (Ohio Theater) and “Auto da Fe” (Baruch Center). He has also shown his own work and design at FringeNYC, PERFORMA ’10 and the LES Festival. He is also a proud alum of EMERGENYC at the Hemispheric Institute, NYU, where he presented the audio-piece “Inventing the Audience” in 2010 and will be presenting a new audio installation at the 2011 Encuentro in Mexico City.